We really enjoy the BirdLife Melbourne beginners' bird walks each month, and we have learnt a lot and met some lovely people. After a great hiatus over 2021, we made it to an outing in November...to Newport Lakes and then on to Jawbone Reserve. There wasn't a lot of action in the bird department at Newport (too windy), but things improved at Jawbone.

We particularly like the waterbirds there, and the great crested grebe is very photogenic, as are the cormorants.

We stopped at Hattah-Kulkyne National Park on the way, a place we had read so much about as the birding nirvana in these parts. Sadly, not for us on that particular day! We were pretty excited to see six regent parrots about 5kms before we arrived at Hattah, and as a sign of things to come - sadly, it wasn't. But it was still fun, and we'll try it again...the lakes near the entrance were in flood, and the weather had probably caused the birds to hide or leave.

However, we did receive a warm welcome from the apostlebirds, apparently so called because they travel in groups of (12?) or possibly not!

Let's go straight to that murmuration...we stayed two nights at Lake Boga en route to Mildura, and on the second night, thousands of starlings congregated on the powerlines and absolutely put on a show. Here is an excerpt!

Philip Island is a small island about two hours' drive south-east of Melbourne...we think its largely holiday houses, though it seems many people live there permanently. This was our first overnight getaway after the latest long lockdown (and collectively, 263 days of lockdown all up). We were gasping for the bush...so while the people seem lovely, we were more focussed on nature and the feathered critters...

Our 3.5km walk was through exquisite woodlands..