#228 to #237 at Wyperfeld National Park, Victoria, September 21

I contacted my birding friend Jenn a few months ago and asked her about helping me do some birding around the Mallee region. Jenn has recently bought a property in Hopetoun, AKA the gateway to the Mallee, and she is getting to know the area quite well. And she was gracious enough to invite me to stay overnight and guide me to some of her favourite locations. I was overwhelmed by her offer, and started counting down the days to my first ever trip to the Mallee!!!

I set my alarm for what I call “stupid o’clock” – 2:30am – and rose excitedly to get ready for a four hour drive. After allowing for some time to get ready and for the coffee to kick in, I was backing out of the driveway by 3:20am. After about 45 minutes I saw a petrol station and thought I would go in to buy more coffee to keep me alert and awake while driving. But when I got out of the car I realised that I had left my wallet at home!!! After unleashing a relentless string of highly offensive language, I decided that I needed to return to get it. I drove home, and left for a second time a bit after 5:00am, cursing my foolishness all the way.

I made good time and arrived at Hopetoun about four hours later to find that it was raining. Fortunately, the rain radar indicated that the rain would soon stop, so we soon set off towards northern Wyperfeld. Jenn had some other birders visiting as well – Graeme and Sally – and Graeme offered to drive us all in his brand new four-wheel-drive.

We stopped at Patchewollop to look for White-fronted Honeyeaters, but didn’t find any. I saw what I thought was a Yellow-throated Miner, but when I looked at the photo on the back of the camera I re-evaluated it as an ever-so-common Noisy Miner. Luckily, I checked the photo again at home and saw that it was indeed a Yellow-throated Miner, clocking up species #228 photographed for 2016!

We then drove on to Wyperfeld, stopping a few times where I managed to photograph Greater Bluebonnet and Australian Ringneck. Then Jenn led us to her super special super secret Splendid Fairy-wren location where, as I desperately hoped for, we saw and photographed a vividly blue male Splendid Fairy-wren, my first lifer for the day! I also managed to get a photo of a Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, as well as a Little Eagle that was soaring overhead.

Next, we headed through the Wyperfeld gates to find a lot of water and very muddy tracks. Thankfully, Graeme’s four-wheel-drive got us through some very dodgy looking sections of road. He really did seem to enjoy those massive puddles, and shrieked with delight as the back end of the car skidded around. I, however, was terrified!! I kept imagining us getting bogged, and there was absolutely no mobile phone coverage…

As we explored the park, Jenn managed to guide us to three more lifers – Brown Songlark (my 300th Victorian bird species), Regent Parrot, and Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo. On the way out of the park, we stopped to get photos of a Hooded Robin, and I excitedly chased some treecreepers, extremely confident that they were White-browed Treecreepers, another lifer. They didn’t sound like the Brown Treecreepers that I encounter regularly at Eynesbury, and for this reason I was claiming to be 100% sure of my ID. When I got back in the car and checked the field guide on my phone I soon realised that they were in fact Brown Treecreepers. Dang! They do look quite similar though…

It was an amazing but short visit to Wyperfeld, and I will most certainly be heading back one day (hopefully when it’s a bit drier) to see what else I can find!

#228 Yellow-throated Miner

#229 Greater Bluebonnet

#230 Australian Ringneck

#231 Splendid Fairy-wren

#232 Chestnut-rumped Thornbill

#233 Little Eagle

#234 Brown Songlark

#235 Regent Parrot

#236 Major Mitchell's Cockatoo

#237 Hooded Robin

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31685372

#227 Superb Lyrebird at Grant's Picnic Ground, Sherbrooke Forest, Victoria, September 19

I was super excited to get my first ever photo of a Superb Lyrebird today. Sure, it's a piece of crap photo, but I don't care. You can clearly tell what it is, which is quite a feat considering it was behind a thicket of scrub!!

A few months ago, my wife and I planned to take our children to Grant's Picnic Ground because we had never been there before and it looked nice. But when the day arrived we wife had gotten sick, so we postponed. Then we planned to go there another time a few weeks later because we had a spare day on the weekend (a rare thing for us), but on that day it was raining. So I made getting there a bit of a priority for these school holidays (I'm a teacher) and today we actually made it!

My wife and children enjoyed feeding the extremely tame Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, even though one of them bit my two-year-old daughter - no blood, just a small peck, but she did not like it! Then we went for a brief walk before setting up a picnic lunch. After eating, I spent some time trying to get a reasonable photo of a juvenile Crimson Rosella while the kids ran around and played. Then it was time to go, so we all got in the car and that was that. Or was it?

I noticed that the road from the car park continued down for a bit more, so I asked my wife if we could drive down and see what was there. As we got to the end I heard the distinctive call of a Superb Lyrebird, and it sounded quite close. My wife parked the car as I leaped out and headed towards the calling bird. After battling my way through about 100m of thick scrub, I found myself only a few metres from a male lyrebird, and he was calling loudly. But all I could see was his tail poking out of the bushes. I tried to move to a better vantage point, but he saw me and made a run for it. I kept my eye on him and slowly began to creep closer. I got quite close again, and I could clearly make out his shape from gaps between the bushes, but unfortunately I couldn't get a clear shot. Then he saw me again, and took off, but this time he really took off and I lost sight of him. I was lucky to get any sort of photo at all, and I was extremely pleased to get the one that I did that clearly shows the bird.

I have seen quite a few lyrebirds before as they bolt across a road or scurry away through the bush, and heard many, many more, but this is a photographic lifer for me, and I couldn't be happier!

#227 Superb Lyrebird

#226 White-naped Honeyeater at Woodlands Historic Park, Victoria, September 17

I've seen plenty of White-naped Honeyeaters around this year, but I've not been able to get a photo as they are usually way up in the canopy. Today I had one right in front of me, but I couldn't get any good shots. Instead, I got this average photo, but I'll still use it for species #226!

#226 White-naped Honeyeater

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31616157

#224 and #225 at Woodlands Historic Park, Victoria, September 4

I went to Woodlands today hoping to photograph a Shining Bronze-cuckoo, and as luck would have it, I found one, as well as a Fan-tailed Cuckoo photo for the year!!

#224 Shining Bronze-cuckoo

#225 Fan-tailed Cuckoo

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31409038

#223 Scaly-breasted Lorikeet at Brimbank Park, Victoria, September 2

I woke up this morning with a killer migraine and called in sick for work. As they day wound on, I began to feel a bit better, so around 3:30pm I headed to Brimbank Park for some fresh air. This location is incredibly close to home, yet I hardly ever go there because there are, in my opinion, much better places nearby. But today I wanted to stay close to home just in case I needed to come home early and go back to a dark room if that migraine came back!

Just as I was leaving, I saw a lorikeet fly past me into a small yellow gum that was in flower. I peered into the foliage and was extremely surprised and overjoyed to see a Scaly-breasted Lorikeet. I have seen them before in Brisbane, but never in my home state of Victoria. I moved around slowly and carefully, trying to find a gap though the sticks and leaves so that I could get a clear photo. It was not easy, but after persisting for a while I managed to get a few clear shots. Woo hoo!

#223 Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/australia/view/checklist/S31371035

#222 Pallid Cuckoo at Woodlands Historic Park, Victoria, August 28

I went to Woodlands in the morning looking for Tawny Frogmouths, but didn't find any. I was very fortunate however to find a Pallid Cuckoo, a bird that I've only ever seen once before. It was chased off by some White-plumed Honeyeaters before I could get some better photos, but I was very happy to get any photos, let alone see it!

#222 Pallid Cuckoo

#220 and #221 at Greensborough, Victoria, August 27

There have been a few reports of critically endangered Swift Parrots recently from the Greensborough area, and I finally found some time this afternoon to go and have a look. And there were most certainly some Swifties!! Unfortunately, they were too distant and high up the trees for good photos, but I definately got plenty of average photos!!! I also managed a sub-par photos of a Yellow-faced Honeyeater. Not my best day with the camera, but I'll add them to the list anyway...

#220 Yellow-faced Honeyeater

#221 Swift Parrot