We had a wonderful day at the the Werribee Treatment Plant…a bird paradise.

Early highlights were a flock of appealing Zebra Finches, and then a panorama of shining Canola highlighting the distant You Yangs.

Field of canola

Next were rows of mud-bottle nests under the eaves of one of the very few buildings. Their owners, Fairy Martins, were sweeping around the building, and nearby on a channel edge were two Black Fronted Dotterels.

Fairy Martin nests

In the paddocks nearby were a number of Cattle Egrets following a herd of steer.

Cattle Egret

Watching the Cattle Egrets

Flocks of elegant Avocets, with their rusty heads and unmistakable long upturned bills were our favourite sighting at morning tea.

Three Avocets

On reaching the furthest point in the road system we had hoped to see Orange-bellied Parrots(OBPs), as cage-bred young have been released there, and a departing bird watcher had seen one. Our hopes were dashed, as usual, but it was a great location for numerous other species including soaring flocks of migratory waders.

Lunch, but where are the OBPs?

We also were impressed to see, highlighted in the sunlight, the red knees of several Red-kneed Dotterels.

Red-kneed Dotterel

There was also a flock of Banded Stilts with some more Avocets.

Banded Stilts

On the way we saw hundreds of Starlings perched on some posts, and on the return trip they had been replaced by one Pelican.

Starlings

Pelican

Our most unusual sight for the day was a lone Black-tailed Godwit with its amazing long beak. My only other sighting of this species was this year in May, in Amsterdam!

The only bird hide

We saw a number of Raptors but only a Black Shouldered Kite posed for a photograph.

Black Shouldered Kite

On our way back we stopped to admire a Black swan on a nest, and were delighted to see a pair of Brolgas near the shore behind the nest.

Swan and Brolgas

Brolgas

A couple of our party took a different, and longer route back and added six species to our total of 69…a record for us.

1. Black Swan
2. Australian Shelduck
3. Pacific Black Duck
4. Gray Teal
5. Chestnut Teal
6. Pink-eared Duck
7. Hardhead
8. Blue-billed Duck
9. Musk Duck
10. Hoary-headed Grebe
11. Crested Pigeon
12. Eurasian Coot
13. Australasian Swamphen
14. Brolga
15. Pied Stilt
16. Banded Stilt
17. Red-necked Avocet
18. Pied Oystercatcher
19. Masked Lapwing
20. Red-capped Plover
21. Red-kneed Dotterel
22. Black-fronted Dotterel
23. Black-tailed Godwit
24. Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
25. Curlew Sandpiper
26. Red-necked Stint
27. Silver Gull
28. Whiskered Tern
29. Little Pied Cormorant
30. Pied Cormorant
31. Australian Pelican
32. Great Egret
33. White-faced Heron
34. Cattle Egret
35. Australian Ibis
36. Straw-necked Ibis
37. Royal Spoonbill
38. Yellow-billed Spoonbill
39. Black-shouldered Kite
40. Wedge-tailed Eagle
41. Swamp Harrier
42. Black Kite
43. Whistling Kite
44. Brown Falcon
45. Galah
46. Superb Fairywren
47. Red Wattlebird
48. White-plumed Honeyeater
49. White-fronted Chat
50. White-browed Scrubwren
51. Yellow-rumped Thornbill
52. Australian Magpie
53. Willie-wagtail
54. Magpie-lark
55. crow/raven sp.
56. Eurasian Skylark
57. Welcome Swallow
58. Fairy Martin
59. Australian Reed Warbler
60. Little Grassbird
61. Golden-headed Cisticola
62. Silver-eye
63. Eurasian Blackbird
64. European Starling
65. Australasian Pipit
66. European Greenfinch
67. European Goldfinch
68. House Sparrow
69. Zebra Finch

Ellinor Campbell