Hume

I took the Easter long weekend as an opportunity to get up to north central Victoria. I haven’t been to the Benalla / Wangaratta area since September 2024, and Shepparton / Numurkah not since June 2024, so it was past time that I came back.

Friday 18 April

Winton Wetlands: Woodland Walk

I arrived at the Woodland Walk at around 8.45am. The weather was clear and it was around 18°C, but warming quickly. I’d not done this section before, and I’m glad that I did because I got a lot of value out of it. A small stand of trees here (not much of a woodland!) nevertheless held many Benalla LGA firsts for me, including Australian king-parrot, crimson rosella, red wattlebird, striated pardalote, weebill, grey shrikethrush, laughing kookaburra and tree martin. Shockingly, I also had not seen white-necked heron which I got here too. A sign in this section suggests that the wetlands are home to regent honeyeaters, but that seems (sadly) permanently out of date now.

Out on the (very dry) wetland itself there were lots of sulphur-crested cockatoo, galah, welcome swallows and more eastern rosellas than I’ve ever seen anywhere. I got a few LGA ticks here too: a perched wedge-tailed eagle made other birds nervous, while a few black-shouldered kites were basically ignored by the cockatoos. I also ticked golden-headed cisticola here. Two doves – a common bronzewing and crested pigeons – were present, though I only heard the former and only saw the latter. There was also a red-bellied black snake happily sitting on the path and preventing me from venturing deeper into the wetland in pursuit of what I thought were zebra finch calls. No worries then mate, we’ll leave that unexplored.

Winton Wetlands: Duck Pond

After about an hour in the Woodland Walk I grabbed a coffee and went over to the Duck Pond on the northern edge. I’ve always heard the duck pond is good, and I can now see why. For one thing, there was actually water on it, which is a treat. I started here at 10.20am, and it was around 24°C.

There were predominantly grey teals on the pond itself, with some Pacific black ducks mixed in, and I did get two duck LGA ticks: I located a single female hardhead when she (helpfully) dove from within a flock of teals and drew my attention, as well as half a dozen Australasian shovelers. Not new, but a single Australian pelican sat out on the lake, as did three little pied cormorants and a large group of hoary-headed grebes – I don’t think I’ve ever seen them flock up before, but they were all moving together as a tight-knit group across the water.

Similarly, while shooting both straw-necked and Australian white ibis on the far side of the pond, I accidentally located a red-kneed dotterel that was feeding amongst the flock, another first. Strangely I hadn’t found an Australasian darter on my previous visits to Winton, but I also fixed that here. A large flock of little corellas – I estimated 140 – were another tick, as well as both white-plumed and brown-headed honeyeater, spotted pardalote, and dusky woodswallow.

Warby-Ovens NP: Gap Track

Ducking across into Wangaratta LGA, I started my first Warby-Ovens checklist at Gap Track at 11.30. It was 23°C. Gap Track is probably my favourite single spot within Warby-Ovens, but I didn’t stay long here today. This was mostly because it’s a very exposed location, predominantly grassland alongside a large paddock, and on a warm day with no clouds the light is absolutely terrible for photographs.

The other reason was that there were two wedge-tailed eagle that were circling the spot for the whole half-hour I was there, which really kept everything else pretty hidden and quiet.

I didn’t get any LGA ticks in Wangaratta at any spot today, but I still enjoyed it: here at Gap I saw another laughing kookaburra, red-rumped parrot, a grey shrikethrush and (as ever here) willie wagtails and Australian magpies. I heard a golden whistler, a peaceful dove – a photo target bird for me on this trip – and also had a turquoise parrot somewhere on the ridge that was calling but which I couldn’t locate. That’s a perennial photo target for me – one day I’ll get something decent!

As a side note, last time I was at Gap Track I timed it poorly and it was the height of swooping season. The magpies were all over me then; it was nice to reacquaint myself in better circumstances.

Warby-Ovens NP: Salisbury Falls

By 12.10 I had arrived at Salisbury Falls, where it was 25 degrees. This is a wooded area, unlike Gap Track, and the leaves filtered the harsh sunlight quite nicely. I managed to get photos of at least two of my big targets for this trip here – peaceful dove and weebill – and I’m pretty happy with both. I also got decent shots of eastern spinebill and yellow-faced honeyeater, but the speckled warbler – another bird I’ve never successfully shot – of course stayed in cover the whole time.

Other highlights here included the day’s first yellow-tufted honeyeater, white-throated treecreeper, eastern yellow robin, striated thornbill and a rufous whistler calling to me but not come down to say hello.

I’m always on the lookout for white-browed babbler here, as one of my favourite photographs I’ve ever taken was this species in this location – back when I was a much worse togger than I am now – and while I found a single individual, I couldn’t (responsibly) get a shot. There’s a house that is adjacent to this location and it was sitting on their fence; I’d have been shooting with one of their windows behind the bird and that always seems wrong.

I also had more spotted pardalote – seen this time, not just heard – pied currawong, superb fairywren, grey fantail, welcome swallow and red-browed finch. I thought I heard a noisy friarbird but couldn’t be confident enough to mark it. Lastly, after missing brown falcon at Gap Track – I blame the eagles because there are usually two in residence there – I did spot one perched on a tree as I was driving out.

Warby-Ovens NP: Boweya Forest

My last stop for today was a bit of an exploratory one. Boweya Forest is part of Warby-Ovens NP, a remnant box ironbark forest on the western side of the range. I’d not been before so I wasn’t sure what I’d find, but satelite images made it seem promising and it was on the way from Wangaratta to Shepparton so I thought I’d give it a go.

I didn’t arrive until around 14.00, and by then it was 28°C, so activity was pretty limited. I got a few Moira LGA ticks here: both common bronzewing and peaceful dove, yellow-tufted honeyeater and fuscous honeyeater, weebill, white-browed babbler, dusky woodswallow and a few little raven that I heard but didn’t see.

As well as these there were quite a few white-plumed honeyeater, a pied currawong circling them menacingly, eastern rosella and a single grey shrikethrush. I saw an empty white-winged chough mud nest when I first arrived, and as I was leaving I found a small family of the birds themselves digging around in the litter.

The forest is very dry at the moment and I arrived late on a hot day, so this was a less productive stop than it should have been. I’ll definitely come back here next time I’m in the area – I didn’t find a water source but that will be my goal when I visit next.

Saturday 20 April

Gemmill Swamp

I started at Gemmill Swamp at 7.00, it was 16°C and cloudy. I parked on the south west corner at the Scout Hall and walked along a trail that curved around the western edge. This was my first time at Gemmill – I tried in September 2023 at the end of a week and a half in the Riverina and the ground was so wet that I was both worried about getting bogged and too tired to bother pushing through it.

This trip was definitely worth it – I picked up 20 LGA ticks and four trip ticks. One of those was the first bird that I saw this morning – four blue-faced honeyeaters squabbling with some noisy miners over something. There were plenty of galahs calling here as well, as well as a spotted dove in one of the adjacent houses. A small flock of musk lorikeets went over head.

The trail behind the Scout Hall runs in both directions. I turned right initially, though this is a fairly short walk back to a suburban street. Nevertheless I had Australian ravens calling here, Australian magpies, rainbow lorikeets, sulphur-crested cockatoos and a white-throated treecreeper.

Doubling back and the superb fairywren started to show themselves, as did a striated pardalote, a grey shrikethrush, more noisy miner and magpie. A common blackbird was present in one of the neighbouring backyards.

There was very little water on this part of the swamp. The welcome swallows were loving it – I estimated 60 were feeding over the ponds – as were half a dozen white-faced herons, a few masked lapwings and plenty more Australian magpies and magpie-larks. I had one Australian white ibis flyover, but otherwise for a swamp I saw remarkably few water birds. There were almost two dozen white-winged choughs here.

Heading up around the western edge I had willie-wagtail and grey fantail, little raven, silvereye, black-faced cuckooshrike, weebill, white-plumed honeyeaters and both pardalote species. Three crimson rosellas were not my first of the trip, but they were my first of the yellow subspecies.

The most exciting thing by far was a single white-throated needletail that I saw through the canopy – I got a good enough look to confirm it but then couldn’t get a shot even after rushing down the path after it. I ignored two noisy friarbirds in pursuit of the swift; they were gone when I tried to relocate them afterwards.

Turning back and I added very little else – a golden whistler, a small flock of little corellas – but the most exciting was two little lorikeets, which I heard but could not find. My walk here was about two hours, 4.3km, and I was done just before 9.00.

Australian Botanic Gardens Shepparton

Late morning I ventured out again, this time to the Australian Botanic Gardens Shepparton. I’ve been here once before as a stop on my way to Tocumwal last July. It’s a nice place, fairly quiet, with a mix of natural ponds, carefully designed native garden, and remnant forest. I arrived at 11.30 and the temperature was 24°C and mostly clear.

The species mix was mostly the same as last time I was here: eastern rosella and galah were the dominant parrots, with smaller numbers of sulphur-crested cockatoo and rainbow lorikeet; straw-necked ibis on the surrounding fields; maned duck and grey teal the only ducks present, a single laughing kookaburra, two black-fronted dotterel, plenty of magpies, both pardalote species calling.

There were two major differences this time – I didn’t get a raptor, where last time I got both whistling kite and brown falcon, and I swapped corella – this time around I had two long-billed, where last time I had two little. Long-billed corella were a Shepparton tick for me, so that was nice – the only one I got here.

I remember last time thinking last time that the water levels were looking low – this time they were even lower, with only two of four ponds having any water on them at all, and only one of these was significant.

Victoria Park Lake

A quick lap of Victoria Park Lake on my way home turned out to be more fruitful – at least in terms of lifers. It’s more like an urban park, especially on the northern and western edges, with open lawns, playgrounds and a swimming pool. Nevertheless my birding in Shepparton is so limited that I managed to add another eight LGA ticks here, all of them common water birds: black swan, Pacific black duck, Eurasian coot, Australasian grebe, Australasian darter, little pied cormorant, great cormorant, Australian pelican.

There were also plenty of dusky moorhen, maned duck, little corella, noisy miner, Australian white ibis and grey teal here. Surprisingly: no magpie.

Sunday 21 April

Numurkah: Station Street Wetlands

I left Shepparton without another trip to Gemmill and instead went straight to Numurkah and the Station Street Wetlands on the southern end of town. It’s a small site but there were plumed whistling-ducks recorded here a week ago and I was full of hope – which was not rewarded.

Nevertheless it was a decent stop. I arrived at 9.15, it was overcast with intermittent rain. There was a large presence of Pacific black and maned ducks here, as well as a few grey teals, and more than a hundred little corella (dangerously) feeding on spilt grain all over the roads. I added six Moira ticks here – the maned duck and corella, as well as great cormorant, black-faced cuckooshrike and two introduced species: rock dove and common myna. As well as these there was a single black swan, crested pigeons, Australasian grebes, magpies and noisy miners.

I also stopped briefly at a park adjacent to Broken Creek to again check for whistling ducks. Still no luck, but I did add both musk lorikeet and Australian pelican to my Moira list here, and also had galahs, striated pardalotes and welcome swallows.

Numurkah: Lake Numurkah

I’ve driven past but never stopped at Lake Numurkah before. I arrived at 10.00 and it was cloudy. I walked a short way about the eastern edge, which turned out to be a good decision – I had purple-crowned lorikeets here and a great egret fishing on one of the central islands, both LGA ticks. I also got my first sighting of a superb parrot, which was my main reason for coming to Numurkah – two of them briefly sat calling at the top of a tree. I’d forgotten what they sound like, but that flat squawk – very reminiscent of the closely-related regent parrot call – identified them immediately.

In all I had 29 species here, mostly water birds – nearly 50 swans, more Pacific black ducks and teals, lots of dusky moorhen, Eurasian coots, Australasian grebes and little pied cormorants. There were also plenty of noisy miners, both crimson and eastern rosellas, white-plumed honeyeaters and striated pardalotes.

Kinnairds Wetland

What a gem. The main reason for this whole trip was to return to Kinnairds, a place I visited once in the afternoon as I made my way through to Tocumwal last July. It’s perhaps the most reliable place in Victoria for superb parrots – they were present again – but is a fabulous, quiet place to stop in regardless.

I arrived at 10.40 and spent around three hours there. The superbs were present even before I got out of my car, as were eastern rosellas – the dominant parrot species here – as well as crimson rosellas, willie wagtails and noisy miners. I took the track along the eastern edge of the reserve and wetland, finding more superbs, white-winged choughs, a kookaburra and striated pardalotes. The adjacent farm fields had both galahs and a man in a ute who very drove past me slowly and full of suspicion.

I completed the full wetland track – around 5km – and got a few more LGA ticks: pied butcherbird, tawny frogmouth, blue-faced honeyeater, rufous whistlers in a mix flock with golden whistlers and a grey shrikethrush (interesting!). There were also grey fantails, spotted pardalotes and both local ravens. Sadly, though they were a constant presence, the superb parrots never sat anywhere I could get a photograph.

I got perhaps my most exciting find of the whole trip at Kinnairds: my first lifer, a black falcon. I almost dismissed it without looking as I’d been hearing whistling kites calling for half the morning (and saw them minutes later), but a look immediately confirmed it as a falcon; and a quick ID snap revealed it as a black. Finally!

On the way out there were red-rumped parrots and a single dusky moorhen on what was otherwise a very dry wetland. I also watched with some amusement as a dozen white-winged choughs fought against a magpie and two magpie-larks – a fierce battle of territorial black-and-white birds that the choughs claimed victory for!