You Yangs 2016
This page includes reports of visits and photos taken during 2016. For information and images added in other years please see the relevant pages, You Yangs 2015, You Yangs 2014, You Yangs 2013, You Yangs 2012 and earlier. For plants see You Yangs plants. For general information about the You Yangs see the You Yangs page.
Header image: Magpie Geese flying over the You Yangs. More images below.
Header image: Magpie Geese flying over the You Yangs. More images below.
4 June 2016
While much of eastern Australia experienced deluge conditions, we had a calm day of intermittent drizzle for our June BirdLife Birding and Boneseeding visit. Rain is much needed in the park and it was wonderful to see everything wet and some water in dams that were dry on our last BirdLife visit. We even heard frogs. The wet conditions made pulling out boneseed easy, but limited the number of bird species we saw to 24.
The level of the dam near the Park entrance and Office is still very low.
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Wet eucalypt trunks near the dam. The bright green invasive Bridal Creeper Asparagus asparagoides under the trees is thriving in the rain. It grows naturally in eastern and southern Africa.
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A curious Eastern Yellow Robin watched us watching it.
Honeyeater-attracting Pin-cushion Hakea Hakea laurina plants were flowering profusely. They originate from the south-west of Western Australia, but thrive in the You Yangs.
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Purple Wood-sorrel Oxalis purpurea growing near the Hakeas. Introduced into Australia from southern Africa.
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New Holland Honeyeater in Pin-cushion Hakea. This one stopped long enough for a photo, but most of the New Hollands were constantly moving from flower to flower or were hidden by flower and foliage.
21 May 2016
A You Yangs visit on a remarkably mild late-Autumn day.
A quiet day overall, but Scarlet Robins appeared in several places.
Numbers of small birds were about, including this Silvereye.
View from the dry creek bed at the east of the BirdLife boneseeding site, looking towards the Eastern Flat.
Wonderful what a little rain can do. The Eastern Flat is much greener than it was in March (see picture below).
5 March 2016
A highlight of the March BirdLife Melbourne Birding and Boneseeding visit was the extraordinary sight of an estimated 5000 Magpie Geese. They flew from north to south in neat lines and Vs of tens and hundreds of birds for perhaps up to an hour in the middle of the morning.
In mild and overcast conditions, we started the day as usual near the Park entrance and Office, spending a couple of hours birding there. One of the first species we saw and heard was the Purple-crowned Lorikeet. Several of these birds flew over as we arrived. Musk Lorikeets were seen later. Unexpectedly, neither of these species had been recorded on our December 2015 visit. We stopped at the Gravel Pit Tor area and Fawcett's Gully before reaching our boneseeding site in the south-east of the park in the early afternoon. After pulling out boneseed there for an hour and a half we walked around the Eastern Flat (Seed Garden) and back through our site. The total number of bird species recorded was 51. These included Speckled Warbler at the edge of our site, Crested Shrike-tit near the park entrance, Varied Sittella at Fawcett's Gully and Scarlet Robins everywhere. Sadly we saw only two Jacky Winters and no Diamond Firetails.
The park is extremely dry at present, with the dam near the entrance being as low as it was in 2008-09. It is not yet empty, but much rain is needed. All the other dams we saw were dry. The ground is parched and brown. I have just looked through my photos from past years and the entrance dam was full in 2011, while the Eastern Flat was dotted with puddles and ponds in 2012. The cycles of wet and dry seem to cover several years.
I have sent a report of the visit to the BirdLife Melbourne Blog https://birdlifemelbourne.wordpress.com/
and a bird list to http://www.birdlifemelbourne.org.au/outings/
To see the list, scroll down to outing number 512 and click on the link (but please allow time for the list to be published).
In mild and overcast conditions, we started the day as usual near the Park entrance and Office, spending a couple of hours birding there. One of the first species we saw and heard was the Purple-crowned Lorikeet. Several of these birds flew over as we arrived. Musk Lorikeets were seen later. Unexpectedly, neither of these species had been recorded on our December 2015 visit. We stopped at the Gravel Pit Tor area and Fawcett's Gully before reaching our boneseeding site in the south-east of the park in the early afternoon. After pulling out boneseed there for an hour and a half we walked around the Eastern Flat (Seed Garden) and back through our site. The total number of bird species recorded was 51. These included Speckled Warbler at the edge of our site, Crested Shrike-tit near the park entrance, Varied Sittella at Fawcett's Gully and Scarlet Robins everywhere. Sadly we saw only two Jacky Winters and no Diamond Firetails.
The park is extremely dry at present, with the dam near the entrance being as low as it was in 2008-09. It is not yet empty, but much rain is needed. All the other dams we saw were dry. The ground is parched and brown. I have just looked through my photos from past years and the entrance dam was full in 2011, while the Eastern Flat was dotted with puddles and ponds in 2012. The cycles of wet and dry seem to cover several years.
I have sent a report of the visit to the BirdLife Melbourne Blog https://birdlifemelbourne.wordpress.com/
and a bird list to http://www.birdlifemelbourne.org.au/outings/
To see the list, scroll down to outing number 512 and click on the link (but please allow time for the list to be published).
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Above: Magpie Geese flying high, north to south. The photos are in colour, but, looking up, it was a B&W day.
Everywhere else it was a Brown and Green day (see below).
Everywhere else it was a Brown and Green day (see below).
The dam near the Park entrance and Office
White-throated Treecreeper in the area near the Park entrance and dam. The bird's chestnut rump can just be seen. This shows that it is a juvenile female.
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Koala in a eucalypt overlooking the dam near the Park entrance
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Plants in the Gravel Pit Tor area showing the effects of the dry conditions.
Left: Brown leaves of Snowy Mint-bush Prostanthera nivea. Right: Infolded bipinnate leaves of Black Wattle Acacia mearnsii
Left: Brown leaves of Snowy Mint-bush Prostanthera nivea. Right: Infolded bipinnate leaves of Black Wattle Acacia mearnsii
Grey Fantail in the middle of preening near an Acacia with blue-green leaves (not indigenous to the You Yangs area)
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Black (Swamp) Wallaby Wallabia bicolor near the reedy dam up the hill from Fawcett's Gully. The dam was dry and dotted with holes possibly dug by animals in search of water.
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Dry brown ground in the Eastern Flat (Seed Garden). Low lying areas here were filled with water in the middle of 2012.