BOCA 2009 Bird Count - Dec 2009 - John Barkla The Bird Observation & Conservation Australia 2009 Bird Count was conducted on Sunday 6 December 2009. The count area is defined as everything within a 40 kilometre radius from Werribee, with principal efforts in the You Yangs Regional Park, the Melbourne Water Western Treatment Plant, the Werribee River Regional Park, The Spit State Nature Conservation Reserve, the Cheetham Salt Avalon Operations, Point Cook Coastal Park and some sites around Werribee (Werribee Park Mansion, & Heathdale Glen Orden Swamp) and Altona (Kororoit Creek & Mount St Joseph’s pond). The count was undertaken by our largest team of observers to date:
John Barkla (leader) Lyn Abreu Stuart Dashper Peter Fowler Valerie Fowler Peter Lansley Chris Lester Rosemary Lester Elizabeth Lloyd Fred Smith Jen Spry Alison Street
Reconnaissance visits to most of the sites were undertaken on Saturday (or during the previous week) and the official count commenced from midnight on Saturday in the You Yangs and concluded at 8.30pm on Sunday at the Western Treatment Plant. 183 species were counted – the greatest number recorded during the past 36 years. The previous highest count was 173 in 2002. As I reported last year, during this decade, the species counts have been consistently higher than those of earlier years. In the 10 years from 1991 to 2000, the average number of species counted was 154. In the 9 counts this decade, the average has increased to 169. This may be attributable, in part, to better coverage by counters, but is probably due also to birds being attracted to the globally important wetlands within the count area during this period of extreme dryness.
Some highlights of the count this year were 1) The overall number of 183 species exceeded our highest ever count of 173 by 10 species – before the count we believed that getting to 175 would be amazing. 2)
We saw 65,000 birds within 40 minutes drive of a city of 4+ million people.
3) Whilst we do not have time to properly count every species in the 24 hour period and must make estimates for many of the more numerous species, we estimated that there
were 27,000 waterfowl at the Western Treatment Plant, including 5,000 Pink-eared Ducks, 6,000 Australian Shelduck and 7,000 Hardhead. There were also 8,000 Red-necked Stints, 4,000 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and 4,000 Whiskered Terns. 4) Our first records of White-eared Honeyeater (in the You Yangs) and Short-tailed Shearwater (offshore at Point Cook), which took the total number of species we have recorded in our area of only 40 kilometre radius to 250 – almost one-third of Australia’s birds. 5)
A few species are obviously increasing in number in our area –
a) Cape Barren Geese were only recorded twice in the 20 years to 1994, but since 2002 numbers have been steadily increasing and this year we had our highest count of 90; b) Black Kites were only recorded once in the 20 years to 1994 and since 2002 have been increasing to this year’s highest count of 14; c) Black Falcon was only recorded twice in the first 20 years of counts, but has been recorded in 4 of the past 5 years (albeit only 1 or 2 birds each time); d) Crested Pigeons were not recorded in the 26 years before 2000, but have increased enormously since then with this year’s count 135; 6) For the second year in a row we recorded 12 species of raptor, which is exceptional for a single day anywhere in Victoria. The most unusual were White-bellied Sea-Eagle (1), Spotted Harrier (2), Peregrine Falcon (1) and Black Falcon (1). We also saw 7 Wedge-tailed Eagles. Black Kites now nest in the area, but no active nests were observed during the count. 7)
We found 7 Grey Plover, the first since 2005.
8) We found 5 Speckled Warblers in the You Yangs, our first record since 2005 and our best count for this declining species since 1981. 9) A number of species more associated with the dry inland, were recorded in exceptional numbers – Black-tailed Native-hen (66 – with 100+ recorded during the reconnaissance visit), White-winged Triller (98), White-browed Woodswallow (91) and Zebra Finch (15). 10) We were advised by staff at Serendip Sanctuary that that the Magpie Geese that occur there and in the surrounding area are free flying and not fed by the sanctuary. They also told us that it has been more than 20 years since the Magpie Goose breeding programme ceased. On that basis, we all agreed that the Magpie Geese that we have seen and not counted in the past, could be appropriately added to this year’s list. 11) Once again Fred Smith, one of the inaugural counters when the team was established over 50 years ago, was able to participate and distinguished himself by finding 2 Pectoral Sandpipers at Point Cook.
There were few lowlights with such an amazing count, but these are worth mentioning 1. We missed Long-toed Stint, a species we are yet to record on a count, but 2 separate birds had been seen at the Western Treatment Plant in recent weeks. 2. We missed Bar-tailed Godwit, despite recording 35 birds during our reconnaissance visits. 3. We missed Mistletoebird in the You Yangs for the first time in 20 years. 4. It was another year when we could not find the following species, which used to be regularly recorded, but have now either disappeared or become very rare in the area we cover (last record during a count in brackets) 1. Eastern Curlew (2003) 2. Great Knot (1986 – but this year we may have found them as 1 bird had been seen before the count) 3. Grey-tailed Tattler (1991) 4. Lesser Sand Plover (1989) 5. Greater Sand Plover (1986) 6. Brown Treecreeper (1980) 7. Hooded Robin (1995) 8. Song Thrush (2002) As in prior years, I am indebted to a number of people who provide assistance by allowing access to the sites we visit. For helping me with the necessary access approvals and keys, I would particularly like to thank 1. Brendan O’Dowd of Cheetham Salt; 2. John Argote & Bernie McCarrick of Parks Victoria, based at Point Cook Coastal Park; 3. David Roberts, David Flag and Judy Lock of Parks Victoria, based in the You Yangs Regional Park; and 4. Brad McLean, Peter Gall and William Steele of Melbourne Water. Thank you to each of the participants for a prodigious effort, particularly the drivers (Peter Fowler, Chris Lester, Elizabeth Lloyd and Jen Spry) and the sub-group leaders (Stuart Dashper, Peter Lansley, Chris Lester, Fred Smith and Jen Spry).
