BIRDS of KILMORE, AUSTRALIA: August 2020

05/08/2020

Great Cormorant

GREAT CORMORANT

This young cormorant had just finished fishing the other morning and was busy drying off, energetically flapping its wings and turning and twisting to catch the sun.

This is a young bird. This can be seen by just the small amount of white colour around the chin, rather than the stronger white colouring of the adult birds

Notice particularly, the strongly hooked bill, the yellow beak and facial skin, and the brilliant green eye colour.

03/08/2020

White-throated Treecreeper

WHITE-THROATED TREECREEPER Cormobates leucophaeus

One of the common bird calls of the Monument Hill, is that of the Treecreepers.

The female treecreeper has an orange spot under her eye

They can be heard over a wide area, the voices carrying a long way. At times they will call from a perch for ten and twenty minutes at a time Like a single high pitched, and very resonant bell, the 'whit, whit, whit, whit', quickly repeated, is easy to recognize. Not being particularly timid, it is possible to follow the sound back to tree from which they are calling.

Graeme Chapman has a wonderful collection of bird calls if you are unsure of what is which. This link should take you to the call of our Treecreeper.Graeme Chapman White-throated Treecreeper.

When not perching in one place, they are busy birds, working their way up the trunks of trees, digging under loose hanging bark for insects. In this area it is possible, by sitting quietly and patiently under a likely group of trees, to see a the treecreeper settle on a nearby trunk before making its way up and around the trunk, busily searching for insects as it goes.

The male bird has a clear white face and chest

KILMORE

Kilmore is thought to be the oldest inland town in Victoria, established in 1837. The small settlement is thought to have been named Kilmore by William Rutledge, who probably desired to remember his family connections inn County Cavan Melbourne.

In 1841, William Rutledge obtained from the Government of NSW, 5120 acres of land in the now named area of Kilmore.

Kilmore is now predominately a commuter town of Melbourne. Indeed it is in danger of becoming an outlying suburb of Melbourne.

Kilmore does however retain its rural feel. It is still surrounded by farmland. There are still a number of larger family run farms as well as many smaller allotments being run as small or hobby farms.

On the eastern side of the Northern Highway, which runs through the centre of the town, is a large area of land, put aside by our early settlers for public use. This land now contains a golf course, a race track, showgrounds and a cricket ground. Adjacent to these facilities is a large area of native forest, running up to a hill, overlooking the town. Atop this hill is a blue-stone tower, built in 1924, of stones from the Kilmore Goal, to commemorate the 1924 journey of Hume and Hovell, as they mapped a route from Sydney to Port Phillip.

This is a beautiful area of eucalyptus and wattle trees, with an under-story of shrubs, grasses and in Spring, many flowers. Many native animals and birds live in the area giving the many walkers a glimpse of Kilmore as it used to be.

In the middle of the Kilmore Golf Course, is a large lake, the old Kilmore Hospital Reservoir. The lake and its surrounding trees and reeds, are always filled with large numbers of water loving birds.

Kilmore is very blessed to have been left this legacy of such beauty.

SOME VALUABLE REFERENCES

Dark Emu. Bruce Pascoe's book challenges our understandings of the aboriginal people of Australia. He tells the stories of these people as farmers and carers of the land, caring for, planting, harvesting and storing plants,managing fish stocks and building permanent stone shelters. A book to change many of your long held ideas.

A wonderful book, so full of information and such a pleasure to read.

Gould League Of Victoria

Seven book series
BIRDS OF SOUTH EASTERN AUSTRALIA
1. Urban Areas
2. Ranges
3. Oceans, Bays and Beaches
4. Inland Waters
5. The Dry Country
6. Rare Species
7. Farmlands

BIRDS OF THE LOWER KING PARROT CREEK
Published by the Strath Creek Landcare Group

Something from Overseas

KIBRIS'IN KUSLARI Birds of Cyprus

by Niyazi Turkseven