Second lifer of 2021! Tolderol and Browns Rd Birding

 Today my dad and I headed down to Tolderol Game Reserve to look for some birds. We saw a total of 30 species, including a Long-toed Stint - a lifer for me! Thanks to Sam Gordon for assistance with ID! We then decided to visit Browns Road, Monarto, where I saw a total of 14 species. No lifers but I did add a few species to the year list, and had a nice close encounter with a Striated Pardalote which landed on a branch less than 2m away! Species list after photos. 

Whiskered Tern, Tolderol

Welcome Swallow, Tolderol

Long-toed Stint, Tolderol 

Red-capped Plover, Tolderol 

Red-necked Stint, Tolderol 

Long-toed Stint and Red-capped Plover, Tolderol 

Striated Pardalote, Browns Rd Monarto

Hooded Robin, Browns Rd Monarto

Purple-backed Fairywren, Browns Rd Monarto

Hooded Robin, Browns Rd Monarto

Yellow Thornbill, Browns Rd Monarto

Year total: 61 species 

Day total: 43 species 

SPECIES LIST 

1. Black Swan 

2. Pacific Black Duck 

3. Crested Pigeon 

4. Peaceful Dove

5. Black-tailed Nativehen 

6. White-headed Stilt

7. Masked Lapwing 

8. Red-capped Plover

9. Sharp-tailed Sandpiper 

10. Long-toed Stint 

11. Red-necked Stint 

12. Common Greenshank 

13. Silver Gull 

14. Whiskered Tern 

15. Little Pied Cormorant 

16. Australian Pelican 

17. Australian White Ibis 

18. Straw-necked Ibis 

19. Royal Spoonbill 

20. Swamp Harrier 

21. Australian Hobby 

22. Elegant Parrot 

23. Rainbow Lorikeet 

24. Purple-backed Fairywren 

25. Superb Fairywren 

26. Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater 

27. Red Wattlebird 

28. White-plumed Honeyeater 

29. White-fronted Chat 

30. New Holland Honeyeater 

31. Striated Pardalote 

32. Yellow Thornbill 

33. Weebill 

34. Southern Whiteface 

35. Grey Shrikethrush 

36. Australian Magpie 

37. Magpie-lark 

38. White-winged Chough 

39. Hooded Robin 

40. Golden-headed Cisticola 

41. Australian Reed Warbler 

42. Welcome Swallow 

43. Silvereye 

Tolderol Feb 2018

This morning I made the trip to Tolderol to look for a few birds that have been seen recently. Although I ended up missing most of what I was looking for - No Ruff or Black-tailed Godwit for me! - Just before the entry gate I spotted something special for me - an Australian Hobby. I thought I had one on my most recent visit, which turned out to be a Brown Falcon in disguise, pointed out to me by Sam Gordon :-( However, there was no mistaking this one today. This friendly little bird was perched on a fence post as we approached and made no effort to leave despite me clicking away taking photos, and in the end it was still there when we drove on!

Australian Hobby, Tolderol Game Reserve, SA

Australian Hobby, Tolderol Game Reserve, SA

Australian Hobby, Tolderol Game Reserve, SA

 I recorded 42 species in about 2.5 hours. Aside from the super star of the day, the Hobby, notable species for me included a Pectoral Sandpiper - a species I've probably seen before but not well enough to add to my life list, today I got a better look - and Glossy Ibis, an uncommon visitor to the Fleurieu Peninsula I believe, and one I've only seen a few times before. Most I didn't get photos of as they were beyond the limit of my camera lens, or just too quick for me, but here's a few that I did get!

Nankeen Kestrel, Tolderol Game Reserve, SA

Golden-headed Cisticola, Tolderol Game Reserve, SA

Golden-headed Cisticola, Tolderol Game Reserve, SA

Australian Spotted Crake, Tolderol Game Reserve, SA

After Tolderol we headed around to the Murray Mouth and Goolwa Barrage, but didn't see much of note except my first Pied Oystercatchers of the year. 

New Year, New Birds

I've been getting more and more into birding over the last few years, and 2017 was a great year for me. I set myself the target of 200 species in SA, and beat it ending up with 202 - 31 of which were new species for me. I also spent almost a month in Ecuador, a fantastic country for birding, and thanks to my lovely friends taking me all over the place, I saw over 150 species there - most of which were lifers too!

As the year ended, I started thinking about what I wanted to achieve in 2018, and realised I just want to keep birding as much as possible, learn more about all of these wonderful species, and add to my life list. I'm going to set my 2018 goals at 250 species in SA, and 350 Australia-wide, but hopefully I will be able to absolutely smash that goal and see many more! With several interstate trips planned for this year, I'm excited for the opportunities awaiting me to see some birds I've never been close to before. I'm also hoping to go on a pelagic trip to see some seabirds during 2018, so I'm going to be studying up on those!

I decided on a quiet New Years Eve at home, so that my dad and I could be up and away early on New Years Day to kick start my 2018 bird list! The plan was to go to Tolderol Game Reserve, but on the way we stopped at Strathalbyn to look for a bird that had eluded me last year with Teresa - a Little Eagle. It flew away from us last time, but this time it stayed put on a branch and allowed me to snap away. The first lifer of the year and it was only 8:30AM! I hoped that this was a sign of a good year ahead! 

Little Eagle, Strathalbyn, SA

Heading into Tolderol we saw quite a few raptors, including black-shouldered kite, a large dark one that got away before I could ID, and EDITED *** a bird I thought was an Australian Hobby and got excited about, but actually turned out to be a Brown Falcon***.

Black-shouldered Kite, on road into Tolderol, SA 

Brown Falcon, just outside Tolderol, SA

 Once in Tolderol the main targets for the day were Pectoral Sandpiper and Oriental Pratincole which had both been seen there recently. There were plenty of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers around doing their best to confuse me into thinking they could be Pectorals, but in the end I dipped on that species. 

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Tolderol Game Reserve, SA

  After being there for a few hours we revisited the pond where the pratincole had previously been sighted, and found some other birders there who told us it was there but had flown across the pond out of sight. We looked for probably about an hour, and were just giving up and heading back to the car when we ran into the reserve manager, and were having a chat with him, and just as I was walking off he called me back and said he saw it fly across the other side again! I hurried around there, and managed to find it! Not easy - these little birds are very good at camouflage! As I was watching it, I was trying to attract the attention of another birder, Winston, about 100 metres away to let him know it was there. Eventually he came over just as it flew away, but he had been trying to catch my attention, because he had one in his scope the whole time! I walked back with him and it was still sitting there in the same spot, so there were two!! Lifer 2 for 2018!

Oriental Pratincole between two Red-kneed Dotterels, Tolderol Game Reserve, SA

After Tolderol we had a look at the Goolwa Barrage and Nangawooka Flora Reserve and saw a few new species for the year list, ending up on 58 species for the day/year so far, including 2 lifers.