Microbat monitoring is back

You are welcome to join us for the spring Microbats survey after a few months of no activity over winter. We meet at the Barbecue area near the toilets and the entrance to the Park on Todd Road at 5pm Sat 19th October. If you…

event for kids: 24 Sept – bird nestboxes

Some birds in Westgate Park like the Sacred Kingfisher and the Southern Boobook (owl) prefer to nest in tree hollows but these hollows take many years to form so we have erected special nest boxes where it will be safe to lay eggs and…

Hollows for Habitat

As part of our project – Hollows for Habitat – we are running a series of tours, field trips and monitoring events. This is to see if the 50 nest boxes erected in the park are supporting microbats and birds that would normally use…

4 April Bird survey

Highlights of the April survey were the high number of Grey Fantails – possibly four separate groups. And a sighting of an early visitor in the shape of a female Flame Robin, along the Yarra in the planted shoreline belts. This area is frequently…

7 Mar Bird survey

Forty-six bird species were sighted along the Westgate Park survey route on a humid but clear March day. When added to opportunistic sightings between surveys, a total of 64 species were sighted in February and early March. On the day itself, lake levels were…

Bird survey 6 December

Female superb fairy-wren with nesting material (Pic: Ursula Dutkiewicz)

Hot, blustery, and humid weather suppressed a great deal of bird activity, but with good habitat conditions the superb fairy-wrens continue to breed. Overall, however the park looks good with larger trees well recovered from the near-drought conditions that prevailed early in 2021. Weeds…

Bird survey 1 November

Eastern rosella (Pic: Ursula Dutkiewicz)

This survey recorded the first eastern rosella seen in the park 2016. Clamorous reed warblers are back in number, and the high number of white-browed scrub-wrens. The water in both major lakes is at very high levels, with almost all the smaller islands in…

Bird Survey 2 Aug

Photo by Ursula Dutkiewicz

The park has had good rain, and water levels have risen in the lakes and wetlands. The day of the survey was windy, which partly explains the modest tally of 40 species. Moreover raptors are rare these days, and water levels generally too high for…

Fungi Foray at Westgate Park 24 May – registration

Call 0407 691 512 for more information.