Alysse's Travel and Birding Adventures: Birding in winter

Tuesday, 8 August 2017

Birding in winter

Winter isn't my favourite season to go out birding - freezing wind, walking through wet grass that soaks through my shoes within minutes, and getting caught in unexpected rain showers... But when there is a nice sunny day, or at least not rainy day, that happens to fall on my day off, I like to get out there and see what I can find. At the start of this month I set myself the challenge to see 100 different species in August (before the 28th when I'll be going away on a birding trip!), so that I wouldn't succumb to the temptation to stay indoors on my days off, and I would have to go further afield than my local wetland to get to 100.

So far I have been to my local wetland a few times, as well as a day spent down at Goolwa and the Murray Mouth on Hindmarsh Island. Then today I went to Browns Road, Monarto and the Laratinga Wetlands at Mount Barker. At Monarto there was plenty of action and birdsong, including a lot of Striated Pardalotes, Diamond Firetails, Brown Treecreepers, Red-rumped Parrots, Hooded Robins. Altogether I added 10 species to my August month list, plus one year tick - Purple-crowned Lorikeets.

Laratinga was, as always, excellent for ducks! I spotted 10 different species of ducks, as well as both Spotted and Spotless Crakes - better views than last time and even photos! - and lots of the usual honeyeaters, rosellas, and other common birds. I added another 8 species to my month list, bringing me to 78 species for August and 163 for the year to date in SA. I'm hoping my Eyre Peninsula trip at the end of the month will bring me a lot closer to my year goal of cracking 200! Seeing other birders' photos and bird lists from various locations keeps me excited and motivated to keep exploring and looking for birds!