Three events were held during November.
On 13th November, morning birding activities at Jawbone Reserve Williamstown for St Mary’s Parish Primary School Year 5/6 students (Golo Maurer, Krysia Nowak, Angela Skehan, Isabel Ebsworth and Laura Tan).
Saturday 15th November: Bill Ramsay led a Bird Walk through Yerran Dheran Reserve in Mitcham for the Whitehorse Council. About 16 members of the public participated and they saw 31 species including a family of four Tawny Frogmouths, a Fan-tailed Cuckoo and Crested Shrike-Tits. The most numerous birds were the Superb Fairy-wrens with many males in their beautiful breeding colours.
Wednesday 19th November: Pat Bingham led a Bird Walk around Jells Park with 11 Stonnington U3A members. It was a lovely sunny morning and they were greeted with numerous calls of Rainbow and Musk Lorikeets, but found them hard to see except in fast flight between the heavily-flowering Yellow Box trees towering above. Good views were had of a Tawny frogmouth on a nest in a tall Manna Gum adjacent to Dandenong Creek and even better views of his partner sheltering in a small Blackwood Wattle almost within touching distance of the path. They visited the Bird Hide by the lake and watched nesting Darters, Little Pied and Little Black Cormorants feeding young and then retired themselves to Madelaines for welcome coffees and icecreams.
The final planned Kingswood College survey of the Box Hill Golf Course didn’t go ahead in December.
I wish to thank everyone who has assisted me this year. I have just counted 44 different people being involved in my organised activities but realise that many other people are involved with local education activities that I am not aware of. Thank you to everyone who has carried out any of these duties in 2014. It has made my task easier and I look forward to your continued support in 2015.
Janet Hand, BirdLife Melbourne Education Officer (Phone: 9842 4177)
birdlifemelbourne 