A most enjoyable day out with Steve! He picked me up as pre-arranged at 6.30 am in Frankston and then we headed in his Landrover to Bunyip State Park. He proved his outstanding expertise at our first stop off point, listening to the dawn chorus of a variety of honeyeaters, thornbills and parrots. As a Pom who had spent many years birding throughout Australasia, I had engaged Steve specifically to find me three birds which had eluded me; the Southern Emu-Wren, the Crescent Honeyeater, and the Red-browed Treecreeper. The first proved seriously elusive as we went from place to likely place, many where we heard it but could not get any sort of view. We were finally rewarded with a series of short but splendid sightings in some long reed grass opening in the forest. The other hoped for lifers came almost on cue...and in the process the day yielded a further lifer for me. Steve is a thorough professional who certainly knows his Victorian birds and has an energetic enthusiasm which is infectious. He was great company - we discovered we had birding mates in common! He plied me with coffee and biscuits to keep my energy levels up. I ended the day, exhausted, but well contented with some 60 species, four lifers, a giant goanna and a 'roo or two, all from one day's birding in Bunyip forest area
- Robert Falkner