Travelling from Orbost to Gisborne in Victoria
During our holiday in January earlier this year, one of our longest days of travelling was to go from Mallacoota in the far south east of Victoria all the way to Gisborne north of Melbourne. We were on the road all day with just short breaks for morning tea and lunch. There was little time for birding except for those short stops.
After morning tea at Orbost we headed on west towards Melbourne, travelling through picturesque Lakes Entrance and Bairnsdale. I didn’t bother keeping a list of birds seen along the road; there weren’t all that many to see because by mid morning it was getting rather warm. I was hoping to reach Sale for lunch, but we made only as far as Stratford on the River Avon (no -not THAT one – this one’s in Australia). This is Ben Cruachan country but for the second time in little over twelve months, we didn’t have time to call in on Duncan. Pity about that. (Keep the billy boiling, Duncan.)
At Stratford we found a suitable, albeit rather warm, picnic area for lunch. I managed a short list of birds during our short stay, including Common Starling, Willie Wagtail, House Sparrow, Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, Spotted Turtledove and Rainbow Lorikeet. Nothing to get terribly excited about.
Probably the most common birds around were the Common Mynas which seemed to be everywhere. Pity about that.
Common Myna
This whole area is yet another place I’d like to explore further over a week or two, and not just drive through. It wasn’t long before we were scooting along quickly on the freeway heading into Melbourne, then on the City Link and on towards our friend’s place in Gisborne. In all the times we’d travelled this route in recent years, this was the quickest and most trouble free. We actually arrived in Gisborne a little ahead of schedule.
It was a wearying day with long hours in the car and little opportunity for birding. Some days are like that.
Mooching around Mallacoota, Victoria
Caravan Park, Mallacoota, far eastern Victoria
Last January we had a holiday in Sydney and then drove to Melbourne via Canberra and the south coast. From Eden we drove on towards Mallacoota along a section of the coast we had never visited before.
Our first impressions of Mallacoota were very favourable. The town is on a river estuary and the setting is quite charming. We plan to return here with our caravan some day and stay for a week or more. We intend avoiding the summer holidays. As you can see in the photo above, the caravan park on the foreshore is wall-to-wall tents, caravans, boats, bikes, cars and 4WDs. Not my idea of a quiet holiday spot.
After a very nice meal of seafood in the hotel bistro, we decided to go for a long walk around town in the cool of the evening. I was hoping to get a good list of birds for this area and some photos would have been a bonus.
It was with delight and a little surprise that the first bird I saw upon leaving our motel room was a Common Bronzewing pigeon, shown in the photo below. I am quite used to seeing this species feeding on the sides of roads or flying rapidly across the road in front of the car while driving. I am used to seeing this bird out bush and relatively remote, or least quiet, places. But here was this individual feeding on the lawn a few steps from the back of the motel. It was one street from the main shopping strip and a busy spot. This bird was cautious but not over alarmed by our presence. It was a nice sighting and one of only a handful of this species seen on the entire journey of about 3500km.
Common Bronzewing pigeon, Mallacoota, eastern Victoria
Tragedy in Victoria
My condolences to all those families who have lost family members in the tragic wildfires that have devastated the Australian state of Victoria over the last 48 hours.
For the benefit of my overseas readers, the major fires have been about an hour’s drive north, north east and south east of Melbourne, Victoria. Some are still raging out of control after record high temperatures and wild winds swept the firestorm through many rural communities.
As I sat down to write this the number of deaths has risen over the last half hour from 65 to 74 and now stands at 76. Many more are still missing, and as destroyed homes and burnt out vehicles are searched, the death toll is sure to rise, some predict over 100. It is already the most deaths due to fires in Australia’s history.
At least four towns have been severely devastated with most homes destroyed. One town has only one building unburnt. Over 700 homes have been lost.
I have no idea what effect these fires have had on the birdlife of the areas burnt, or of the wildlife in general. I can only imagine the worst. I know of at least one wildlife rescue centre that has been destroyed, together with the loss of all animals in care.
Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary to the north east of Melbourne has evacuated all of the endangered species, including the rare Orange-bellied Parrots, to Melbourne Zoo.
Update: Later in the evening the death toll stood at 84 and the number of homes lost at 750.
Update late Monday: The death toll now stands at 135 and is expected to rise further. It is now easily Australia’s worst natural disaster.
Update Thursday 19th Feb: The death toll has now reached 200 plus one fire fighter who lost his life during the cleanup. About 1830 homes were lost and 7000 people are now homeless.
Great Birding Moments # 20 Budgerigars
One of Australia’s most beautiful birds would have to be the tiny parrot called the Budgerigar. This species is popular the world over as a cage or aviary bird because they are endearing and easily kept pets as well as beautiful. In captivity there are many colour variations, but I love the natural colours. Why mess with perfection?
Over the years I have observed Budgerigars in the wild on only a handful of occasions, and only once in our garden. The most memorable occasion was during a holiday in Victoria. We were visiting a Nature Reserve south west of Mildura in the far north west of Victoria. We were slowly driving along the dirt track through the park looking for a shady tree for our lunch break. I had to stop the car because there were several hundred Budgerigars feeding on the grass on either side of the track. To see this wonderful bird in its natural environment is a special treat. I did not get a photo at the time, but more recently I took the photo below in the walk through aviary at Cleland Wildlife Park near Adelaide, South Australia.
Budgerigars, Cleland Wildlife Park
Related articles:
- Great Birding Moments – read more of my interesting birding experiences, with photos, in this series of articles.
Update: this photo above – and many other photos featured on this site – can now be purchased on a range of merchandise such as T-shirts, aprons, wall plaques, clocks and mugs. Go to my Trevor’s Photos site here.