After not spending much time at all birding over the last few years, I have recently gotten back into it and decided to do my own “SA birding big year” in 2025. I’m not trying to break anyone else’s records (of 400+ birds in a year), just my own previous record, of 203 species, in South Australia in one year.
I also set myself the goals of submitting 200 checklists to eBird, and birding in 40 different LGAs, including 10 that I haven’t recorded checklists in previously. I’ll also try to increase my life list for the Onkaparinga LGA (currently on 123 species).
I visited Byards Road Wetland after work to start off my 2025 birding year! I found 30 species, including the birds pictured below. It was a beautiful evening with perfect lighting. One of the first few birds I saw was a black-faced cuckoo-shrike - one I don’t see super regularly, so that was a great start. There was a large group of Swamphens, including several juveniles which were friendly and approached me on the bank. It was also nice to see a few Royal Spoonbills feeding in the far pond. A large flock of corellas flew overhead and congregated in a tree on the adjacent school oval, and I was able to see a few of them, clearly enough to make out that they were Long-billed Corellas, common visitors in this area. A couple of little birds flitting around in the trees between the ponds turned out to be a Silvereye and a Red-browed Firetail.
Very pleased with my first birding outing in 2025 and can’t wait to see more! I have got a few trips planned this year, starting with a trip to the south east in a few weeks time.
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| Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike |
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| Spotted Dove |
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| Superb Fairy-wren |
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| Australasian Swamphen |
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| Australasian Swamphen juvenile |
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| Grey Teal |
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| Australian Spotted Crake |
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| Little Pied and Little Black Cormorants |
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| Australian Magpie |
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| Crested Pigeon |
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| Masked Lapwing |
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| Magpie-lark |
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| Dusky Moorhen |
