An afternoon at Werribee Treatment Plant

Camera, binos, food, drink - time to go. Picked up Pete about 1 pm and we headed off to Werribee. Dreams of a nice warm day with a light breeze were quickly dashed upon arrival as the wind rushing through the windows when we slowed for the first birds blew Pete's cap off. We decided to head down to Gate 4 and come back to Gates 1 and 2 later.

There were a few target species for me, mainly the ducks that don't visit Alice Springs - Musk and Blue-billed, as well as Freckled which we occasionally get in Central Australia. Pete had brought his scope, and our first stop inside the gate using the scope confirmed suspicions of Freckled Ducks sitting on an small boulder island. Tick, we were away. The wind made it difficult to use the scope but we did manage to I.D. a few others with the scope including the Bar-tailed Godwits which were too far away for binoculars or cameras to correctly I.D. One of the highlights was watching a male Musk Duck display and whistle for a nearby female. The bird hide was at least open, but the nearby seaweed aroma made birding for too long at once a bit of a challenge.

In all for the day were 70+ species, and probably a few more if we had been better with our wader I.D.

Here are a few of the better photos, as the wind made even photography quite hard for most of the time.

Musk Duck - weird sound, weird head, weird tail, just weird really!

Blue-billed Duck

Freckled Duck

Cape Barren Goose was a nice surprise

Pete on the hunt for a Whiskered Tern in flight shot

You Yangs

Straw-necked Ibis in their hundreds at sunset

A beautiful sunset to finish the day

More Phillip Island bird photos

In the second week of January, we spent the majority of our holiday on Phillip Island. There are so many different birding habitats on the Island, and it was fun to try to get to most of them and see a wide variety of birds.

One of the most productive area is at the west end of the Island, where the Nobbies and the Penguin Parade area is located, as well as Smiths Beach and Swan Lake. From Swamp Harriers in the sky to Kelp Gulls on the rocky outcrop, Little Penguins and a number of different Terns, and some unusual cormorants, not to mention the ducks and other waterbirds at Swan Lake, and the bush birds in between, this little area really should be visited for a time much longer than our time constraints allowed, but we managed a lot of birding in any case. There is a map of the Island available from most of the shops or Information desks and the west end should really be circled by any birder heading to the Island. The birds in this post are summer birds, and although I haven't been to the Island during Winter for many a year, I imagine the majority are still there during winter also, with a few others such as Albatross and Petrels a possibility in the cooler months. Perhaps the well-renowned blogger from Pete's Flap (click to go to Pete's Flap blog here ) could be challenged to provide a Winter blog post with some of these Antarctic visitors.

You may notice some joint observations between Pete's blogging and mine, as we are related by family and it is mainly thanks to Pete I managed to start this passion of birds and bird photography. Each year we manage to enjoy some lovely birding experiences during the school holidays and Phillip Island is one of those places we congregate due to their holiday house. Even around the house provides some enjoyable bird-watching, and it is only a short walk to the beach,  or a short drive to the places mentioned above. And so to the photos, starting with one of the local Rosellas.

Eastern Rosella

Eastern Spinebill

Little Wattlebird

New Holland Honeyeater

Silver gull

Kelp Gull

Kelp Gull with Chick at the Nobbies

Australasian Shoveller

Freckled Duck

Musk Duck

Black-faced Cormorant