Mid-week Bird Group excursion—Balyang Sanctuary 
24 January 2013 
...Rosemary Turner 
F ourteen birdwatchers, including three keen visitors, 
met on a hottish Thursday morning. But we found 
shade, and had a good outing. 
School rowers and their coaches were rowdy but seemed 
not to phase the darters in at least six nests overhanging 
the river. There were over 14 birds, adults, juveniles and 
fledglings, and we saw their range of plumage from shiny 
black with rufous neck markings (male) to cream with 
black and white striation and hatching (female), and the 
downy rufous-cream of the young. 
Alongside the darters nests were several Little Pied 
Cormorants’ nests with guardian roosting birds. Also on 
the river we saw a Nankeen Night Heron, flopping around 
in deep foliage, perhaps unnerved by the river traffic. 
The wetland ponds along Shannon Avenue are now well 
vegetated, after redevelopment by Corangamite 
Catchment Authority over ten years ago. The water levels 
are rapidly dropping after the dry season and there are 
shallow ponds with muddy shores, as well as the main 
lake, still holding a good depth of water. Hence habitat for 
the many different birds seen (our list finally made it to 
50!). Highlights here were the three different herons, busy 
Royal Spoonbills, one in breeding plumage, and our bird 
of the morning, at least five Latham’s Snipe. We had 
excellent views of them as they stood in the sun, or moved 
off in horizontal flight. We were thrilled to see the Banded 
Landrail and Spotted Crake, but the Baillon’s Crake was 
secretive and only a few people saw it. 
We tend to take Silver Gulls for granted, and there was a 
flock of a hundred or so there—Barry noted there were at 
least 14 juveniles which is a significant observation at 
present with breeding records for these birds well down. 
The ponds and lake have adjacent bush: mainly eucalypts 
and acacias, with melaleucas and woody understory 
species which provide cover for little bush birds. We saw 
many White Plumed Honeyeaters, but only two New 
Holland Honeyeaters. 
This is a great area to visit with seasonal visitation by a 
regular suite of birds, and chance drop-ins, like our Little 
Eagle (a flyover in this case!) always a possibility. 
Grey Teal 
Eastern Great Egret 
Latham's Snipe 
Australian Magpie 
Chestnut Teal 
White-faced Heron 
Silver Gull 
Willie Wagtail 
Pacific Black Duck 
Nankeen Night-Heron 
Long-billed Corella 
Magpie-lark 
Hardhead 
St raw-necked Ibis 
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo 
Australian Reed-Warbler 
Australasian Grebe 
Royal Spoonbill 
Rainbow Lorikeet 
Little Grassbird 
Rock Dove 
Little Eagle 
Red-rumped Parrot 
Welcome Swallow 
Spotted Dove 
Purple Swamphen 
Shining Bronze-Cuckoo 
Common Blackbird 
Crested Pigeon 
Buff-banded Rail 
Superb Fairy-wren 
Common Starling 
Australasian Darter 
Baillon's Crake 
White-browed Scrubwren 
Common Myna 
Little Pied Cormorant 
Australian Spotted Crake 
Brown Thornbill 
House Sparrow 
Little Black Cormorant 
Dusky Moorhen 
White-plumed Honeyeater 
Common Greenfinch 
Australian Pelican 
Eurasian Coot 
Red Wattlebird 
White-necked Heron 
Masked Lapwing 
New Holland Honeyeater 
‘Hoodie’ monitoring 
...Deborah Evans 
I t’s that time of year again—the Hooded Plovers are 
nesting on the Bellarine and Surfcoast (a bit later than 
usual this year) and chicks are hatching out. The high 
tides have played havoc with nests in 
the Collendina area but one of the 
three eggs at the Point Lonsdale nest 
hatched on 14 January and hopefully 
there’ll be more to come along the 
coast. 
A team of local volunteers monitor 
the nesting birds and then the chicks, 
encouraging people to put their dogs 
on leashes and to keep clear of the 
birds till the chicks can fly. Sadly, 
humans and their dogs are not the only threats to the 
chicks—we lost the Point Lonsdale chick to a kestrel just 
on sunset on 25 January. 
The local volunteers can always do 
with a bit of help, especially if warm 
weather brings extra visitors out on 
weekends, so if you can spend a 
couple of hours enjoying the antics of 
the energetic chick(s) and chatting to 
the public as they jog/walk past, 
please contact the local coordinator 
Andrea Dennett on 
andreadennett@bigpond.com or 
phone 5254 2442 or 0439 814 020. 
IE 
Photo: Lachlan Manley 
Geelong Naturalist February 2012 7 
