Avalon Coastal Reserves

Visited: summer

Recommendation: I like it here. There ware really nice trails through the area although you are very exposed. Everything from marsh birds, shore birds, water birds and raptors can be seen here.

Avalon Beach is on the coastline between Geelong and Melbourne. When I got there it was foggy and gloomy but the sun burned it off quickly and the heat arrived. It was a very pretty area with lots of pools of water and walkways in between. Parts of it had been ruined though, with lots of rubbish in the water. Why come to somewhere so beautiful and chuck empty beer bottles around? I'll never understand it.

Anyway, I was looking for the elusive waders that should be all along this coast at. No immediate sign of them but once I had got past the rubbish and into the reserves, it was really lovely. Skylarks were singing high in the air, an occasional pelican flew past and the fairywren were chuckling away in the shrubbery. 

First up were some White-browed Scrubwren. I was hoping for fieldwren or heathwren but I soon learned there were only scrubwren here, easily identifiable by their distinctive buzzing from low down. 

White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis)

Also chattering away were the White-fronted Chats who, most obligingly, will sit on fence wire for you fairly frequently. The female is duller than the male but they are both very pretty little birds.

White-fronted Chat (Epthianura albifrons)

There were lots of raptors around this morning. I saw 2 enormous Wedge-tailed Eagles sitting stop pylons. They wouldn't tolerate me even stopping half a kilometer away. I also saw Black-shouldered Kite, Australian Kestrel, Collared Sparrowhawk and Brown Falcon. The open, flat area with variable vegetation was obviously very attractive to birds of prey.

Both of these birds can be found hunting over open grasslands, woodlands and pastures. While the Brown Falcon is usually seen perched and scans for prey, the kestrel is also often seen hovering fairly low down waiting to dive for a kill. They both feed largely on ground-dwelling animals like reptiles, rodents, and insects.

Around one of the bigger pools of water, I could hear grassbirds and more fairywren and on top of that were the distinctive peeps of small waders. Not the most exotic shorebirds but I'm always pleased to see these little birds.

I had seen some teal and shelducks at a distance but all of a sudden the whole lot went up. I had thought there were about 20 ducks but it was more like 200. Fabulous to watch as they flew past.

Australian Shelduck (Tadorna tadornoides)