W erribeewag-tales Brimbank Park April Day Out

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1 APRIL 2016 W erribeewag-tales Brimbank Park April Day Out Christine Shelley On a perfect autumnal morning, complete with a light smoke haze, a sizeable crowd of Wagtails would journey along the traffic-burdened roads leading to Brimbank Park. As you draw near, the views ahead are of vast tracts of housing and great sweeps of highways, while the park remains obscurely below your sight-line. You understand why, when you turn at the sign and descend a steep slope, to find at its bottom that Brimbank Park is a huge open space on a bend of the Maribyrnong River, which is delineated by steep hills on one side, and by closer, more vertical valley walls on the other. Brimbank Park (opened in 1976) is said to be 55 metres below the Keilor Plain. The protective valley walls are the sedimentary rocks of a long disappeared sea; you can see these layers quite well in places, like the curving deposits marking the cutting near the weir. Spilling falls of basalt rocks in the valley folds, and knobbly hillocks dotted here and there, amply demonstrate the topping of the ancient seabed by the fiery Brown Falcon exertions of extinct volcanoes. Arriving at Carpark B First Walk The first species for the day were seen on the descent to our meeting place in the prosaically named Carpark B: multitudes of Australian Magpies and Magpie-larks, lots of Little Ravens, Noisy Miners (true to their name), swarms of Red Wattlebirds (they like to do this in autumn), and a first welcoming Willie Wagtail. While we waited under the pleasant, shady trees of the carpark for our leader of the day, Iian Denham, our attention was frequently caught by the crowds of purposeful Superb Fairywrens hopping around on the ground, while the trees were lively with the antics of Whiteplumed Honeyeaters, Red Wattlebirds and Rainbow Lorikeets. The scene, however, established the bird-watching theme for the day; there were good numbers in many species we observed, but not a great variety of species. Our first riparian ramble for the day took us downstream (more of a creek at this stage than the mighty Maribyrnong River). Soothing water views and the shady Black-faced Cuckooshrike Photos: Len Towerzey canopies of the riverside vegetation, especially the lovely old River Red Gums, made for an agreeable stroll. Before long we had excellent views of our first raptor of the day, an immature Brown Falcon perched high-up in a bare tree, an unflappable bird surveying territory, which one day might be his. The second of our raptors was a Brown Goshawk, gliding low through the tree-tops and then downstream, although only a few of our group had fleeting glimpses. PAGE 1

2 DAY AT BRIMBANK: CONT Most of us, however, sighted our first Sulphur-crested Cockatoos here, as they worked away, strangely silent, trimming off some random branches of a gum tree. Among other birds observed were two of the only three species of duck we saw this day, Pacific Black Duck and Chestnut Teal, and some Black-faced Cuckooshrikes. By now the promised northerly wind was felt, and the sun started to bite, causing some of us to envy the ducks floating nonchalantly along the river or sitting coolly beside the water. It was certainly time for morning tea. Taking a Break We had been duly warned by our thoughtful leader before coming on this outing that Mark, Purveyor of Kathy s Fine Cakes, would not be attending today, so we had all duly brought our own goodies to munch. Not quite the same though, as the anticipation and surprise of the Cake-ofthe-Day being presented for our delectation. Yet we were very lucky to share in some perfectly-formed and totally delicious Chocolate Caramel Slices made by Kevin s daughter. The cravings of the caffeine addicts sated, it was now time for the second walk. This time we headed upstream and across a causeway, to walk a loop on the more steeply rising side of the valley. White-faced Heron Photo: Dieter Bosnjakovic Walking the Loop Beside the causeway a graceful White-faced Heron examined the river shallows before speedily exiting at the sight of bird-watchers they always know what we are there for! The slope here was densely covered with bushes and ground-cover (not all native unfortunately), yet it did provide a refuge for small birds. Among the birds spotted were more of the ever-abundant Superb Fairywrens, and a first sighting of White-browed Scrubwrens, Red-browed Finches and at least one Grey Fantail, while Count for the Day: 34 Species some heard or saw Silvereyes. As the variety of species remained limited, the excitement that many felt at the reasonably close-up view Winner: of three European Goldfinches was understandable. Perched peacefully in a shady bush, they did look striking with their red and gold patches David Jenkins glowing against the vibrant green of the foliage. On the way back to lunch in the well-appointed picnic area of Carpark B, we added another parrot to our list; a pair of brightly-coloured Galahs zipped past eager to find a leafy resting place, like so many other birds, during the hottest hours of the day. Fortunately some birds seem to come alive at this time, which meant we saw our third and final raptor for the day. A pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles was effortlessly aloft in the blazing, colour-sapping sunshine above the hilltop up from where we sat eating in the shade. PAGE 2

3 After lunch we managed a final walk around the river in the direction of the weir. On the way a solo Red-rumped Parrot shot over the top of us, and that was to be the last new parrot of our day. The tall River Red Gums beside the weir formed a welcoming canopy, beneath which we would minutely examine trunks and branches for mythical tree-dwellers. A lost cause - today the weir hosted few of its usual denizens. No cormorants or darters stretched out their feathers along the water s edge, though a fine orange-beaked Dusky Moorhen emerged from the margins, and under the trees on the soft, cool grass a flock of Maned Ducks mingled in a picturesque gathering. As for the mythical birds we came to admire in this spot, sadly the Tawny Frogmouths had not chosen to grace this venue with their presence today. It was soon time to count the birds, and our collective list was unusually brief the smallest species count at 34 that we have had for a long time. Our winner of the birdcount guessing competition was David, who aptly calculated the closest to the tally. It is probably understandable that the species count was low on this warm, windy day in a park that is badly in need of sustained rainfall. Despite this, most would agree that, as always, it was a pleasure to be out with the Wagtails for the day, in the satisfying pursuit of observing birds in their natural habitat. Some might agree that it gave us the chance to appreciate some of the common species we might take for granted, because we see them so readily. Standing below trees full of Little Ravens, for instance, was very entertaining and instructive when you listened to their discordant, yet expressive conversations the vocalising attempts by some of the clearly more immature birds were particularly amusing. Finally, our thanks go to our leader for the day, Iian for an enjoyable and well organised outing, to Karen and Kevin for sharing the slices, and to all who ventured out to provide the good company that is synonymous with Wagtails outing DAY AT BRIMBANK: CONT To the Weir Photo: Helen Rowley Bird Call for the day BIRD LIST: BRIMBANK PARK APRIL 5TH 2016 Maned Duck Pacific Black Duck Chestnut Teal White-faced Heron Brown Goshawk Wedge-tailed Eagle Brown Falcon Dusky Moorhen Spotted Dove Crested Pigeon Galah Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Rainbow Lorikeet Red-rumped Parrot Superb Fairywren White-plumed Honeyeater Noisy Miner Red Wattlebird Spotted Pardalote Striated Pardalote White-browed Scrubwren Brown Thornbill Australian Magpie Black-faced Cuckooshrike Australian Golden Whistler Willie Wagtail Grey Fantail Magpie-lark Little Raven Welcome Swallow Silvereye Common Blackbird House Sparrow European Goldfinch PAGE 3

4 OUTING PHOTOS Photos: Helen Rowley, Mike Platt, Dieter Bosnjakovic PAGE 4

5 Featured bird After several attempts at getting a close photo of the Red-necked Phalarope, we had practically given up on our chances. Photo: Dorothy Jenkins However, chance came to Dorothy while she was watching some Stints and Sandpipers feeding-up for their journey. Among the handful of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers that landed by her feet was: The Red-necked Phalarope. NEXT OUTING: MILL PARK LAKES MAY 3RD 2016 Editor May outing is to the Mill Park Lakes area in the Northern Suburbs. This is a bus excursion and a note about booking will be set soon. For those travelling direct, the meeting time onsite is 9:45 am BIRDLIFE WERRIBEE CONTACTS werribee@birdlife.org.au Website: birdlife.org.au/ locations/birdlife-werribee President Dave Torr E: werribee@birdlife.org.au Secretary/Membership Helen Rowley E: blw.committee@gmail.com Treasurer Iian Denham E: iidenham@yahoo.com Bird Surveys Geraldine Kelly E: g-kelly2009@live.com Events Coordinator Position Vacant Newsletter David Jenkins E: birdsaspoetry@icloud.com PAGE 5