Oct 2018 bird survey
Forty-seven species on 1 October was a pleasing result.
Despite a very dry September, water levels of both large lakes and smaller salt water lakes remain very high, while other freshwater wetlands including the dam are low or completely dried out. The usual wetland species are mostly present in low to very low numbers, except for Chestnut Teal.
Of the Interesting/notable sightings, the Brown Songlark noted by Will Morris on eBird has not been recorded in the park since September 2009; last month it was feeding in mown grass by the east bank of the Yarra River just south of Westgate Bridge.
photos Andrew McCutcheon
| Westgate Park Bird Count | ||||||||||||||||
| By: Andrew McCutcheon, Rob Youl, Peter Parrington, John McRae, Jackie Kerr (part), and Lachie Reid (part) | Date: 3 Sept 2018 | |||||||||||||||
| Weather: Mostly fine with a light north wind later in the morning. Temp 14⁰ C – 24⁰ C | ||||||||||||||||
| FCoverage: Entire survey route completed | Time start: 0915 | Time finish: 1330 | ||||||||||||||
| Species | Number seen | Species | Number seen | |||||||||||||
| Brown Quail | Galah | |||||||||||||||
| Black Swan | 6 | Little Corella | ||||||||||||||
| Australian Shelduck | Sulphur-crested Cockatoo | |||||||||||||||
| Australian Wood Duck | Rainbow Lorikeet | 20+ (*1) | ||||||||||||||
| Pink-eared Duck | Musk Lorikeet | |||||||||||||||
| Australasian Shoveler | Little Lorikeet | |||||||||||||||
| Grey Teal | 2 | Purple-crowned Lorikeet | ||||||||||||||
| Chestnut Teal | 44 (*2) | Eastern Rosella | ||||||||||||||
| Pacific Black Duck | 7 | Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Hardhead | 6 | Fan-tailed Cuckoo | ||||||||||||||
| Australasian Grebe | 1 | Sacred Kingfisher | ||||||||||||||
| Hoary-headed Grebe | 4 | Superb Fairy-wren | 30+ (15 blue) | |||||||||||||
| Rock Dove | 2 | White-browed Scrubwren | 7 | |||||||||||||
| Spotted Turtle-Dove | 6 (*1) | Brown Thornbill | 6 | |||||||||||||
| Crested Pigeon | 4 | Spotted Pardalote | ||||||||||||||
| Darter | Striated Pardalote | |||||||||||||||
| Little Pied Cormorant | *10 | Yellow-faced Honeyeater | ||||||||||||||
| Great Cormorant | *2 | White-plumed Honeyeater | 55+ (*4) | |||||||||||||
| Little Black Cormorant | 2 | Noisy Miner | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Pied Cormorant | *2 | Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater | ||||||||||||||
| Australian Pelican | *6 | Little Wattlebird | 8 (*1) | |||||||||||||
| White-necked Heron | Red Wattlebird | 40+ (*6) | ||||||||||||||
| Eastern Great Egret | 1 | New Holland Honeyeater | 25+ | |||||||||||||
| Cattle Egret | White-naped Honeyeater | |||||||||||||||
| White-faced Heron | Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Nankeen Night-Heron | White-winged Triller | |||||||||||||||
| Australian White Ibis | 20 (15 in flight) | Golden Whistler | ||||||||||||||
| Straw-necked Ibis | Grey Shrike-thrush | |||||||||||||||
| Royal Spoonbill | Grey Butcherbird | |||||||||||||||
| Yellow-billed Spoonbill | Australian Magpie | 8 (*2) | ||||||||||||||
| Black-shouldered Kite | Pied Currawong | |||||||||||||||
| Little Eagle | Grey fantail | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| Nankeen Kestrel | Willie Wagtail | 6 | ||||||||||||||
| Brown Falcon | Little Raven | 11 | ||||||||||||||
| Australian Hobby | Magpie-lark | 10 | ||||||||||||||
| Peregrine Falcon | Flame Robin | |||||||||||||||
| Purple Swamphen | 1 | Rose Robin | ||||||||||||||
| Buff-banded Rail | Golden-headed Cisticola | |||||||||||||||
| Baillon’s Crake | Australian Reed-Warbler | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Black-tailed Native-hen | Little Grassbird | |||||||||||||||
| Dusky Moorhen | 10 | Silvereye | ||||||||||||||
| Eurasian Coot | 25 | Welcome Swallow | 20+ | |||||||||||||
| Black-winged Stilt | 6 | Fairy Martin | ||||||||||||||
| Black-fronted Dotterel | 5 | Common Blackbird | 10 | |||||||||||||
| Red-kneed Dotterel | Common Starling | 30+ | ||||||||||||||
| Masked Lapwing | Common Myna | 6 | ||||||||||||||
| Latham’s Snipe | Red-browed Finch | |||||||||||||||
| Painted Button-quail | House Sparrow | 5 | ||||||||||||||
| Crested Tern | *4 | Australasian Pipit | ||||||||||||||
| Pacific Gull | European Greenfinch | |||||||||||||||
| Silver Gull | 385 (*300+) | European Goldfinch | 12 (*2) | |||||||||||||
| Number of Bird Species – Wetland dependent & Raptors….22 Land based …. 25 Total | 47Species | |||||||||||||||
| Other animals: One Brush-tailed Possum. Common Froglets heard in dam and wetlands near the Friend’s Compound. | ||||||||||||||||
* seen at/along Yarra River only.
Note: For species seen in large numbers, or for which accurate counting was difficult the number seen is rounded off to the nearest of tens or fives followed by a +.
D- Denotes dependent young plus number of separate broods.
Habitat: Despite a very dry September, water levels of both large lakes and smaller salt water lakes are still very high, while other fresh water wetlands including the dam are low or completely dried out. Most of our usual wetland species are present but in low to very low numbers, except for Chestnut Teal.
Interesting/notable sightings:
- The Brown Songlark seen by Will Morris on eBird is a very occasional visitor to the park. This bird species not recorded in the park since September 2009, was feeding in mown grass by the east bank of the Yarra River just south of Westgate Bridge.
| Opportunistic Sightings – Interesting or unusual sightings reported between surveys | |||
| Date | Species | Number seen | Observer |
| 2 September | White-necked Heron | 1 | George Fotheringham |
| 3 September | Fairy Martin | 1 | George Fotheringham |
| 4 September | Galah | 20 | George Fotheringham |
| 4 September | White-faced Heron | 1 | George Fotheringham |
| 5 September | White-naped Honeyeater | 1 | George Fotheringham |
| 5 September | Nankeen Kestrel | 1 | George Fotheringham |
| 8 September | Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike | 1 | George Fotheringham |
| 9 September | Grey Fantail | 1 | George Fotheringham |
| 14 September | Australian Wood Duck | 2 | George Fotheringham |
| 18 September | Australian White Ibis | 1 | George Fotheringham |
| 28 September | Straw-necked Ibis | 6 | Will Morris (eBird) |
| 28 September | Nankeen Kestrel | 1 | Will Morris (eBird) |
| 28 September | Australian Hobby | 1 | Will Morris (eBird) |
| 28 September | Australian Reed-Warbler | 1 | Will Morris (eBird) |
| 28 September | Brown Songlark | 1 | Will Morris (eBird) |
Pollinators workshop 21 Oct
Interested in being a citizen scientist? Come along to our pollinators workshop and learn to identify insect pollinators then put your knowledge into action at our spring ‘pollinator observatories’ at Westgate Park.
This is the sixth in this series of these events that are helping us understand more about plant-insect interactions. Each time we have seen something unexpected just through observing more closely.
This is a free event. See here for bookings (essential) and more details.
Hope to see you there.
Sept 2018 bird survey
The first Black-winged Stilts have appeared after their winter absence on the edge of the drainage basin above the south-east corner of the Saltwater Lake. Lots of male superb Fairy-wrens are now in their breeding plumage.
Black-winged Stilt, photo Andrew McCutcheon 
Superb Fairy-wren, male photo Andrew McCutcheon
By Andrew McCutcheon & Rob Youl, 3 Sept 2018
Weather: mostly fine with a light south wind later in the morning, temp 10C-15C. Entire survey route completed, start time 0900, finish 1315
| Species | No. seen | Species | No. seen |
| Brown Quail | Galah | ||
| Black Swan | 3+4D | Little Corella | |
| Australian Shelduck | Sulphur-crested Cockatoo | ||
| Australian Wood Duck | Rainbow Lorikeet | 25+ | |
| Pink-eared Duck | Musk Lorikeet | ||
| Australasian Shoveler | Little Lorikeet | ||
| Grey Teal | Purple-crowned Lorikeet | ||
| Chestnut Teal | 29 | Eastern Rosella | |
| Pacific Black Duck | 1 | Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo | |
| Hardhead | 3 | Fan-tailed Cuckoo | |
| Australasian Grebe | 2 | Sacred Kingfisher | |
| Hoary-headed Grebe | 6 | Superb Fairy-wren | 30+ 7 blue |
| Rock Dove | White-browed Scrubwren | 7 | |
| Spotted Turtle-Dove | 16 | Brown Thornbill | |
| Crested Pigeon | 5 | Spotted Pardalote | |
| Darter | Striated Pardalote | ||
| Little Pied Cormorant | Yellow-faced Honeyeater | ||
| Great Cormorant | *4 | White-plumed Honeyeater | 70+ *2 |
| Little Black Cormorant | *2 | Noisy Miner | 6 |
| Pied Cormorant | *2 | Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater | |
| Australian Pelican | *3 | Little Wattlebird | 5 (*1) |
| White-necked Heron | Red Wattlebird | 60+ *4 | |
| Eastern Great Egret | 1 | New Holland Honeyeater | 45+ |
| Cattle Egret | White-naped Honeyeater | 2 | |
| White-faced Heron | Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike | ||
| Nankeen Night-Heron | White-winged Triller | ||
| Australian White Ibis | Golden Whistler | ||
| Straw-necked Ibis | Grey Shrike-thrush | ||
| Royal Spoonbill | Grey Butcherbird | ||
| Yellow-billed Spoonbill | Australian Magpie | 5 (*1) | |
| Black-shouldered Kite | Pied Currawong | ||
| Little Eagle | Grey fantail | ||
| Nankeen Kestrel | Willie Wagtail | 8 | |
| Brown Falcon | Little Raven | 3 | |
| Australian Hobby | Magpie-lark | 8 | |
| Peregrine Falcon | Flame Robin | ||
| Purple Swamphen | 3 | Rose Robin | |
| Buff-banded Rail | Golden-headed Cisticola | ||
| Baillon’s Crake | Australian Reed-Warbler | ||
| Black-tailed Native-hen | Little Grassbird | ||
| Dusky Moorhen | 16 | Silvereye | |
| Eurasian Coot | 25 | Welcome Swallow | 40+ |
| Black-winged Stilt | 7 | Fairy Martin | 2 |
| Black-fronted Dotterel | *2 | Common Blackbird | 14 |
| Red-kneed Dotterel | Common Starling | 130+ | |
| Masked Lapwing | 4 | Common Myna | 10 |
| Latham’s Snipe | Red-browed Finch | ||
| Painted Button-quail | House Sparrow | 55+ | |
| Crested Tern | *1 | Australasian Pipit | |
| Pacific Gull | European Greenfinch | 2 | |
| Silver Gull | 130 *80+ | European Goldfinch |
No. Bird Species – Wetland dependent & Raptors 19 Land based 22, Total 41 species
Other animals: One Red Fox briefly seen in the saltwater lagoon area on the south side of the Saltwater Lake. One Brush-tailed Possum. Common Froglets heard in dam and wetlands near the Friend’s Compound.
* seen at/along Yarra River only.
Note: For species seen in large numbers, or for which accurate counting was difficult the number seen is rounded off to the nearest of tens or fives followed by a +.
D- Denotes dependent young plus number of separate broods.
Habitat: Similar to last month water levels of both large lakes are very high, but wetland bird populations of most species are very low, except for Chestnut Teal, Purple Swamphens and Dusky Moorhens which are present at average numbers.
Noisy Miners are now regularly present along the eastern edge of the park abutting Todd Road. Six birds were recorded today with other honeyeaters, including White-plumed Honeyeaters and Red Wattlebirds still foraging nearby without being driven off.
A Red Fox was briefly seen running away between Saltwater Lagoons 2 and 3. Foxes are a significant threat to the waterbirds, especially when they are breeding. This fox could well be the reason for the loss of two cygnets (one in May, followed by another in June) from the original six that first appeared in late March.
Interesting/notable sightings:
- The Painted Button-quail first seen in the park on 12 June is still present although we were unable to find it today. The bird (or number of birds?) has extended it range over a much larger area mostly on the north side of the Large Freshwater Lake, leaving lots of fresh Circular shallow scrapes as evidence.
- Two White-naped Honeyeaters, one being pursued by a New Holland Honeyeater, were seen in the vegetation around the dam.
Threatened species day 7/9
-
Brunonia australis – Protected flora -
Correa alba – Protected flora -
Grevillea infecunda – Listed as vulnerable -
Podolepis jaceoides – becoming rarer in Melbourne -
Pultenaea tenuifolia – possibly extinct in Melbourne
-
Microseris lanceolata or scapigera – once prevalent in Melb, now rarer -
Lotus australis var. australis – rare in Melbourne, possibly Vic -
Brachyscome parvula – locally rare -
Mentha australis – locally rare -
Zygophyllum billardieri – rare in Victoria
Planning News runs Park story
The history and future of Westgate Park was featured in the August edition of the Planning Institute of Australia, Vic Division, newsletter. As usual, this was a joint effort so thanks to Lecki and Janet for input.
Lyn
Luis Mata on pollinators, ABC RN
Hear Luis talking about pollinator insects in the City of Melbourne, the pollinator observatories at Westgate Park, the import role insects play in supporting healthy parklands and why understorey plants are necessary to foster this.
ABC Radio National Blueprint for Living, Saturday 18 August 2018, listen here.
Quick facts:
- over 600 species of insects have been discovered by Luis Mata’s RMIT team
- there are estimated to be more than 1 million species of insects worldwide and 1,500 in Melbourne
Download below the beautifully illustrated children’s book: The little things that run the city, created by Kate Cranney, Sarah Bekessy and Luis Mata, in partnership with the City of Melbourne
Blue-banded Bee, photo Luis Mata
National Tree Day(s) 27 & 29 July
Westgate Biodiversity: Bili Nursery & Landcare and 77 eager volunteers planted over 2000 indigenous plants at three events to celebrate National Tree Day:
- Friday. City of Melbourne staff, their Citizen Foresters plus 14 volunteers put in more than 500 understorey plants along the Maribyrnong River. The site had magnificent Eucalypts, Sheoaks and various other trees but no groundcovers, wildflowers and small shrubs.
- Sunday. At Elwood Beach 35 volunteers put in over 1000 coastal plants to increase the habitat for the small colony of Superb Fairy Wrens and other birds that use this section of foreshore.
- Sunday. At Westgate Park 28 volunteers from 15 Trees planted 500 wetland plants in the new western section of Southern Wetlands. This wetland will become excellent habitat for birds, frogs and insects.
These planting activities help form corridors for small animals and critters that are overlooked when only trees and non indigenous shrubs are used. Indigenous understorey species provide good cover and they flower at different times of the year, providing food for caterpillars and vital nectar and pollen for native birds, bees and other insects. These are in turn food for the Superb Fairy Wren and of course other small birds.
Did you know?
- Superb Fairy Wrens form family groups – generally one male, several females and the young. They feed on insects on the ground and in low bushes.The female incubates the eggs alone, but the whole family group helps feed the young.
- Bili Landcare plants all year round at Westgate Park – Monday to Wednesday and the third Sunday of each month and Bili Nursery operates weekdays and Saturday mornings and grows over 200 species of indigenous plants. We supply 100,000 plants every year for projects like these.
Check out our page for volunteering options that might interest you.
Monarch visits
The Wanderer – Danaus plexippus or Monarch, shown here on Pimelea sp. – Rice Flower, is an uncommon and somewhat puzzling visitor to Victoria. According to Museum Victoria’s Butterflies: Identification and Life History:
Populations are temporary in Victoria and migrating adults recolonise Victoria annually. Two or three generations can occur if migrating adults arrive in early spring.
…. In northern Australia the food plants are widespread weeds but in Victoria Gomphocarpus fruticosus – Swan Plant is grown more as a garden ornamental.
….. It is known as the Monarch in North America where it is noted for its large, long-distance migrations to overwintering sites in California and Mexico. Some limited migration also occurs in Australia and small overwintering colonies are known from SA and near Sydney.
Pollinators workshop
At our winter workshop participants learned to identify several insect pollinators, including native and non-native bees and butterflies. We then visited the pollinator observatories to make observations of plant-insect interactions.
This was the fifth in this series of workshops and each time we have seen something unexpected just through observing more closely.
Stay tuned for the results!