Werribee grasslands with You Yangs in the distance

Some interesting birds can sometimes turn up on the roadsides of the Werribee grasslands and beyond, so when we heard that Banded Lapwings had been seen around the Bulban Road area we decided to go and have a look. We drove out along Greens Road in Mambourin and saw a large flock of Shelduck congregating in an ephemeral wetland that had developed in the middle of a paddock. Along the roadside we saw Superb Fairywren, Australasian Pipit, Skylark and an Australian Hobby on a fence post. We drove on a little further west until we saw what we were looking for on the north side of the road, there were about 20 Banded Lapwing which were fairly well camouflaged amongst the rocky paddock. On the fence nearby were White-fronted Chats.

Banded Lapwing site

We drove on further and turned left onto Edgars Road. About four kilometers down Edgars Road on the west side was a small waterhole which was close to the road. Here a small flock of Zebra finch were drinking. A Masked Lapwing, Yellow Rumped Thornbills and Galahs were also taking advantage of the water. We headed back to Melbourne via Bulban road passing the area close to Newtons Road where we had seen a Little Curlew amongst a flock of Banded Lapwing in January 2008.

On another trip in the area we drove along Sandy Creek Road, in the forest along side the Ford Proving Ground were Diamond Firetail, Brown Falcon and Collared Sparrowhawk.

Map of Werribee area