Byards Rd Wetland - January 2021

Despite living around the corner, I hadn’t been for a walk around Byards Rd Wetland for quite a while - until this morning! I got a later start than I should have, and it was already getting hot. Several of the ponds were completely dry, while others had plenty of water. I quickly started seeing the usual wetland species. It was nice to see a pair of Royal Spoonbills feeding in Pond 9, and a couple of Silvereyes flitting about, one of which seemed to be feeding the other. A group of magpies surrounded me at one point, but they seemed friendly.. I think people might feed them and they were hoping for a snack. A group of wood ducks approached me at the edge of Pond 9, possibly with the same idea. 

I hadn’t visited for a while, but the last few times I did was when a family of Tawny Frogmouths were hanging out just outside of the wetlands. I wandered out to the road, not really expecting them to be there, but there was 3 of them roosting in the exact tree I remember seeing them in last, probably over a year ago! I ended up with a total of 29 species, including 7 new additions to my year list.

Grey Teal

Little Pied Cormorant 

Silvereye 

Australian Magpie 

Australian White Ibis 

White-faced Heron 

Australian Magpie 

Pacific Black Duck 

Noisy Miner 

Royal Spoonbill 

Australian Wood Duck 

Long-billed Corella 

Tawny Frogmouth 

SPECIES LIST 

1. Australian Wood Duck  

2. Pacific Black Duck 

3. Grey Teal 

4. Spotted Dove 

5. Common Bronzewing 

6. Crested Pigeon 

7. Tawny Frogmouth 

8. Dusky Moorhen 

9. Eurasian Coot 

10. Australasian Swamphen 

11. Masked Lapwing 

12. Black-fronted Dotterel 

13. Little Pied Cormorant 

14. White-faced Heron 

15. Australian White Ibis

16. Royal Spoonbill 

17. Galah 

18. Long-billed Corella 

19. Crimson Rosella 

20. Rainbow Lorikeet 

21. Superb Fairywren 

22. Noisy Miner 

23. White-plumed Honeyeater 

24. Australian Magpie 

25. Willie Wagtail 

26. Magpie-lark 

27. Little Raven 

28. Australian Reed Warbler 

29. Silvereye 

 

Byards Road Wetland (Fleurieu Birding)

This morning I visited my local wetlands for the first time in a couple of months. It was nice to see that the previously dry ponds have filled with water again. 

View of Pond 7, Byards Road Wetland 

Pacific Black Ducks

I came across a very friendly magpie, that walked up to me within a metre and stood around for a while. It was not afraid of me at all, I suspect it knows that humans sometimes equal food!

Australian Magpie

White-plumed Honeyeater

I timed my visit perfectly and was lucky to see a flock of Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos fly over. They landed in the trees on the northern side of the wetland, and eventually took off again and headed west. 

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos

I checked on the resident family of Tawny Frogmouths, and found them right where I had seen them last! Unfortunately the sun was behind them, but I still managed to get some passable shots.

Tawny Frogmouths

I spent about an hour at the wetland and saw 23 species. The weather remained OK while I was there - overcast but mild and not too windy. 

New Holland Honeyeater

For regular updates on this wetland, and species sightings, join our Friends of Byards Road Wetland group on Facebook :-) Thanks for Reading!

Grey Teal

Bird List:

1. Pacific Black Duck

2. Grey Teal

3. Hoary-headed Grebe

4. Rock Dove

5. Spotted Dove

6. Common Bronzewing

7. Crested Pigeon

8. Tawny Frogmouth

9. Dusky Moorhen

10. Eurasian Coot

11. Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo

12. Eastern Rosella

13. Rainbow Lorikeet

14. Noisy Miner

15. Red Wattlebird

16. White-plumed Honeyeater

17. New Holland Honeyeater

18. Australian Magpie

19. Willie Wagtail

20. Magpie-Lark 

21. Little Raven

22. Welcome Swallow

23. Silvereye

Monarto Tawnys

Just a quick post this time. I went for another night-birding session with Teresa last week. We drove around the Monarto area and found five Tawny Frogmouths, heard another two, and had a glimpse of a possible Owlet-nightjar. Here are a couple of photos from the night. 

Tawny Frogmouth, Monarto, SA

Tawny Frogmouth, Monarto, SA

January 2018 Wrap-up

Already one month into 2018! January has been a good start to the year overall. Aside from work, I've the time to head out and do some birding at various locations, including Byards Road Wetland, Tolderol, Laratinga Wetlands, Monarto, Belair NP, and Cox Scrub CP. So far this year I've seen 126 species, including 4 lifers, without going too far away from home. I've been keeping a closer eye on the changes occuring at my local wetland on Byards Road and helped form a "Friends group" for the site. I've seen some nice birds around, including my favourite Rainbow Bee-eaters, and FINALLY a Southern Boobook again - hadn't seen one for a few years! Here are some shots from January :-) 

I don't know if it's just me, but it seems that there are a lot more Long-billed Corellas in my area than there have been in recent years. Previously I have noticed large groups of Little Corellas, and a few Long-billed in a small group or mixed in with the Littles, but lately I have been seeing large groups of both species. 

Long-billed Corellas, Byards Rd Wetland, SA

Grey Currawong, Byards Rd Wetland, SA

Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo, Cox Scrub CP, SA

 One day I took my sister Erin for a walk in Cox Scrub CP to look for birds and geo-caches. We took the wrong trail and ended up walking a lot further than we meant to, and it was quite a hot day, but at least I saw a lifer - Brush Bronzewing!

Brush Bronzewing, Cox Scrub CP, SA

 Later that same day, I took Erin to see a Tawny Frogmouth family at McLaren Vale - the same family from my earlier January post. They were a bit less accommodating this time, on a branch hidden behind some foliage, but they were just as cute as ever!

Tawny Frogmouths, McLaren Vale, SA

 More recently, my dad and I went up to Browns Rd, Monarto for a look around. There are quite a few species there that I don't see closer to home, so it's a great area to visit. I saw my first Rainbow Bee-eaters for the year, and added quite a few year ticks that day!

Rainbow Bee-eater, Browns Rd, Monarto, SA

Red-capped Robin (immature), Browns Rd, Monarto, SA

 A few days later I revisited Browns Rd in darkness with Teresa. We were quickly rewarded for our drive out there with a sighting of a Southern Boobook. Later we also saw a few Tawny Frogmouths and a couple of Barn Owls, and Teresa heard an Owlet-nightjar. We couldn't find him though, so I will have to find one another day!

Southern Boobook, Browns Rd, Monarto, SA

Tawny Frogmouth, Monarto, SA

Tawny's and more - one hot day

With hot weather forecast for this Saturday, Teresa and I originally planned to head down to Tolderol for another look. In the end we decided not to risk the snakes and potential grass fires from the hot car, so we went to visit a few of her (and my!) favourites. First we headed to McLaren Vale to check on a few of her known Tawny Frogmouth families. We found 3 lots altogether, including one family of 4, a single dad on a new nest, and a pair of adults. We revisited the family of 4 later in the day for better lighting for photos!

Tawny Frogmouths, McLaren Vale, SA

Tawny Frogmouths, McLaren Vale, SA

Tawny Frogmouth (juvenile), McLaren Vale, SA

Tawny Frogmouths, McLaren Vale, SA

Tawny Frogmouth (juvenile), McLaren Vale, SA

Tawny Frogmouths (male) on nest, McLaren Vale, SA

Tawny Frogmouth, McLaren Vale, SA

Tawny Frogmouth, McLaren Vale, SA

At the first Tawny site I also saw my first European Goldfinches for 2018.

European Goldfinch, McLaren Vale, SA

Next we headed down to Blockers Road at Myponga to see if we could find a Latham's Snipe that has been residing there. If I didn't know where to look I would've missed it, but luckily I had the snipe whisperer with me and we found it fairly quickly!

Latham's Snipe, Myponga, SA

From there we headed on to Dunn's Lagoon at Finniss to look for a White-necked Heron, but sipped on that one. We went on to Beacon 19 at Goolwa and found a few waders including my first Curlew Sandpiper and Common Greenshank of 2018, bringing me to 83 species for the year so far. It was a great day out, I think we managed to avoid getting (more) sunburned, and the highlight was seeing those young Tawnys - so gorgeous!

Curlew Sandpiper, Goolwa, SA