Phil Marley
With its Swallow, Kestrel, Goshawk, Pelican, Ibis, Robin, Magpie, Kookaburra, Rosella and Cockatoo carparks, Braeside Park was self-evidently a place we had to go.
But we didn’t want to count our blessings too soon. So we met at the opposite end of the park, at the Red Gum Picnic Area Carpark to the south.
Braeside Park has an interesting history. Aboriginal tribes hunted, camped and gathered food here before it was used for grazing in the late 1800s, market gardens in the early 1900s and a sewerage treatment plant from 1940 to the mid-1970s. It even housed a horse training complex where Phar Lap was stabled in 1930 – in the centre of the park one can still walk the Phar Lap Loop where he used to train. The land came to MMBW (Parks Victoria) in 1982 and the park opened to the public in 1989.
Mid-winter, and the weather forecast was definitely mid-wintery, but over 20 came along to explore the varied habitats in this vast 295 hectare park. Early arrivers spotted a Peregrine Falcon and heard Fan-tailed Cuckoos, which augured well for the day ahead.
First off was a stroll through the red gum grassy woodlands to the extensive wetlands.
The large trees housed many Australian Wood Ducks and Rainbow Lorikeets, as well as plenty of Noisy Miners living up to their name. Under the trees, rabbits scattered at our approach.
The 2.5km circuit around the ponds was on wide grass tracks. Although fairly wet, they were freshly mown and not too muddy, making things easy under foot. The light winds were another thing altogether, adding many degrees of wind-chill to the cold, overcast conditions.
The water presented many floating photo opportunities with Musk Ducks, Black Swans, and Australasian Shoveler, both small grebes and a few hundred Eurasian Coots.
Red-rumped parrots in a dead tree in the lake drew attention from a couple of Pink-eared Ducks on the water below. Several Great Egrets were seen, along with White-faced Herons and a far-off Swamp Harrier.
Overhead, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos shrieked in the sky but failed to obscure the calls of Golden-headed Cisticolas and Little Grass Birds. Sadly, no bitterns were seen or heard, although they are known to frequent the wetlands.
On the way back to the carpark, we were drawn to a couple of Tawny Frogmouths in adjacent trees that posed nicely for lots of photos. Nearby a Grey Butcherbird, a Grey Shrikethrush and a couple of Fan-tailed Cuckoos called.
Well satisfied with the morning’s sightings, the group drove round to the north end of the park, for lunch under the tress at the Ibis carpark. Dozens of rabbits kept an eye on us from safe distances.
Suitably fortified, we strolled east to the self-guided public trail on the edge of the Heathland, which occupies almost a quarter of the whole park but is a restricted area. The public trail abuts the Dingley Drain and provided a very different habitat to the morning – dense bush with a narrow waterway and a few grassy clearings.
Bush birds became the focus. Grey Fantails, Pied Currawongs, Brown Thornbills, Spotted and Striated Pardalotes, White-browed Scrubwrens, New Holland and White-plumed Honeyeaters and a Golden Whistler all put in appearances. Not to be outdone, a very nonchalant Great Egret allowed our group to approach within 5 metres in plain sight and take lots of photos.
A few hundred more rabbits supervised our photography.
As the drizzle started to fall, we returned to our cars happy with our haul of 57 species for the day. Perhaps not the best conditions for photography, with grey skies and dull light, but another excellent ramble in great company.
Thanks as usual to Peter Bennet and John van Doorn for scoping the location and guiding the expedition for our 6th outing of the year.
birdlifemelbphotography 