January 7

After a long and satisfying day out birding yesterday, I wasn't really expecting to do as much today, but it happened anyway! I was up bright and early to meet a group of like-minded birders (Joy, Teresa, Rosemary and Gary) to discuss planned tree removal at my local wetland at Byards Road. The removal of introduced pine trees will affect Nankeen Night-herons, a rather special resident of our little wetland, which nest and roost in the trees. Following our meeting, most of us hung around to check out the birdlife present. We were treated to an amusing display by this pelican, and I saw many other species, including the night-heron in the tree, ending up with a total of 42 species for the morning - probably my biggest ever list for a single session there. It shows just how many different species are using this wetland, which was transformed from an empty paddock just a few years ago!

Australian Pelicans, Byards Wetland, SA

Australian Pelicans, Byards Wetland, SA

Australian Pelicans, Byards Wetland, SA

Nankeen Night-heron, Byards Wetland, SA

Black-fronted Dotterel, Byards Wetland, SA

After our session at Byards I went out for a nice family lunch to celebrate my Grandma's 89th birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!! <3), and that afternoon I headed out again with my sister Erin, for a spot of Geocaching, and, of course, more birding. We headed to Mark Oliphant Conservation Park, where she had seen a few Geocaches on the map and thought it might be a nice spot for birding too. She was right! Barely out of sight of the car (Loftia Track) and I had seen my first Striated Thornbills, White-throated Treecreeper, Red-browed Finches, Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, and Eastern Spinebills for 2018. We successfully found the geocaches we were looking for, and moved around to the other side of the park (Nioka Track). We parked across from the gate and straight away Erin spotted a ring-tailed possum in a tree. I then pointed out that there was also a koala almost directly above her head. Then we spotted a kangaroo nearby - all 3 species within easy sight of the entrance! We found another 2 geocaches and I picked up Crescent Honeyeater for my year list. We stopped off at Belair NP for a few more geocaches, but nothing out of the ordinary was seen or photographed there. Another fun and successful day out!

 

Eastern Spinebill, Mark Oliphant CP, SA

Ring-tailed Possum, Mark Oliphant CP, SA

Koala, Mark Oliphant CP, SA

Skippy, Mark Oliphant CP, SA