Southern Victoria

Greetings, friends and family! I have spent the past three weeks on Phillip Island, located south of Melbourne and home to little penguins, short-tailed shearwaters (say that three times fast!) and lots of fabulous beaches. As a volunteer for Phillip Island Nature Parks, I worked primarily with the research division, assisting with penguin nest box and burrow checks. Sadly, this was not good year for the little penguins, whose chicks suffered high mortality rates due to food shortages and extreme heat. I did get to handle some penguin chicks however, and discovered they are not as cuddly and docile as Walt Disney would have you believe! They certainly are very cute however, despite the fleas that they kindly shared with their handlers. I also assisted in the wildlife rescue hospital, where I recorded the number of fish consumed by each penguin at feeding time, cleaned out possum cages and coaxed an anorexic silver gull to eat.

Summerlands Beach (aka Penguin Parade beach)

Grumpy-looking little penguin

Little penguin chick in a nest box

I also had the opportunity to assist with a short-tailed shearwater project on my first night on the island. This project focused on the genetic differences between short-tailed and sooty shearwaters, and so the goal was to capture 15 birds and take blood samples from them. Capturing the birds was simple enough, in theory at least - one can essentially walk right up to the shearwaters, pick them up, and stuff them into a box. The tricky part was walking on the burrow-ridden colony without collapsing any burrows, while scrambling to grab a shearwater. I didn't get any photos, but you can use your imagination!

Because work in the Nature Park was very slow, I was given the opportunity to join the Victorian Wader Study Group on several of their fieldtrips, led by cannon-netting expert Clive Minton. The first fieldtrip was based out of Mann's Beach, a tiny holiday community along the Bass Strait. We worked both on the mainland and on sandy spits on the outer edge of the Strait. The fieldtrips were highly successful, with captures of over 600 red-necked stint, a few curlew and sharp-tailed sandpipers, one red knot, and 150 bar-tailed godwit. A cannon net with 600 shorebirds is an incredible (and overwhelming) sight.

Box Bank, with cannon net and keeping cages full of red-necked stint

Red-necked stint

Bar-tailed godwit in a weighing tube

Many of you have likely heard about the devastating bushfires in Victoria this year. Dry conditions and high winds resulted in overwhelming loss of life and property. By luck (or misfortune), I was very close to the bushfires in south Gippsland on the worst day. Temperatures of 46 C and 90 km/hr winds made it feel like we were camping in a furnace - there was just no relief. The winds brought heavy smoke and charred eucalyptus leaves over our camp - we were watching our tents closely for falling embers (termed an ember attack) resulting in spot fires. We were watching the flames from a fire about 10 km away, and saw at least three spot fires start ahead of the main fire, the result of embers blown downwind. Later in the evening, we had a bit of drizzle, which came down as black rain. It was the true Australian experience, albeit a devastating one for many people.

Bushfire north of our camp

Mann's Beach jetty in the smoke

I went out with the Victoria Wader Study Group a second weekend, this time to Westernport. We were unsuccessful the first three attempts, but on the last day we caught 119 sharp-tailed sandpipers, 87 red-necked stint, 9 curlew sandpipers and one red-capped plover. The red-capped plover was particularly cute!

Red-capped plover (not sure why the image is so small!)

Since things are very slow on Phillip Island, I am moving on early. After some deliberation, I have decided to participate in a wombat relocation project in Epping Park, Queensland, during the week of March 2. I will be leaving Phillip Island on February 20, heading for Brisbane and north, stopping at Hervey Bay, Fraser Island, possibly Lady Musgrave Island and then up to Rockhampton for the start of the wombat project. After that, I plan to make my way to to Cairns, exploring along the way - I should have 2.5 weeks so I can take my time. I need to work up enough courage to rent a vehicle now!

I always seem to forget - here is a link to my most recent photo album:

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/elk2378/SouthernVictoria?feat=directlink