After checking in, I didn't bother going to bed, there was no point as it was already 0644, so I went on the net to check emails and to post on the blog, before going on a windy and cold walk down to the waterfront. Fitness fanatics were out in force on the boardwalk, indeed I have never seen so many runners, power-walkers and cyclists in one place and there were even swimmers, despite the cold conditions. This was to be the pattern all round Australia, hardly surprising for a sport-obsessed nation and I find it funny that Australia is one of the fattest nations on earth, along with the UK and the USA.
On the first morning the bird list included Silver Gull, Pacific Gull, Pied Cormorant, Black Cormorant, Crested Tern, Black Swan (at last, tickable non-ornamental Black Swans! For a European, or indeed any non-Aussies, it was strange seeing black swans in a habitat where, usually, you'd expect to see white ones), Rainbow Lorikeets in the trees, Australian Magpies and Common Myna which is an introduced species from Asia. Then it was back to the hostel - I was in a dorm - where a 'quick nap' lasted from 10 am to 4.30 pm. Great stuff, jet lag.
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| Australian Pelican on the lake in Melbourne Botanic Gardens |
The following morning, I took a tram (the Melbourne tram network is excellent and not expensive) to the Botanic Gardens, which was also full of fitness-fanatics, and added loads of new birds, about 20 species, to the list. The trees were full of monotonous loud 'tink' sounds, endearing at first then a little irritating after half an hour. This noise was made by Bell Miners, a small green finch-like species.
Other species seen were Black Swan, Australian Pelican, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Australian Magpie, Dusky Moorhen, Coot, White-browed Scrub-wren, Common Myna, Purple Swamphen, Pacific Black Duck, Magpie Lark, Chestnut Teal, Little Pied Cormorant, Spotted Turtle Dove, Little Raven, Willy Wagtail, Grey Fantail, Hardhead, Australasian Grebe, Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo, Red Wattlebird.
I had a final birding session in Melbourne on Tuesday, with local birder (or ‘birdo’, as they call them in Australia) Penny Johns, a return to the Botanic Gardens and a walk along the Yarra River adding some new birds to my list. Unfortunately the weather was iffy, with squally showers (this was after a night of torrential rain which, at the time, the region badly needed because they were in the middle of a severe drought with water levels down 36%; this was partly drought and partly problems with the Murray-Darling River system) so not conducive to much birding. I did manage to add Wood Duck, Brush Wattlebird, Crimson Rosella, Eastern Rosella, Pied Currawong, Noisy Miner, Grey Butcherbird, Little Black Cormorant and Australian Darter to the list. We also visited Birds Australia (Royal Australasian Ornithologists’ Union) in Melbourne, which was interesting and they gave me some copies of their magazine Wingspan to read on the bus, which was nice.
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| Pied Currawong |
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| Eastern Rosella |
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| Purple Swamp-hen at Melbourne Botanic Gardens |
I liked Melbourne a lot. It’s a pretty city and full of lovely green spaces, a bit like Singapore without the overbearing heat and humidity. I was actually quite sorry to get on the Greyhound and leave, heading north to Cairns via Sydney and Brisbane.
