This last Orange-bellied parrot (OBP) walk for the year started in similar cold and windy conditions to the two winter walks, however we appreciated the fact that it didn’t rain this time. A total of 45 birds were identified.

There were still large areas of water, so there were scores of ducks and other water birds. Of most interest was a  clear sighting of some very handsome, long-legged,  Black-backed Stilts,  and a Royal Spoonbill which landed very near us.

We did our best to flush out parrots from the paddock where lots of Blue-winged parrots had been seen in May, but didn’t but see one parrot there, so there was certainly no chance of seeing an OBP.

Australian Reed Warblers lived up to their previous name of ‘clamorous’ with a wonderful spring chorus in the tall reeds. There were several raptors patrolling the water, and a pair of Swamp Harriers put on a splendid display for us.

Below are all the birds identified on this walk:

1. Black Swan
2. Australian Shelduck
3. Grey Teal
4. Chestnut Teal
5. Pacific Black Duck
6. Hardhead
7. Australasian Grebe
8. Little Pied Cormorant
9. Little Black Cormorant
10. Great Cormorant
11. Australian Pelican
12. Eastern Great Egret
13. Cattle Egret
14. White-faced Heron
15. Australian White Ibis
16. Straw-necked Ibis
17. Royal Spoonbill
18. Black-shouldered Kite
19. Whistling Kite
20. Swamp Harrier
21. Brown Falcon
22. Purple Swamphen
23. Black-winged Stilt
24. Black-fronted Dotterel
25. Masked Lapwing
26. Eastern Rosella
27. Red-rumped Parrot
28. Horsefield’s Bronze-Cuckoo
29. Superb Fairy-wren
30. Striated Fieldwren
31. White-plumed Honeyeater
32. Noisy Miner
33. White-fronted Chat
34. Olive-backed Oriole
35. Australian Magpie
36. Willy Wagtail
37. Little Raven
38. Magpie-lark
39. Golden-headed Cisticola
40. Australian Reed-Warbler
41. Little Grassbird
42. Welcome Swallow
43. Tree Martin
44. Common Starling
45. European Goldfinch