MAY DIARY 
... Joe Hubbard 
Expect Newstead and Muckleford 
Forest to feature in the Diary. Son 
Cameron, long time participant in 
family excursions to the 
wildernesses of Geelong, has taken 
over the motel in this small town. 
This provides a great base for an old 
F.N. like me to take in the flora and 
fauna of the goldfields area. 
As I write this, a shout from Val 
who is sitting at the kitchen table, 
letter writing. ‘It's hissing down!” 
‘What?’ “There's water trickling 
down on the light.’ And it was — 
literaily hissing down. So up inside 
the roof with trouble light, all-clear, 
and for a time not appreciating the 
lovely follow-up rain. 
Back to Newstead. You don't often 
find a gecko on your telephone 
book, but there it was — small, grey, 
line of pale orange spots from head 
to tail. And there was the mouse, 
which wasn't a mouse, which came 
in with an armful of wood. 
Interesting stuff! 
2.5.99 Newtown 
The passage of the Yellow-faced 
Honeyeaters. Cold, foggy morning 
with a half-hearted sun. Small 
groups passed through, then a 
trickle of tail-enders. Probably 150 
in all. Mixed in were a few White- 
naped Honeyeaters. As in other 
years, they used the same route 
westwards towards the river, even 
to using the tall poplar as a brief 
resting spot. 
7.5.00 Fyansford 
I's always good to see the first for 
the season — in this instance Flame 
Robins. lve seen them here before 
— open, small lots of land, fences 
and nearby cover — good robin 
environment — but the first burst of 
flame red of the breast is 
remarkable — stunning. Val calls it 
coral red. You really suck in your 
breath when you focus your glasses. 
Well, they were here — 7 of them at 
least — 3 males and the rest the hard 
to see browns of females and 
immatures. 
We had just decided to move on 
when we both heard a rapid, 
cackling call, knew it was hawk, 
couldn't locate, then saw 3 belting 
along low, in the small valley below 
ee 
GEELONG NATURALIST Vol. 37 No. 1 
us. | said display — then noticed 
one was different, slimmer 
winged, so changed tune to 2 
Brown Falcons putting off an 
intruder — which | couldn't identify. 
All white underneath according to 
Val — | thought dark coloured top. 
Near pub in treed reserve, 
flowering gums and feeding birds 
— lorikeets (not identified) and 
honeyeaters. A few Red-rumped 
Parrots fed on the ground — lovely 
colours. 
On the riverbank, framed by 
autumn leaves, a Nankeen Night 
Heron rested up. 
Several Little Pied Cormorants 
(yellow beak) rested on 
midstream boulders. 
11.5.99 Newtown 
Morning — a crisp, autumn 
morning with the sun just 
caressing the top of the tall trees 
around us. From one of them 
comes the call, repeated, of a 
Golden Whistler. 
| hear the call of a White-naped 
Honeyeater and catch a glimpse 
of it as it takes off from the tall 
poplar. 
A flock of about 20 Musk 
Lorikeets fly swiftly and noisily, 
south to north, heading for 
blossom after a night in their 
roosting tree. 
From the top of the cypress, a 
Little Raven, head pushed 
forward, and throat hackles rising, 
‘ark arks’ across the rooftops. 
Two Mudlarks dogfight briefly 
then one undulates off, into its 
antiphonous song. 
High up, somewhere, Magpies 
are aggressively into their calling, 
telling everything that there are 
raptors around — and sure 
enough, 2 Little Eagles are 
circling. Soon one passes high 
overhead, wings slightly folded, 
into a shallow dive, increasing 
speed. 
And not to be left out, about 30 
Wattlebirds, head purposefully 
westwards. 
11.5.00 Breamlea 
Searocket can be relied upon to 
welcome the beach traveller with 
its mauve flowers (book says 
pink). We passed several plants 
in the most wind-swept of places 
— right on the seaward edge of the 
beach vegetation. 
Criss-crossing lines of small bird 
footprints suggesting waders 
could be around — further up the 
May 2001 
beach we found a few Red-capped 
Plovers. 
Two Black-shouldered Kites 
quartered the beach and dunes — 
one landed to give us a good 
viewing. 
Two Pacific Gulls, one Brush 
Wattlebird and a Gannet made up 
the bird list. 
We were intrigued by the turn of 
the tide with low waves surging up 
the estuary. 
14.5.00 Newtown 
Early — heard the Gang Gang 
Cockatoos — didn't take me long to 
find 19 scattered over next door's 
Liquid Amber — tearing into the 
dangling, round seedpods. 
Watched them feeding. Marvelled 
at their dexterity — standing on one 
leg, holding the fruit in the other, 
turning it to break it open. 
They can carry on a bit — almost 
comical in their actions. Three 
came down to our birdbath and you 
could almost hear the brains 
working as they looked down from 
the Ironbark working out the way to 
go. One flew to the rose arch — then 
the clothesline for a closer 
inspection — to landing stick by the 
bath — then on to drink. 
One of the others hung by one leg 
for a while, looking down, dropped, 
lost nerve and aborted landing. The 
last flew down landing on a rose 
branch near the bath. Finding a 
small branch obstructing its 
passage, it quickly nipped it off and 
was able to step down on the bird 
bath to take a long drink. Well 
deserved | think! 
18.5.99 Jerringot 
Morning’s weeding around last 
year’s plantings and in spite of the 
dry season, most are doing well. 
A good sighting was a White- 
browed Scrubwren. Found this 
while looking for a strange call — 
turned out to be a Willie Wagtail 
sitting on a branch over the drain, 
full of lovely water-plants mind you, 
near last season’s nest. 
21.5.00 Bannockburn (Warbdulla 
Reserve) 
Meeting place for excursion outside 
the police station and the best 
birding of the day! Flowering 
Spotted Gums were full of White- 
naped Honeyeaters and Purple- 
crowned Lorikeets (red under the 
wings)! 
The reserve, somewhat degraded, 
10 hectares, with a cover of mature 
a a 
