BLEG to Shipwreck

 As part of the Birdlife East Gippsland camp out at Mallacoota the group went to Shipwreck Creek on 25 October.  We did two walks, punctuated by morning tea.  For COVID compliance we split into 2 groups and did the walks separately.  The group I was in did the Western route first.

I hadn't got the message about the start being delayed (funny that whats App doesn't deliver notifications if you don't have Notifications turned on!) so had 30 minutes to hang about.  There are always things to see and I wanted to check the state of the Creek Crossing.  The things to see included Clematis glycinoides ...

... and Kennedia rubicunda.

On getting to the creek level an Eastern Reef Egret was strutting its stuff.

A pair of Hooded Plovers were on the beach imitating Sanderlings running away from the waves.  One was flagged and on the group leader's camera the flag could be read as YE.  That meant it was initially captured on Seal Creek beach (about 2km away in a straight line, 3km by track) in March 2021.

There were more specimens of Gompholobium hugelii than I have seen before.

Nice to see the Banksia serrata coming in to flower.

The BIG excitement on the walk was seeing a Ground Parrot fly up from the path.  No-one was able to get a photo but the sight of a big fat green budgie was clearly that species.  That is to my knowledge the first record of that species in this patch of heath since the fire.

I totaled 24 species for the walk and I think others saw additional species.

After a break for morning tea we headed off on the second loop.

Once into the Eastern heath we got a nice view back to the West.

Birds were rather sparse on this route with only 9 species recorded by me for the walk.  The outstanding flower was Callistemon citrinus.

I didn't take a photo of an interesting Lomandra seen along the way, but scanning Flora of Victoria  shows it to have been L. multiflora multifora,

More sundries

 This covers a range of interesting things seen as we wander around.

The first two images are a large beetle seen under the powerlines opposite Karbeethong Road.  It has been identified on iNaturalist as Stigmodera macularia, a Jewel Beetle.

The next is from our neighbours lawn.  She often has these stinkhorns (Clathrus archeri) growing there.

The next two come from a walk along the Narrows Track which has become less floriferous in recent weeks.  Dianella caerulea is always nice to see.

Judging by the tooth-edged leaves this is Olearia erubescens.

The most interesting bird seen was a Striated Heron.  But I couldn't get a photo.  A Superb Lyrebird scratching just above the path was entertaining.  It was cooperative enough to hang around while i played with manual focus to get through the twigs.

A visit to Mullet Creek

 This little area of rainforest at the junction of Lakeside Drive and Karbeethong Avenue is always interesting.  The highlights of today's outing are covered below.  

Very close to the entrance a pair of Superb Lyrebirds were digging around and finding plenty of food.

One bird is quite obvious but the second is a little hidden on the RHS with just the tail feathers protruding.  A crop might assist!

They were being very vocal.  To my surprise they weren't obviously interacting just being noisy as they scratched around.  I hope this link presents my recording of the sounds.  (When I replayed this to the birds they immediately started to display, so I turned off the replay PDQ.)

Then a Black-faced Monarch appeared.  No other royalty were seen.

As I was leaving I stopped on the small bridge to check for Azure (Ascher?) Kingfisher and was lucky enough to get a couple of reasonable images.

Excellent display of sun (and other) orchids

Today we started with a walk on the Captains Creek Fire trail hoping for some orchids.  It was an amazing display of sun orchids from here 'til breakfast!

Most of the sun orchids were Thelymitra ixioides.  In many places there were 15-20 spikes visible at once.  Wenoticed there were few in the shady gullies.

Lyperanthus suavolens (Brown Beaks) were in a few spots but greatly reduced in numbers compared to a few weeks ago.

Caladenia carnea were along the track in many places.  Note the Kennedia prosrata in the background.

There were still many Caleana major (Large Flying Duck Orchid) along the way.  It was usually the case that one flower would be spotted then looking around carefully 6 or more other flowers would be seen.

The commonest Donkey Orchid in the early part of the walk was Diuris orientis (Wallflower Orchid).  We found it in the traditional pattern (albeit somewhat battered) ...

.. and the less common all-yellow form.

Towards our turn point (just before the long downhill to the Inlet) we found a fair cluster of Diuris sulphurea.

Glossodia major was reasonably common throughout the walk, but the flowers were looking somewhat pale, as though sun bleached.

After returning to the cars we moved to the powerlines heath which was a stunning display of flowers.  We found two additional species of orchids, which I am ashamed to say I couldn't identify.  

This first one appeared much redder in the field but neither of my references mention spots on the commoner red species.  It has been identified by an expert as a hybrid of T. ixioides - presumably with T. carnea.

Another blue sun orchid but with a very large leaf (just visible in the second image below). This has been identified as T. aristata: again the books don't mention the spots!

Birds were as usual not that visible on the walk although quite a bit of song was audible.  Pallid and Fan-tailed Cuckoos were heard.  The bird highlight was a Painted Buttonquail which exploded out of the vegetation as we walked by.

A Lace Monitor trotted across the track before I could get the camera out.  Insects were represented by this grasshopper,

Spoonbills get more interesting

 Spoonbills are always interesting.  I have described a breeding effort by birds of this species at Kelly's Swamp in Canberra in http://canberrabirds.org.au/wp-content/canberra-bird-notes/cbnvol33no3.pdf (starting on p14).  In the Mallacoota area my major interest has been the contrast between recent observations:

• Royal Spoonbills being common while 
• I have never seen a Yellow-billed Spoonbill in the area  and 
• Ebird only has 4 records - 1 in 2020 seen by 4 observers; other sightings in 2007, 1991 and 1981

and comments by Bruce Pascoe, writing in 1979, that the Yellow-billed is quite common while the Royal is occasionally seen on sand bars and the Genoa Flats.  

I have no explanation (so far) for this contrast.

The catalyst for this post was seeing, on 14 October, 4 Royal Spoonbills, apparently gathering nesting material, in the canopy of a large shrub beside the Broome St Lagoon.  This is very clearly visible from the boardwalk.

They were clearly applying their bills to the vegetation.

On the morning of the 15th a good proportion of the flock were feeding in the Inlet nearby.

As we returned, the back-lighting gave an artistic effect.

Mullets-R-Us

Backlighting rules!

Meanwhile there is still activity going on in the canopy.

Bills have other uses than gathering nest material.

In this image there are clearly 5 birds up in the canopy.  I am sure they are building nests up there!

On the subject of artistic photos, Frances spotted this reflection in the Lagoon!

Birds on Quarry and Secret Beaches

 We went to walk on Quarry Beach on the evening of 8 October.  The tide was very low so we got to look at the exposed rocks, which at the Eastern end of the beach were almost devoid of shelled life.  We saw  some playful whales somewhat offshore but I wasn't able to get any photographs.  

At the Western end of the beach some Great Cormorants posed nicely.  While they have made a start I think it will be a while before guano harvesting becomes a commercial prospect.

Due to the low tide we were able to scurry on to Secret Beach by going round the end of the rocks.  An Eastern Reef Egret perched nicely on a rock ...

.. flew towards us ...

... and perched on another rock.

Not knowing how the tide was changing, and not wishing to use the inland route back we soon scurried back!

Looking for a spectacle

  Yesterday some visiting birders found (and photographed a Spectacled Monarch at the start of the Narrows Track.  I couldn't get there when they found it but as it is only about the 3rd record for Victoria and the normal range ends about Jervis Bay decided to get down there at dawn this morning.  To add to the rarity, the closest recent record on eBird is near Taree, some 650 kms North!
A comment on FB said one had been seen in Croajinalong about 20 years ago.  Birdata shows it as 21 Dec 1999 at Wingan Inlet.

Cutting to the chase I saw the bird, very briefly but couldn't get a photo.  So that is Bird A Day sorted.

Here follow a few photos from my outing.  The big dead tree was decorated with cormorants.  This was an early image: by the time I left (about an hour later) there were about three times this number.

Also on a lower branch of the tree was a surprisingly exposed Nankeen Night Heron/  It was horribly backlit, but Photoshop Express showed the colours better.

Sunrise was interesting albeit not as garish as some days. 

A Kookaburra was kind enough to pose so was photographed.