Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne
22 January 2013: A collared sparrowhawk chasing and being chased by laughing kookaburras. Two sacred kingfishers recorded.
26 June 2012: A white-throated treecreeper was calling in the Gardens this morning. This is the first time we have recorded this species in the Gardens; they do however move around in the winter. This one probably came up the Yarra River.
18 January 2012: A collared sparrowhawk did a sortie over the Gardens this morning, causing a great commotion among the moorhens.
29 December 2011: A three-quarter grown water rat seen from the bridge at the northern end of Ornamental Lake. Eastern koel calling over near Government House.
28 December 2011: A tawny frogmouth back near Gate C; koel calling on the southern side of the Gardens and then later in Government House grounds. We didn't see the great crested grebe.
27 December 2011: The great crested grebe is still on Ornamental Lake.
26 December 2011: Eastern koel calling and an adult great created grebe on Ornamental Lake; a first record for both species (for us) in the Royal Botanic Gardens.
2 December 2011: Three tawny frogmouths on the Anderson Street side of the Gardens.
18 January 2011: One or two tawny frogmouths are now being seen most days near Gate C.
16 January 2011: After an absence of at least six months, it was good to see two song thrushes today on the Picnic Point lawn.
15 January 2011: Could only see an adult tawny frogmouth near Gate C today.
13 January 2011: Nice to see the tawny frogmouths back in their favourite haunt near Gate C. A parent and a young one were there today. (Patricia)
24 October 2010:Tawny frogmouth on a nest in the southern corner of the Royal Botanic Gardens.
30 May 2010: Again, a lone yellow-tailed black-cockatoo flying over the Gardens this morning; the probable female collared sparrowhawk, first seen on 10 May, still favouring the same eucalypt as an early morning surveillance perch.
28 May 2010: There was boobook owl in a eucalypt in the Rotary Remembrance Park, on the corner of Anderson Street/Domain Road/Birdwood Avenue (SE corner of the Botanic Gardens), seen perched around 7.15 pm; seen again around 8 pm, flying. (Philip)
25 May 2010: A single yellow-tailed black cockatoo flew over this morning; and a large shrub was amass with silvereyes. (Patricia)
16 May 2010: Probable female collared sparrowhawk seen this morning in exactly the same position it was seen a week ago. The mystery of the headless ringtails and accompanying entrails has been solved: a cat. (Patricia)
10 May 2010: Early this morning, one probable female collared sparrowhawk high in a eucalypt just over the fence in the grounds of Government House on the north-western side of the Gardens and another (definite) male sparrowhawk in flight on the south-eastern side. An eastern spinebill also seen. (Philip Maher)
9 May 2010: An eastern rosella was seen in the Gardens early this morning; could have been a wild bird but it was alone and rather quiet so perhaps an escapee. We saw a pair of crested pigeons feeding on King's Domain when we were looking around the Domain for likely powerful owl roosting trees. However, our owl bingo moment came around midday when we spotted a powerful owl as we walked through the Gardens en route to the city. While we have seen evidence of a powerful owl in the Gardens of late and Trisha saw one cross Linlithgow Avenue a few weeks ago, this is the first powerful owl we have seen in the Gardens for about three years. While we were walking back through the Gardens late afternoon a hobby circled overhead.
5 May 2010: The silhouettes of two tawny frogmouths were seen in a large eucalypt in the Children's Garden at around 7 o'clock this evening (seen from the Tan).
2 May 2010: Again the entrails and fur of a possum on one of the paths in the Gardens this morning. Given this possum met his demise after dark, I assume this is the work of a powerful owl rather than the goshawk (see 16 April) although again, may be a fox. The masked lapwings remain in the Gardens on the Picnic Point lawn. (Patricia Maher)
18 April 2010: two masked lapwings on the Picnic Point lawn this morning; I don't recall seeing lapwings in the Gardens before. (Patricia Maher)
16 April 2010: A powerful owl has returned to the Royal Botanic Gardens. Wash has been evident this week under one of the old, regular roosting spots in the New Zealand section and tonight, at 7.15, a powerful owl flew out of King's Domain, crossed the Tan and Linlithgow Avenue and glided low through the trees behind the Janet Lady Clarke Memorial rotunda in the Queen Victoria Gardens.
Like something out of a horror movie, a headless ringtail possum with its entire entrails lying beside it greeted me on the western side of the Gardens early this morning. Perhaps the work of the goshawk that is sometimes on top of pine trees on that side of the Gardens. Perhaps a fox?
(Patricia Maher)
12 April 2010: about a dozen yellow-tailed black cockatoos sailing low through the trees early this morning in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne (Patricia Maher).
28 February 2010: a pair of tawny frogmouths is still roosting in the trees close to Gate E, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne.
16 January 2010: one or two tawny frogmouths have been seen regularly in their roosting spot near Gate E, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, since New Year's Eve. We presume that the third bird seen that day was the young one and has moved out of its parents' territory. Some decent November rain prompted the dusky moorhens to breed and they seem not to have drawn breath since with young of all sizes including tiny chicks still seen on the lakes. The songthrushes, usually seen down in the Chinese section in the north-east of the Gardens, have been up in the New Zealand and rainforest sections of late and today we found a broken songthrush egg in the rainforest — a beautiful duck-egg blue with small black splotches.
Philip & Patricia Maher
31 December 2009: found three tawny frogmouths this morning roosting not far from Gate E, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. Patricia Maher
27 December 2009: around 7.30 pm we searched for and found last night's two tawny frogmouths while they were still roosting not far from Gate E.
26 December 2009: two tawny frogmouths seen in a Moreton Bay fig, just inside Gate E, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, 9.15 pm. Philip Maher / Patricai Maher
26 November 2009: Tawny Frogmouth, 8.30 pm, Birdwood Avenue, South Yarra.
5 February 2009: buff-banded rail, Long Island lagoon, Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens this morning. (Patricia Maher)
19 January 2009: one or two Baillon's crake among reeds in the Long Island lagoon, Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens, seen off the bridge. (Patricia Maher)
23 January 2009: a buff-banded rail feeding along the edge of Long Island lagoon, Melbourne Royal Botanic Gardens this morning. (Patricia & Philip Maher)
29 November 2008: a tawny frogmouth feeding a juvenile, seen from the Tan on Birdwood Avenue at dusk near Gate E. (Patricia Maher)