At the start of the year I set myself the goal to see 200 species in South Australia in 2017. In the middle of October with the end of the year and the start of summer fast approaching, I found myself sitting on 193 species - so close! Since our Gluepot trip at the end of September I'd been a bit slack and hadn't been out birding much and hadn't seen anything new.
And then something happened that piqued my interested and got me going again - a group of 4 Painted Snipes popped up at Whites Rd Wetland! We headed out there the next day, stopping at Greenfields Magazine Rd Wetland on the way, where we dipped on a Black-tailed Godwit that had been seen, but I picked up Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and Wood Sandpiper for my year list. The swans seem to be doing well there at the moment!
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| Black Swans, Magazine Road Wetlands, SA |
At Whites Road we met up with our neighbour and friend Teresa, and after some directions from another birder on his way out, we set up and waited. After a while Teresa got a glimpse of one so we knew we were in the right spot. Then we could both see one, and just make out another next to it. Eventually they moved off and there were three of them! Lifer :-D
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| Australian Painted Snipe, Whites Road Wetland, SA |
A couple of weeks later I had another go at finding the Black-tailed Godwit and had success! No decent photos, but another life tick! We saw a lot of Royal Spoonbills around, including this one with a fancy, windswept hair-do.
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| Royal Spoonbill, Magazine Road Wetlands, SA |
There were a lot of waders around, so I hurried back to the car for my scope. Most of them turned out to be Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, or too far away to tell, but there were a couple of birds in with the Sharpies that looked a bit different. Later, upon viewing the photos and showing to Teresa, I discovered they were Curlew Sandpipers! Year tick :-) After this I was sitting on 198 species - so close!!!!
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| Curlew Sandpiper and Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, Magazine Road Wetlands, SA |
A week later (today - 6 November) I was ready to head out again! I had been meaning to head out to Monarto for a while, but a sighting over the weekend made me even more keen to go. We headed for a creek on Frahn's Farm Road, where this uncommon visitor had been reported. We walked along the top of the bank for a short distance and heard a familar and welcome call, and soon saw their beautiful colours flashing through the air - Rainbow Bee-eaters! Not our first for the year, but our first for the season. We watched them for a while before continuing our search for our main target of the day.
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| Rainbow Bee-eater, Monarto, SA |
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| Rainbow Bee-eater, Monarto, SA |
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| Rainbow Bee-eater, Monarto, SA |
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| Rainbow Bee-eater, Monarto, SA |
After no sign of our target we crossed the road, and I played the species call back on my phone, saying to my dad, "it probably won't be calling out since it seems to be the only one here, but just in case we will know if we hear one". Immediately it started calling back (I don't know anything), and I checked my phone to make sure the playback wasn't still playing. It wasn't. And then we looked up and saw this little Red-backed Kingfisher sitting up in the tree calling out to us! LIFER!
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| Red-backed Kingfisher, Monarto, SA |
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| Red-backed Kingfisher, Monarto, SA |
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| Red-backed Kingfisher, Monarto, SA |
I was already happy with that, but we had plans to go on and check out some other spots. After chatting to some other birders for a while, we headed to Browns Road. I'd seen photos of Restless Flycatchers hanging around there maybe a month ago, and it turns out I left my visit too late to see them, BUT it didn't take long before I saw my second lifer of the day - White-browed Woodswallow!
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| White-browed Woodswallow, Browns Road, Monarto, SA |
We saw quite a few of these little cuties, and then some Dusky Woodswallows. Then I noticed a few different looking ones - Masked Woodswallows - Year Tick! I was excited to see both of these species here because I didn't even realize they visit this region so I wasn't expecting to see them.
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| Masked Woodswallow, Browns Road, Monarto, SA |
We spotted an owlet-nightjar emerging from a hollow and taking flight, too quick for a picture! I also accidentally flushed what looked like some sort of quail at one point. We saw a few Variegated Fairywrens, a Rufous Whistler, a few Diamond Firetails and several other species.
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| Variegated Fairywren, Browns Road, Monarto, SA |
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| Rufous Whistler, Browns Road, Monarto, SA |
For me, no trip to the Monarto area is complete without a stop at Mount Barker on the way home to visit the Laratinga Wetlands. There was only one species I knew of that had been seen here recently that I needed for my year list, one of my favourites. We had a nice walk around, examining the trees for these little birds, but no luck. We saw quite a few baby Australasian Swamphens, and the usual variety of ducks, and a pair of Australian Spotted Crakes.
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| Australasian Swamphen, Laratinga Wetlands, Mount Barker, SA |
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| Australasian Swamphen, Laratinga Wetlands, Mount Barker, SA |
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| Australasian Swamphen, Laratinga Wetlands, Mount Barker, SA |
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| Australasian Swamphen, Laratinga Wetlands, Mount Barker, SA |
We had walked around most of the wetland, and I had pretty much given up hope of seeing my little favourites. But then we walked past a couple wearing binoculars, and they told me they had seen a little family of birds further along. Eventually (after further instructions from the couple) I found them... Crested Shriketits! There were two young ones being fed by one adult that I could see. So cute!!!
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| Crested Shriketit, Laratinga Wetlands, Mount Barker, SA |
After the adventures of the last few weeks I am now on 202 species for 2017! Goal achieved :-D New goal... 220 by the end of the year?
