Alysse's Travel and Birding Adventures: Bird Photography

Showing posts with label Bird Photography. Show all posts

Wednesday, 20 January 2021

Byards Rd Wetland - January 2021

Despite living around the corner, I hadn’t been for a walk around Byards Rd Wetland for quite a while - until this morning! I got a later start than I should have, and it was already getting hot. Several of the ponds were completely dry, while others had plenty of water. I quickly started seeing the usual wetland species. It was nice to see a pair of Royal Spoonbills feeding in Pond 9, and a couple of Silvereyes flitting about, one of which seemed to be feeding the other. A group of magpies surrounded me at one point, but they seemed friendly.. I think people might feed them and they were hoping for a snack. A group of wood ducks approached me at the edge of Pond 9, possibly with the same idea.

I hadn’t visited for a while, but the last few times I did was when a family of Tawny Frogmouths were hanging out just outside of the wetlands. I wandered out to the road, not really expecting them to be there, but there was 3 of them roosting in the exact tree I remember seeing them in last, probably over a year ago! I ended up with a total of 29 species, including 7 new additions to my year list.

Grey Teal

Little Pied Cormorant

Silvereye

Australian Magpie

Australian White Ibis

White-faced Heron

Australian Magpie

Pacific Black Duck

Noisy Miner

Royal Spoonbill

Australian Wood Duck

Long-billed Corella

Tawny Frogmouth

SPECIES LIST

1. Australian Wood Duck

2. Pacific Black Duck

3. Grey Teal

4. Spotted Dove

5. Common Bronzewing

6. Crested Pigeon

7. Tawny Frogmouth

8. Dusky Moorhen

9. Eurasian Coot

10. Australasian Swamphen

11. Masked Lapwing

12. Black-fronted Dotterel

13. Little Pied Cormorant

14. White-faced Heron

15. Australian White Ibis

16. Royal Spoonbill

17. Galah

18. Long-billed Corella

19. Crimson Rosella

20. Rainbow Lorikeet

21. Superb Fairywren

22. Noisy Miner

23. White-plumed Honeyeater

24. Australian Magpie

25. Willie Wagtail

26. Magpie-lark

27. Little Raven

28. Australian Reed Warbler

29. Silvereye

Monday, 18 January 2021

First lifer of 2021 - Square-tailed Kite

Recently I went for a walk in Belair National Park. I saw my first ever Square-tailed Kites, as well as some other nice birds and some kangaroos.

Square-tailed Kite, Belair National Park

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Playford Lake, Belair National Park

Tuesday, 5 January 2021

Boobooks and Kookaburras: Oaklands Wetland and Reserve Jan 2021

This morning I made a quick visit to Oaklands Wetland and Reserve on my way to work. I had seen on Facebook that people were reporting seeing a family of Southern Boobooks residing in the park. Upon arriving, I quickly found a pair of roosting Boobooks, and another solo one in a different tree. Excellent year tick for me as I haven’t seen these very often previously. This one had a peek at me, but didn’t seem fussed by my presence.

Southern Boobook, Oaklands Wetland Reserve

After admiring the owls for a short while, I wandered off to see what else I could spot. I could hear a kookaburra somewhere nearby, and I soon found them. A pair of adults were taking turns to feed their rather large baby. A kind local lady was there feeding the birds, and had some insectivore mix which the Kookas seemed to enjoy.

Laughing Kookaburras (Juvenile on left), Oaklands Wetland Reserve

Other birds present at the wetlands included the usual magpies, swamphens, moorhens, and a slightly less common sighting for me - 3 Little Black Cormorants. Altogether I saw 18 species, and possibly would have seen more if I had not had to rush off to work! I will definitely revisit this place soon.

Australian Magpies, Oaklands Wetland

Australasian Swamphens, Oaklands Wetland Reserve

Dusky Moorhen, Oaklands Wetland Reserve

Little Black Cormorant, Oaklands Wetland Reserve

Year to date total: 18 species (this was my first list of the year!)

Day total: 18 species

Birds seen today:

1. Australian Wood Duck

2. Pacific Black Duck

3. Crested Pigeon

4. Dusky Moorhen

5. Eurasian Coot

6. Australasian Swamphen

7. Masked Lapwing

8. Silver Gull

9. Little Black Cormorant

10. Southern Boobook

11. Laughing Kookaburra

12. Galah

13. Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

14. Rainbow Lorikeet

15. Noisy Miner

16. Red Wattlebird

17. Australian Magpie

18. Magpie-lark

Monday, 23 November 2020

Spirit of the Coorong Cruise November 2020

Last Wednesday my dad and I went out on the Spirit of the Coorong cruise for the day. Departing from the wharf next to the Hindmarsh Island bridge, we passed through the Goolwa Barrage, where we saw many cormorants and pelicans, and a couple of Long-nosed Fur Seals. We travelled through the Coorong National Park, stopping at Barker’s Knoll, where we went for a walk through the sand dunes to the ocean beach. We sampled local Goolwa Pipis, and enjoyed a lunch Of cold meat and salads on board the boat. Throughout the cruise, the excellent guides identified birds they spotted, and told us about the history of the area, pointing out significant sites along the way. We learned about the Ngarrindjeri - the traditional owners of this whole area, the early European explorers and settlers, and the filming of the movie Storm Boy, both the original movie and the recent remake.

We travelled as far as “Cattle Point”, where about half of the tour group departed the boat again to go for another walk in the dunes and watch our guide find fresh water in the dunes. We opted to stay on the boat as it was quite hot and the dunes here were quite steep! After this second shore excursion, we headed back towards Goolwa. We really enjoyed the cruise, the guides were excellent - very well informed and good story tellers, and kept everyone calm and everything running smoothly when the news about the SA lockdown hit and a few people started getting anxious. Would highly recommend this company and this cruise! Bird list at the bottom after photos.