Valentine's Day at Laratinga

I spent this February 14th celebrating my LOVE of birds! My dad and I headed off to Laratinga Wetlands this morning, hoping to spot an Australian Spotted Crake which has been seen by several other birders recently. The weather looked a bit iffy as we headed along the Freeway, but it gradually fined up and we had a nice few hours there. Within our first 15 minutes we came across a Spotted Crake, and luckily for us it wasn't shy! We were able to watch it pecking around in the mud for several minutes before it disappeared. As well as being my first crake for the year, this was only my third sighting of this species of all time, and all of my sightings of it so far have been at Laratinga!

Australian Spotted Crake, Laratinga Wetlands SA

 As usual, there were plenty of Superb Fairy-wrens hopping around, and many Welcome Swallows and Tree Martins swooping around.

Superb Fairy-wren, Laratinga Wetlands SA

Tree Martin, Laratinga Wetlands SA

Between the wetlands (LW) and the adjacent sewerage treatment works (STW), we saw nearly all of the duck species known to occur in this region! Birds in the Sewerage Treatment Works were seen by peeking through the chain link fence at the western edge of the wetlands. We saw the usual Pacific Black Ducks, Australian Wood Ducks, Grey Teals, Chestnut Teals that I see regularly at many places, as well as the less often seen (by me):

Musk Duck (1 in LW), 

Freckled Duck (9, all in STW), 

Pink-eared Ducks (first for the year) (1 in LW, ~20 in STW), 

Australasian Shovelers (4 in LW), 

Hardheads (2 in LW, 2 in STW), and 

Blue-billed Ducks (1 in LW, 4 in STW)

Pink-eared Ducks, Mount Barker Sewerage Treatment Works, SA

Freckled Duck, Mount Barker Sewerage Treatment Works, SA

Chestnut Teal, Laratinga Wetlands, SA

There were quite a few baby birds around the wetlands, including young grebes, coots, moorhens, and swamphens! We observed some parents feeding their fuzzy offspring, and this little one following it's parent around.

Australasian Swamphen, Laratinga Wetlands, SA

We saw several other common wetland species including Little-pied Cormorants, Australian White Ibis, Masked Lapwing, and Black-fronted Dotterels.

Black-fronted Dotterel, Laratinga Wetlands, SA

  Just before we left, we spotted this Yellow-billed Spoonbill perched up high, my first for the year! Altogether today we saw 35 species, including 3 additions to my 2017 SA list, bring my total so far up to 128 species.

Yellow-billed Spoonbill, Laratinga Wetlands, SA

Spotlighting at Monarto

On Saturday I had the opportunity to go spotlighting for nocturnal birds with an experienced birder and excellent photographer Teresa, whom I also recently discovered is my neighbour! We left at around 7:30PM and headed for Browns Road at Monarto. I'd been up there a couple of times before during the day, hoping to find some owlet-nightjars, but discovered I had been looking in the wrong part - the apparent entrance is all replanted vegetation, the good stuff where all of the cool birds hang out is further back with it's own entrance gate! We arrived as the sun was setting, and took some time to adjust camera settings, and Teresa explained to me what to do - most importantly, once you have your spotlight on a bird, don't take it off them or they will most likely fly away as soon as you do! 

Once it was dark we started looking, first going along the road sides either side of the reserve before entering. We saw a whole lot of possums in the trees, as well as a few magpies and a red wattlebird. Then eventually, about an hour in, Teresa spotted our first nocturnal bird - An Australian Owlet-nightjar! One tiny little bird was perched out on a branch all by itself, with grass seeds stuck on its whiskers. This sweet little bird was a lifer for me, and one I had been wanting to see for a while.

Australian Owlet-nightjar, Browns Rd, Monarto, SA

Possum, Monarto, SA

 After leaving the Browns Road reserve, we continued driving along some of the back roads in the area to see what else we could find. A little while later, on Preamimma Road, I spotted a Barn Owl! Teresa was quick to spot that it had a friend with it. We listened to them screeching to each other, and one peeked down towards us from the higher branches, while this one sat and posed for a while before flying off.

Barn Owl, Monarto, SA

We kept on going, but shortly afterwards the car overheated and we had to call the RAA to come and save us! We got home safely, both happy with our exciting night of nocturnal birds.