Through spring and summer I regularly hear Fan-tailed Cuckoos calling: described as a mournful descending trill. Along one of the paths to the Moorooduc quarry a pair flew down to lower branches and started calling.
In the background you can also hear a Striated Pardalote, a Grey Fantail and a Grey Shrikethrush.
I dont often get a chance to photograph these shy birds as they move through the upper and mid tree canopy looking for hairy caterpillars and other insects.
On an evening walk along Elster Creek and into the golf course recently I came across this little band of Long-billed Corellas. They were searching for seeds and working the grass for roots. I love the sound of the Corellas and will search them out along the creek. I have to find the birds to clearly ID them as I can’t tell the difference between Little Corellas and Long-billed by the calls. Even in flight it can be difficult unless you can spot the red/pink chest splash and red around the eyes
Click to play a recording by Andrew Spencer
Long-billed Corellas, Elster Creek (golf course), Elsternwick, Vic
On a visit to the Western Treatment Plant we stopped at the Crake pit in T-Section which due to intermittent rain has maintained a water level that is perfect for several species of Crake. Along with watching and photographing the crakes we heard a Growling Grass Frog – a frog becoming more rare and endangered in many areas of Southern Australia including Victoria. It is also called the Southern Bell Frog and rather unkindly: the Warty Swamp Frog. I quite like the name Growling Grass Frog. It has a deep drawn out call and you assume it is a larger frog but when seen it not very big at all. Recently I started to record sounds of various birds and pretty much anything else I could get close to. I have found that there are very few areas that don’t have man-made noise pollution in the background – freeways near wetlands, boats along the coast, distant chainsaws and trail bikes far out in the forests. Luckily in this case the background sounds were two rather melodic birds: the Australian Reed Warbler and a Little Grassbird.
Click on the play button to hear the Growling Grass Frog
Growling Grass Frog, Western Treatment Plant, Werribee
The Gap Year and Beyond 