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News

BirdLife Castlemaine District eNews June 2020

Tuesday, 26 May 2020

  • Estimated reading time 10 minutes

Welcome to Castlemaine District eNews!

Dear Supporter,

Welcome to the June 2020 eNews. We hope you are all staying safe and well during this challenging time.

Read on for an update from the Committee on bird walks, ideas for enjoying our love of birds during COVID-19 restrictions and the colder months, and meet our Bird of the Month!

Bird Walks Update

The good news is COVID-19 restrictions are easing – the even better news is this means we can start up bird walks again, albeit in a new format. Your wonderful Committee will be meeting soon to discuss how to reinstate bird walks each month, whilst adhering to current restrictions. Whatever we come up with will be in line with Government and BirdLife Australia guidelines.

We know many of you miss bird walks; for some it is the highlight of their month. We are very much looking forward to seeing you out there, with binoculars in hand and a wave from a safe distance.

Photo: Musk Lorikeet feeding on Lerp by Jane Rusden

Birding at Home

The lovely folk at Connecting Country have very helpfully compiled a summary of the range of ideas from BirdLife Australia to help you enjoy birds in our backyards and around the home, during this period of COVID-19 related restrictions and the colder weather. Check it out here.

Monitoring Night Birds

Volunteers from Connecting Country were part of an exciting citizen science project to detect night birds, including the Powerful Owl, in the Mount Alexander region using bioacoustic monitoring. This formed part of the ‘Communities Listening for Nature’ projects run by the Victorian National Parks Association in partnership with Museums Victoria at multiple locations around Victoria. There is some great information about the project here.

Bird of the Month – Swift Parrot

It is Swift Parrot season in our area, and the low numbers of individuals have migrated from Tasmania to the eastern mainland of Australia. Managing to get a photo of the stunning Swift Parrot is extremely hard; Jane Rusden was lucky enough to get this one shown on the left.

Click here to find out more about enigmatic Swift Parrots and see an AMAZING photo of a Swift Parrot, taken by Leigh Pieterse; thank you Leigh for letting us use it. A photo like this is even rarer than the birds themselves.

Photo: Jane Rusden

BirdLife Resources

There are some great resources available for download on the BirdLife website, covering a range of topics including how to choose binoculars, birdwatching tips, nest boxes and lots more. Simply visit the website and click on the ‘Info Sheets’ dropdown list near the bottom right corner of the homepage.

Follow us on Facebook

We have a BirdLife Castlemaine District Facebook page. Follow us for all the latest bird news and events.

Become a Member

Membership of BirdLife Australia is a great way to support a bright future for Australia’s birds. Learn more about membership or other ways to get involved here.

Kind regards,

The BirdLife Castlemaine Committee

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BirdLife Australia, BirdLife Victoria Group, 60 Leicester Street, Carlton, VIC 3053  | castlemaine@birdlife.org.au