#309 Pacific Koel at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, Victoria, November 27

I decided to go and have a look for the Pacific Koel that frequents the Botanic Gardens at this time of year. The first bird that I 'ticked' for the year was a very vocal Pacific Koel that was calling in the pre-dawn darkness on January 1 when I was in Brisbane. My previous experiences with attempting to photograph this species have all been challenging ones, as these birds call infrequently and like to hide behind foliage. It took considerable effort to find the right tree, and then at least an hour before I could sight the bird, but I was thrilled to get a recognisable photo.

#309 Pacific Koel

#308 White-throated Gerygone at Cummins Reserve and Wetlands, Yea, Victoria, November 20

After dipping on photos of pretty much everything at Toolangi I decided to try my luck at Yea, about a half an hours drive away. As soon as I got out of the car I could hear the melodious call of the White-throated Gerygone. It was absolutely beautiful. There were two of them, but they weren't too keen on me getting any sort of close approach. A heavily cropped photo will have to do then!

#308 White-throated Gerygone

#307 Rufous Fantail at Toolangi, Victoria, November 20

My love-hate relationship with Toolangi continued today. I love the place, but I really hate trying to find birds there. If you like hearing birds, then Toolangi is certainly the place to go. Seeing them is a lot more difficult. Getting a photo - don't even bother. I dipped on too many photos to count, but did manage a low-light motion-blurred Rufous Fantail that needed significant post-processing sharpening to even look halfway reasonable.

#307 Rufous Fantail

#306 Peregrine Falcon, Victoria, November 19

I've driven by a well known local Peregrine Falcon nesting location a few times this year, and finally hit paydirt! Photos taken from a distance and heavily cropped.

#306 Peregrine Falcon

#305 Australian Hobby, Western treatment Plant, Victoria, November 11

I found this very timid and unfortunately back-lit hobby at the Western Treatment Plant this afternoon. Too many bushes in the way, too heavily cropped etc, but easily identifiable!

#305 Australian Hobby

#304 Black-faced Cormorant at Point Lonsdale, Victoria, November 6

I had to go to Geelong on Sunday afternoon, so I decided to spend some time at Point Lonsdale looking for Black-faced Cormorants in the morning. Black-faced Cormorants are somewhat rare around Melbroune, but someone told me that they were a 'sure thing' around the Point Lonsdale pier at low tide. I only found one, and it was a fly-by, but I managed a photo. A pretty crappy photo at that! Still, recognisable enough to be species #304 for 2016!

#304 Black-faced Cormorant

#303 Australasian Bushlark at the Western Treatment Plant, Victoria, November 3

After getting a terrible back-lit photo of a bushlark at the start of the year which I promptly deleted, I was very glad to get this one to add to the year list. I call them a Horsfield's Bushlark, but I think they've been renamed to Australasian Bushlark...

#303 Australasian Bushlark