On May 14, eleven dedicated people set out in cold, showers and wind to the Hospital Swamp wetlands at Lake Connewarre in the hope of seeing an Orange-bellied Parrot (OBP). Unsurprisingly we did not see any but we had a wonderful day with 55 birds identified (full list at end of report).

We have been very excited to learn that the following day two adult OBPs were seen elsewhere at Lake Connewarre.

The highlight for us was seeing over 180 Blue-winged parrots swooping around in flocks, with many periodically landing on an easily observable wire fence so we could study them before they returned to the Beaded Glasswort in the nearby paddocks.

We were most fortunate to have with us Craig Morley, the local OBP organizer, as he was a mine of information on the differences and characteristics of Blue-winged Parrots and OBPs. He also considerably increased our bird list as he made instant identifications of birds which were barely seen or heard.

We were also delighted to see a mass of Black-winged Stilts and Purple Swamphens. Other birds of special interest were two Stubble Quail, four types of raptor, and a glimpse of an Australian Pratincole. Not so pleasant was seeing much evidence of duck shooting. The gunshots were causing flocks of ducks to take off in fright and fly to new locations.

We were also pleased to have Margaret Lacey and her camera with us.

Ellinor Campbell

Below are all the birds identified on this walk:

 

 

1. Stubble Quail
2. Black Swan
3. Australian Shelduck
4. Australian Wood Duck
5. Grey Teal
6. Chestnut Teal
7. Pacific Black Duck
8. Australasian Grebe
9. Spotted Dove
10. Little Pied Cormorant
11. Little Black Cormorant
12. Australian Pelican
13. Eastern Great Egret
14. White-faced Heron
15. Australian White Ibis
16. Straw-necked Ibis
17. Royal Spoonbill
18. Yellow-billed Spoonbill
19. Whistling Kite
20. Brown Goshawk
21. Swamp Harrier
22. Brown Falcon
23. Purple Swamphen
24. Spotless Crake
25. Black-winged Stilt
26. Masked Lapwing
27. Australian Pratincole
28. Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
29. Crimson Rosella
30. Eastern Rosella
31. Red-rumped Parrot
32. Blue-winged Parrot
33. Superb Fairy-wren
34. White-browed Scrubwren
35. Striated Fieldwren
36. White-plumed Honeyeater
37. Noisy Miner
38. White-fronted Chat
39. New Holland Honeyeater
40. Grey Shrike-thrush
41. Grey Butcherbird
42. Australian Magpie
43. Willy Wagtail
44. Little Raven
45. Magpie-lark
46. Eurasian Skylark
47. Golden-headed Cisticola
48. Little Grassbird
49. Welcome Swallow
50. Tree Martin
51. Common Starling
52. House Sparrow
53. Australasian Pipit
54. European Goldfinch
55. Common Greenfinch