Peninsula Essence September/October 2016

BEAUTIFUL BOUNTIFUL BIRD WATCHING

By Melissa Walsh Photos: Gary Sissons

M

ax Burrows’ love of bird watching all started back at Brighton Primary School when a teacher introduced them to the Gold League of Bird Lovers.

“The kids all got a glossy certificate and we visited a bird sanctuary near Bacchus Marsh and I was sold,” said Max who has been a birder in his heart ever since. “I have done a lot of bird watching on the peninsula after living in the Frankston area for many years. I’ve seen new birds come into the area and birds leave when the habitat has changed. We have lost a couple of species over the years because development has wiped out a lot of bushland on the peninsula. A lot of birds only exist where there is specified bush land, but we have had other species come in like the little corella which is a white bird that is a species of cockatoo.”

As the president of Birdlife Mornington Peninsula, Max is an expert on bird species on the peninsula and is proud to say he has ticked off around 450 birds from his list.

E ssence

52 | PENINSULA

September/October 2016

“Most bird watchers would have a life list. When you see a bird for the first time you call it a lifer,” says the man who has spent around 50 years roaming Australia looking for birds. “I like the thrill of seeing new birds because there’s about 800 species of birds in Australia, although they keep finding new species of birds that might have accidentally come over here from Indonesia. For example we have just had a frigate bird which is a tropical bird that lives up in the coastal areas of Cape York and Darwin but this one was here and we think might have been blown down here by the big storms.”

Max explains that he is not a ‘twitcher’ however, although he is an avid bird watcher.

“Twitchers are a much more intense bird watcher who travel long distances to see a new species and add them to their life list. I have seen species from different areas but usually that’s just from being on holidays with the family,” he said. “Like most bird watchers you watch while taking holidays. In Western Australia there’s a bird called a splendid fairy