Last month we visited Minya Winery at Breamlea, which is always a pleasure, for the scenery a much as the birdlife.

It is situated on a large meander in the Thompson river, and the main building overlooks a delightful billabong with an island in the centre.

We started by looking down at the river bend outside the winery. A Fan-tailed Cuckoo took some identifying as it wasn’t calling, and a lone Black-fronted Dotterel on the river’s edge, were the highlights here.

We then moved into the winery and down to the river. The sight of a carpet of Creeping Monkey Flower Thyridia repens in flower on the river flats took the attention of our botanists, and the birds were briefly ignored. Unfortunately a group of ducks objected to our presence and disappeared around the bend before we were able to identify them. After a time a few intrepid Coots paddled back, but we will never know what else we might have seen! A couple of us spent some time trying to identify an elusive and timid Australasian Reed Warbler skulking in the reeds, and not helping us with its distinctive call.

Finally we crossed the narrow wooden bridge to the island.

A Yellow Spoonbill conveniently landed nearby in a large tree, and stayed for a long time giving us all clear views of its distinctive beak.

We were sorry that there were no birds along the water edges on the opposite bank as we had seen in previous years.

Our final stop was for coffee and cake on the deck of the winery, made and served by the very hospitable Jeff Dans.

All in all, a very delightful way to spend a morning.

After the last birdwalk at Distillery Creek, some of us have been inspired to regularly return and keep looking and listening, especially near the small dam in the car park which is usually a hive of bird activity. The Brown Goshawks and Satin Flycatchers had finished nesting, but the Satin Flycatchers were still very active.

Then in mid February we were really excited by two sightings of a Diamond Firetail. This prompted a 'this is rare for this area and season' response from the eBird website.

Diamond Firetail (photo by Michael Prideax)

Below are all the birds identified:

1. Pacific Black Duck
2. Gray Teal
3. Little Black Cormorant
4. White-faced Heron
5. Australian Ibis
6. Yellow-billed Spoonbill
7. Wedge-tailed Eagle
8. Australasian Swamphen
9. Dusky Moorhen
10. Eurasian Coot
11. Masked Lapwing
12. Black-fronted Dotterel
13. Crested Pigeon
14. Fan-tailed Cuckoo
15. Brown Falcon
16. Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo
17. Galah
18. Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
19. Red-rumped Parrot
20. Rainbow Lorikeet
21. Superb Fairywren
22. Red Wattlebird
23. White-plumed Honeyeater
24. New Holland Honeyeater
25. White-browed Scrubwren
26. Brown Thornbill
27. Yellow-rumped Thornbill
28. Australian Magpie
29. Willie-wagtail
30. Gray Fantail
31. Magpie-lark
32. Little Raven
33. Welcome Swallow
34. Fairy Martin
35. Tree Martin
36. Australian Reed-Warbler
37. Eurasian Blackbird
38. European Starling
39. Common Myna
40. House Sparrow
41. Red-browed Firetail

Ellinor Campbell