The Catbirders’ Participation in the 2015 Victorian Twitchathon

A friend over at The Research Whisperer blog once told me that a good blog post is written in a conversational tone. I have tried to take this advice on board, but more than a decade of working in the research space has had its effect on my writing style: it still has a matter-of-fact and impersonal…

Osprey-hunting at the Western Treatment Plant

The Western Treatment Plant never ceases to thrill birders with migrants, vagrants, and rarities. On 11 September 2015, the Victorian birding world was abuzz with the first ever report of an Eastern Osprey at ‘the Plant’, and since the birding Mecca was just a hop, skip and jump away, we were determined to try our…

Grand Final Birding in Bendigo

[Disclaimer: Our Tamron 150-600mm lens was being serviced, so we had to settle for a Canon SX50 ‘point and shoot’, as well as a Panasonic Lumix FZ200, hence the substandard quality of photos in this blog post.] Whenever there’s a long weekend in Melbourne, we always try to bird further afield. So, on the newly announced ‘Footy Grand…

Also-rans – Part 3 (Bunyip, Serendip, Avalon, Woodlands)

This is the third post in a series about short, ad-hoc, unrewarding, or repeat birding trips. As always, we had lots of fun being outdoors, and we have a few not-so-good photos that are worth sharing. Bunyip State Park – October 2014, March 2015 Bunyip State Park is probably one of the most diverse parks that we…

Train Station Parrot Spotting

We last saw Swift Parrots in 2014 when they made an appearance in the carpark of La Trobe University (Bundoora), so I was eagerly awaiting their return to a nearby suburb – I love it when I don’t need to venture too far from my cosy bedroom in winter to see majestic birds! 🙂 In late April…

Also-rans – Part 2

While writing this post, it became apparent that we did quite a few little birding trips in the first half of 2015. None of these (in my opinion) were worthy of a stand-alone post, since many were just short walks, others were visits to spots already covered in previous posts, and some were rather uneventful. Nonetheless, here…

Bird Boxes in Bendigo

It was some months since we last did a ‘big birding day out’ so we were really looking forward to the Queen’s Birthday long weekend in early June. I had read intriguing bird reports from a small reservoir on the outskirts of Bendigo, so I was eager to try my luck. ‘Crusoe Reservoir’ and ‘Number 7 Reservoir’…

Also-rans – Part 1

I don’t write a blog post about every birding outing because I just can’t write quickly enough. It’s not that we bird every second day, but I just can’t seem to find enough time to download and edit photos while crafting a semi-interesting account of our adventures, many of which are uneventful and disappointing due to the…

End of year birding: Day 3 – You Yangs and Serendip Sanctuary

In the dying days of 2014, Imka and I planned three birding day-trips to try to push our year’s total to 175. Based on our online research and advice from other birders on the ‘Victorian Birders Facebook Group’, we decided on the following strategic outings, each of which is covered in an independent blog post: Day 1: Seymour…

End of year birding: Day 2 – Toolangi Black Forest

In the dying days of 2014, Imka and I planned three birding day-trips to try to push our year’s total to 175. Based on our online research and advice from other birders on the ‘Victorian Birders Facebook Group’, we decided on the following strategic outings, each of which will be covered in an independent blog post: Day…