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Five ANGAIR members participated in the final Orange-bellied Parrot Count held on Sunday 12 September. We started walking towards Hospital Swamps, but the ground was too wet. We then went on to Baenschs Lane. The whole wetlands has been replenished, and it is a quite different sight from previous surveys where we have been able to walk through the tussock grass, lignum and low shrubs.

This time we were restricted to the higher tracks. No Orange-bellied Parrots were to be seen. However a total of eight Blue-winged Parrots were observed, all keeping low and out of the wind. There were also large numbers of White-fronted Chats, Reed Warblers and Little Grassbirds calling. An Australasian Bittern flew low among some reeds near the track. A positive identification of five OBPs was made by another group of observers at Duck Island. A male, female, juvenile and two other birds. This follows the report of five birds at the same location in the July count, which is very encouraging.