Tuesday, 21 January 2025

South East SA - January 2025


For my first trip of 2025 I wanted to cover some distance and hopefully see some birds that we don’t get closer to home. I have travelled to the South East of SA before, but not for several years, so decided to start there. What was originally going to be a trip to Robe, turned into a trip right down to Port MacDonnell and Piccaninnie Ponds CP in the bottom corner of the state, and back up through Naracoorte and Bordertown. 

On the first day I stopped at Parnka Point on the Coorong, Kingston S.E., Robe, where I spotted a Latham’s Snipe - great spot for these at the moment, and Beachport, where I camped for the night in the conservation park. 

On the second day I walked around Woolley Lake in the Beachport CP, visited Beachport Lagoon where I saw a pair of young Collared Sparrowhawks trying to catch Welcome Swallows for breakfast, as well as a Galah taking a drink. I walked around Lake McIntyre in Millicent, where I was delighted to find my first Musk Duck of the year, as well as a large group of Straw-necked Ibises, and a couple of Little Wattlebirds. I visited the conservation area at Valley Lake, Mount Gambier, before heading down to Port MacDonnell. I visited a couple of spots along the coast,  went on to Piccaninnie Ponds including Pick Swamp, where I found a number of new species for the year, including Southern Emu Wren, Australia Hobby and Australia Pipit. I also got eaten alive at the beach and in the swamp but what I believe were March Flies, which had no trouble biting me through my leggings, leaving me with sore, itchy bites all over my lower legs. From there I travelled north to Naracoorte, where I camped overnight in the Naracoorte Caves NP, a nice spot with plenty of rosellas and kangaroos visiting (and hot showers!). 

On the third day I visited Bool Lagoon, which was completely dry, but I still had a nice encounter with a Brown Thornbill and a pair of Black-shouldered Kites. I spent a bit of time driving along backroads outside of Naracoorte looking for water where birds might congregate. I found a nice pond on Old Kingston Road managed by SA water, which was being used by many water birds, including a Blue-billed Duck, a few Australasian Shovellers, Pink eared ducks and more. Next I drove further north to Bordertown. I had a specific target species I was hoping to see here, and I found it! A family of Bush Stone-curlews that calls the Bordertown Wildlife Park home. These are not captive birds, I guess they just like hanging out with the kangaroos here and it is a reliable source of food and water for them. I was very happy to spot a pair of adults with a chick. From here I headed towards home, but since I still had a few hours of daylight, I stopped at one of my favourite spots on the way home - the Monarto Woodlands on Browns Rd. I had been meaning to visit this spot sons anyway, and it was a very slight detour. Here I found Yellow Thornbills, Purple-backed Fairywren, Red-capped and Hooded Robins and more. 

Altogether I saw 101 species on the trip, of which 41 were year ticks (I am up to 114 species this year so far). I really enjoyed the trip, despite the heat and the fly bites, and my first experience of car camping. I am already looking forward to my next trip! I have included some of my favourite photos from the trip below.

Markers indicate where I recorded birds on this trip.

Collared Sparrowhawk, Beachport, SA

Forest Raven, Beachport, SA

Galah, Beachport, SA

Little Wattlebird, Millicent, SA

Musk Duck, Millicent, SA

Eurasian Coot, Mount Gambier, SA

White-browned Scrubwren, Piccaninnie Ponds CP, SA

Australian Hobby, Piccaninnie Ponds CP, SA

Australian Pipit, Piccaninnie Ponds CP, SA

Crimson Rosella, Naracoorte, SA

Brown Thornbill, Naracoorte, SA

Bush Stone-curlews, Bordertown, SA

Long-billed Corellas, Bordertown, SA

Yellow Thornbill, Monarto, SA

Purple-backed Fairywren, Monarto, SA

Red-capped Robin, juvenile & adult female, Monarto, SA 

Hooded Robin, Monarto, SA


Monday, 13 January 2025

Whicker Road Wetlands and Thompsons Beach - Jan 2025

In the first two weeks of January 2025 I have seen 74 species, across five different LGAs in South Australia. I have been a bit held back by an injury, but I am keen to see as much as I can without walking too far. Next weekend I will be off on my first trip of the year, down to the southeast of the state.

I have had a couple of nice local-ish birding sessions already this year - one at Whicker Road Wetlands in Gillman, and another at Thompson Beach in the Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary at Dublin.

I was elated to come across Great Crested Grebe and White-winged Fairywren at Whicker Road, and Elegant Parrot, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew Sandpiper, and both Pied and Sooty Oystercatchers at Thompson Beach, among other species.

Looking forward to seeing what else I can find!

Australian Pelican and Black Swan

Great Crested Grebe

White-winged Fairywren


Elegant Parrot

Red-knees Dotterels

Red-capped Plover

Pacific Gull

Mostly Little Pied Cormorants, a few Pied, and a Sooty Oystercatcher

Bar-tailed Godwits

Curlew Sandpiper

Crested Terns


Thursday, 2 January 2025

New Birding Year: 2025

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.

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike 

Spotted Dove

Superb Fairy-wren

Australasian Swamphen

Australasian Swamphen juvenile

Grey Teal

Australian Spotted Crake


Little Pied and Little Black Cormorants

Australian Magpie

Crested Pigeon

Masked Lapwing

Magpie-lark

Dusky Moorhen


Sunday, 29 December 2024

2024 Birds

Birding has always been a part of my life but it hasn’t been a primary focus over the last few years. I have plans to dedicate a lot more time to it in 2025, including travelling to some places I haven’t been to before, and seeking out some species that have eluded me in the past. 

In the first half of this year I went on a failed cruise - the ship’s engine broke down and we only made it to one island in New Caledonia before heading back to Sydney early. My dad and I decided to go to Canberra for a few days to make something out of our time in the east, and I was able to spending a few days visiting a few spots there including the Jerrabomberra wetlands, National Botanic Gardens, and the arboretum. 









Aside from that trip, I spent a little time birding at local wetlands. I ended up seeing 89 species this year, including 70 in SA.