Phil Marley Early risers prefaced our March outing with a pre-outing to the Skeleton Creek Boardwalk in Sanctuary Lakes. The 7.30am start attracted 14 eager pairs of eyes to enjoy a picture-perfect sunrise over the city. The birds appreciated the keen interest and also turned up for dawn. Striated Fieldwren – Steven Waller Many of the smaller drainage channels and salt pans of the former saltworks in the Cheetham Wetlands were dry, but Skeleton Creek and the spillway still had plenty of water. The elevated boardwalk with its high walls on both sides creates an extended hide and superb viewing ..read more

Phil Marley Our fresh season of outings kicked off in the Basin, on the lower slopes of the Dandenongs. The scorching sun and heat of mid-summer fortunately stayed away and our morning was met with gentle, overcast conditions The birds too had a gentle start. Eastern Yellow Robin – Stephanie Lim We met first at Wicks Reserve. The reserve was once part of a large property, given to the local Council in 1942, and was named in memory of the Wicks family who settled there in 1877. Though small, at 4.2 hectares, it offers a rich and varied habitat with swamp, woodland, herb-rich lowland forest and ..read more

Phil Marley As 2023 drew to a close, it was wonderful to gather and share highlights from another year. And what a year it was. A full calendar of expeditions duly delivered. No bushfires or floods to derail the program. Lots of birds spotted and photographed. And many outings shared together. It was a good year. Tradition has it that we start in the pub. So we dutifully assembled at our regular venue, the Terminus Hotel in North Fitzroy, to sup and sip. And, perched on bar stools, the tall tales began. Two hours later, we reconvened at Fitzroy High School to continue, with a slide show provid ..read more

Phil Marley Sustained torrential rain, collapsing dams, a meter of water in the main street. Well, that was last year’s attempt at a weekend in Wedderburn. This year, things went rather better!! Fri 17 Nov We met mid-morning at Bells Swamp NCR on the Bridgewater-Maldon Rd. The sun was up, the sky clear and the breeze gentle. Recent sightings of elusive Painted Snipes had pulses racing. Expectations were high. Red-kneed Dotterel – Steve Waller Our arrival was greeted by a couple of hundred Grey Teal standing motionless in the shallow waters and a couple of hundred Black Native-hens pecking away ..read more

Phil Marley Grey skies and light drizzle, and a forecast for worse, was playing on the minds of our trippers as they drove to Bunyip. But their faith was rewarded – the heavens cleared and all was well in the woods. As our cars collected at the Mortimer Picnic Ground, the occupants of tents perhaps fretted how their peace was about to be disturbed. But as lenses were mounted and binoculars hung round necks, their concerns quickly abated. White-naped Honeyeater – Annie Leong Our group of over 20 split early, some heading off on the circular 1.2km Mortimer Nature Walk, others doing a shuffle up ..read more

Phil Marley On our last visit to Banyule Flats in May 2019, we endured cold and fog. This time we enjoyed warm spring sunshine. Lovely. Red Wattlebird – Phil Marley To begin, our elite group of nine set off from the Somerset Drive carpark to view the Banyule Swamp. Fed by stormwater drains and the Banyule Creek, it was full of water and looking like a proper lake – very different to the dried-up mudflats we saw in 2019. The birds were happy. The dead trees in the middle of the lake provided perches for Red-rumped Parrots and a small flock of Little Corellas. On the water, Hoary-headed and Aust ..read more

John Van Doorn 18 intrepid birders took no notice of the bleak weather forecast and assembled at Lysterfield Lake to explore and hopefully see and photograph some of the local birdlife. Musk Duck – Greg Wallace Lysterfield Lake was built in 1936 as a water supply for the Mornington Peninsula. Reforesting with Spotted gum and Sugar Gum occurred in the 1940’s to improve the water quality as the surrounding land was converted from farmland.  There are also patches of natural bush here. Grey Currawong – John Bosworth The park was the venue for the mountain bike events at the 2006 Melbourne Co ..read more

Phil Marley A mid-year slide show was just the thing to lift spirits in the gloomy midwinter months. And the collection of bird photos from recent months were impressive – with their exotic places, subjects and colours. Location, location, location – we were taken to Japan, to Hyde Park in London, to Norfolk Island, to places all over mainland Australia, to locales across Melbourne and several within a few metres of a car. We were shown lifers – yellow thornbills and sacred kingfisher. We saw exotic birds – Australian Logrunners, a Bourke’s Parrot – and common ones – a Silver Gull. We had bird ..read more

Phil Marley With its Swallow, Kestrel, Goshawk, Pelican, Ibis, Robin, Magpie, Kookaburra, Rosella and Cockatoo carparks, Braeside Park was self-evidently a place we had to go. But we didn’t want to count our blessings too soon. So we met at the opposite end of the park, at the Red Gum Picnic Area Carpark to the south. Black Swan – Phil Marley Braeside Park has an interesting history. Aboriginal tribes hunted, camped and gathered food here before it was used for grazing in the late 1800s, market gardens in the early 1900s and a sewerage treatment plant from 1940 to the mid-1970s. It even housed ..read more

By Steve Waller Question: What is it that would make 35 otherwise sane people get up early, drive for approximately 45 mins and brave a ‘10 deg feels like 3.2 deg’ winter morning? The answer is the opportunity to visit Eynesbury Nature Reserve and maybe get some sightings and photos of bird species rarely encountered around Melbourne. Birds like Brown Treecreepers, Speckled Warblers, Jacky Winters, and Diamond Firetails. Little Pied Cormorant – Alan Fieldus But more about those birds later. Let’s return to that half dark and very windy carpark outside the Eynesbury Golf Course where the group ..read more