After a night of teeming rain and strong winds, seven hardy souls braved strong winds and ominous clouds for the November bird walk.

However we had a really memorable day visiting six of Penne Kwiat’s favourite locations, on and around the Barwon estuary. Our first stop at Hospital Swamp was a bit light-on for birds, but Blue Rocks on the coast had some really good sightings, including a flock of Red-necked Stints, a Ruddy Turnstone, and five adult Hooded Plovers.

We were pleased to see the ‘Hoodies’ but concerned that they weren’t nesting as they should be at this time of year.

The highlight of morning tea beside the Barwon River was a number of Royal Spoonbills in breeding plumage.

The Barwon Estuary had hundreds of waders  actively feeding on the sandbanks before the tide came in. They were mainly Red-necked Stints plus a few Curlew Sandpipers, but two Eastern Curlews stood out with their amazingly long, down-curved beaks, and there were a number of Bar-tailed Godwits with long turned-up beaks.

During lunch at Freshwater Lake on the Ocean Grove side, we had much animated discussion over three birds we thought/hoped were unusual, but eventually we decided they were Common Greenshanks.

At the last moment a large flock of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers landed nearby.

Finally, a new place for most of us was Begola Wetland Reserve hidden away in Ocean Grove suburbia.

After much looking, some of us glimpsed the prize, which was a Lathams Snipe. We had spent all day on our expedition and were very pleased with the 72 species observed.

Ellinor Campbell

Photos by Penne Kwiat, Conrad White, Ellinor Campbell, Joanne Heatlie.

Below are all the birds identified:

1. Black Swan
2. Australian Wood Duck
3. Grey Teal
4. Chestnut Teal
5. Pacific Black Duck
6. Hoary-headed Grebe
7. Rock Dove
8. Crested Pigeon
9. Shearwater sp.
10. Little Pied Cormorant
11. Great Cormorant
12. Little Black Cormorant
13. Pied Cormorant
14. Australian Pelican
15. Eastern Great Egret
16. White-faced Heron
17. Little Egret
18. Australian White Ibis
19. Straw-necked Ibis
20. Royal Spoonbill
21. Whistling Kite
22. Swamp Harrier
23. Nankeen Kestrel
24. Purple Swamphen
25. Australian Spotted Crake
26. Dusky Moorhen
27. Eurasian Coot
28. Black-winged Stilt
29. Pacific Golden Plover
30. Red-capped Plover
31. Hooded Plover
32. Red-kneed Dotterel
33. Masked Lapwing
34. Latham's Snipe
35. Bar-tailed Godwit
36. Eastern Curlew
37. Common Greenshank
38. Ruddy Turnstone
39. Red-necked Stint
40. Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
41. Curlew Sandpiper
42. Caspian Tern
43. Whiskered Tern
44. Crested Tern
45. Pacific Gull
46. Silver Gull
47. Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo
48. Rainbow Lorikeet
49. Eastern Rosella
50. Shining Bronze-Cuckoo
51. Superb Fairy-wren
52. Yellow-rumped Thornbill
53. Singing Honeyeater
54. Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
55. Red Wattlebird
56. White-fronted Chat
57. New Holland Honeyeater
58. Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
59. Rufous Whistler
60. Australian Magpie
61. Grey Fantail
62. Willie Wagtail
63. Little Raven
64. Magpie-lark
65. Australian Reed-Warbler
66. Little Grassbird
67. Silvereye
68. Welcome Swallow
69. Fairy Martin
70. Common Starling
71. Common Myna
72. House Sparrow