Jade Craven

Visiting the You Yangs and Avalon Beach

March 23, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of birding with Carloyn. She had offered to take me to Avalon Beach to look for the elusive tattler and then it hit us. Why not go to the You Yangs and Serendip Sanctuary while in the region? I’d been wanting to go to both for a while now and Carolyn is very knowledgeable about her local patch. It was one of those accidental adventures that turned into awesome day.

(Most birding days are awesome but you try telling that to my anxiety disorder. I dread EVERY time I leave the house.)

You Yangs

We did a walk from the information centre to the base of big rock. It was really interesting for me I had gone to Big Rock with Sethy in September, 2014. I love the You Yangs but I haven’t had the chance to explore it properly. I could easily see it becoming a regular haunt… if I drove 😉

One of the first birds we saw was a striated pardalote. I couldn’t tell them apart by looking at them until I got home and was able to see the differents between spots and, well, slight streaks. I can’t tell them apart via call yet. This will hopefully come in handy! I got photos of the bird from multiple angles to help me ID it later 😉

I was also fortunate enough to see a large group of white winged choughs. I think that they are a bird I’d love to get to know better, they have interesting personality. They are a very social bird and are easy to tell apart from ravens.

Oh hi white browed treecreeper. Didn’t know how awesome the You Yangs were, or that tree creepers liked this type of bush. This is why I love group birding so much.

This may be the rufous whistler. Was so thankful to Carolyn for explaining the colourings to me. You can get more information about them at Birds in Backyards. The following two pictures are much, much clearer:

An Australiasian Grebe we saw in one of the dams. As an aside, have people looked into the quarry activity at the You Yangs? Is it doing any harm? (My anxiety brain worries way too much.)

Female rufous whistler. Possibly the same one I saw earlier.

I love the work that Echidna Walkabout do. I hadn’t seen the extend of the boneseed problem due to, well, not visiting. It makes me wonder if it’s ever possible to get control of it. I weed to help me keep calm. Would it be possible to eradicate it if we did a huge volunteer effort, rather then the small bits that are currently done?

It’s something I want to look into, although we pulled out some of the smaller pieces we saw.

Female Scarlet Robin. I saw at three scarlet robins and got many lovely shots of them. I could spend a whole day here just photographing the robins. I’m keen to return here in winter to see the flame robin. I initially thought this was a flame robin because I hadn’t seen enough individuals to tell the difference. The female is meant to be paler, the white patch on the forehead wasn’t as visible from the angle.

My final thoughts: I’m gonna miss the bee eaters

Avalon Beach

I’ll cut to the chase – I dipped on the tattler and red knot that had been seen earlier in the week. They would have been birds I’d be adding to my life list for the sake of it, though. I was mostly fascinated by the banded stilts.

Apparently they had been there in much larger numbers a couple of days earlier. Seth was hanging out with his mum on the weekend, so I asked if he could visit here with them. He loves stilts and seeing white specks in the distance at the moolap saltworks isn’t enough. I can’t 100% verify the sightings but this will have to be one of the cases where I just trust him.

Was interesting seeing their wading behaviour, I wasn’t able to see this when I saw the stilts at Truganina.

I took this photo to show that there were still significant numbers, even if from a distance. They were in the ponds closest to the beach which made things easier.

I was sharing these photos with friends and someone commented “Wow, a lot of stilts and magpie geese. Yes, but this stilt has it’s mouth open! Small things amuse small minds. Imagine the type of shots I could have gotten if I’d spend ages there 😉 Stupid train timetables.

An avocet that ISN’T missing its leg. I was so sure that it had! The remaining photos don’t really need explanation. I was mostly trying to capture clear photos of the band from different angles. I rarely get to see so many of them this close. They are such a beautiful bird.

I had such a fun day. I hate asking people for favours when it comes to trips like this, I can also be uncomfortable socially. It was lovely just to be with someone else wish similar interests. My legs and butt are disgruntled at me for the slight inclines I walked at the You Yangs. I love the You Yangs. It’s a place of magic.

I didn’t even care that I only got two lifers for my list that day. Fuck lifers. It was fun just observing and learning. I could easily go back to any of the places I went to today to get to know some of the bird behaviour better. I so badly needed to bird. Better then any therapy or medication.

Dipping on the crake – AGAIN

March 20, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

These are a series of photos I took on March 4, when my granddad was first admitted to hospital. It has been a busy couple of weeks since then so I don’t remember any of my other observations for the day.

This post will be mostly picture based but I thought the grebe behaviour was different. The mum grebe was diving for fish to feed the current juvenile. The juvenile from its first clutch would seek food from mum, only or her to chase it away. I didn’t see the crake but I did see two pacific gulls when I went to Limeburners point afterwards.

Lovely day. Keen to explore the botanical gardens now that interesting birds are starting to return. Only female pink robins though for some reason?

First Meeting of the GFNC Cadets: It was a hit!

March 19, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Yesterday was Seths first Cadets meeting as part of the Geelong Field Naturalists Club. Normally I wouldn’t write about such meetings but Seth had such a great time. They deserve major praise!

For days, Seth had been asking whether I was excited about going to the cadets. He would have been asking for weeks if the moth night wasn’t coming up! It was an impromptu decision. I was checking out the GFNC website the week before and landed on the cadets blog. There were only 3 posts up there but I knew that Seth would love it. Especially when I saw the skulls on the blog!

He was a bit shy when we got there but Jeff, the leader, was fantastic. We went for a quick walk to the storage pond where, again, we dipped on the crake. Dad now reckons it is a myth. It was fascinating though. A lot of the kids there were just as nerdy as Seth, and just as good at discovering stuff. Mum was fascinated by the leaf curling spiders. The kids there had eyes that were just as good as Seths. I really believe that if you want to find hidden stuff, you should go adventuring with a child. They always find stuff that I miss.

We spoke about shells. I love how they encourage the cadets to present and share their interests. We tried to use sandpaper to see inside the shells without much luck. I may do some googling and forward info on to Georgi. They say they want the kids to be involved in the blog and if I’m going to research stuff anyway… I don’t know.

The last part was show and tell which was AWESOME. Seth was able to present his skull and we learned that it was a rabbit skull, not turtle like I assumed. Mum said that Seths mouth dropped right open. 🙂 The teeth were missing but the sockets looked like a herbivore. Also, the eyes were on the side of the skull. He said we can bring in any partial skeletons we find as he has the right type of bugs to decompose them. I had looked into this process earlier but it just sounded too messy. Plus I need a better way to carry stinky skeletons home on trains!

Someone had brought a shearwater skull which we got to have a close look at. Other kids bought gems, a wild cucumber they had found. It was like being around other kids. Sethy is always finding animals in the garden and telling me stuff he has learned from David Attenborough.

I think we are really going to love the cadets. My knowledge is limited. I do my best with research and adventuring but I’m just one person. Being around a community will be beneficial to him, the same way it has been for me. It also takes the pressure of me having to find the answers.

It was awesome. Sethy is shy, something I can understand as I was similar. By the end of the night, he was talking to Jeff as if he’d known him forever. Jeff bought out his bird book and spoke to Seth about his favourite species. It was amazing. Everyone I’ve met from the field nats so far has been amazing around kids. Even my parents were shocked at how open Seth was.

If you are hesitant about joining, don’t be. Just go. I’m so, so thankful to Grace for encouraging us to check this out.

First Visit to Lake Victoria

March 13, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

This trip took place on 26th February

I was really excited to visit Lake Victoria. I love the Bellarine Peninsula. I lived there for 9 months and really regret not exploring it properly. It’s something that I’ve been planning to do now that I’m better…. but I’m not fond of going to areas I’m unfamiliar with.

The lovely Grace asked if I wanted to go along for my first Field Nats outing and told me that the area was good. I agreed, and I’m very thankful I did.

Lake Victoria is about 1-2km from the main lighthouse in Point Lonsdale. It’s accessibly from Emily St and there are a number of bus stops that go really close to there. From what I saw, there are no public toilets there though.

The rocks near the entrance are a popular spot for little egrets – or at least they were on the day! This is a spot that warrants multiple visits to properly explore.

Among those rocks we found a caspian tern. I’m always grateful to add another tern to my list but, as a species, they vex me.

We saw this large group of grebes, primarily hoary headed but with a couple of great crested. It was amazing to see. Those with a scope saw musk ducks closer towards the back of the lake.

I loved seeing this black shouldered kite hovering above us. It stayed for a short while, allowing my camera enough time to focus. It’s such a beautiful bird.

Large flocks of sharpies and red necked stints. The group was largish, so they would fly off occasionally when spooked. It was great to see this up close.

You can also see that some of the curlew sandpipers were getting their reddish breeding plumage. I loved seeing this up close.

Not sure what this skeleton is. I did consider taking it back home for the little dude, but figure he has enough random bits of animals that he’s found while adventuring.

There are hundreds of swans there – it’s somewhat similar to Swan Bay. You can’t get close to them like you can at Truganina. They also spook a lot easier then birds at more populated locations.

A lovely butterfly. Some of the ladies in the area were commenting on it but I missed the species name.

There were fairy terns sitting out on these rocks. I could definitely see the size difference at the time. Sometimes you can get the little terns in this area. It is about half way up the lake. You need to step off the path and walk along the side of the lake to get to this point – a lesson I, and my shoes, would later learn.

I appreciated how some of the fellow field nats were referring to the field guides to double check what species they saw. It makes me feel like less of a moron.

There were also two hoodies! It was really surprising. Some people suspected they were younger ones although I couldn’t see any leg bands. Most of the group walked further up to look at something while I stayed back to watch the hoodies. I didn’t move, because I didn’t know who the scope belonged to and didn’t want it to get damaged if no-one was around. That was when this little guy came up.

A red capped plover doing it’s ‘broken wing’ display. It does this to lead predators away from their nest or chicks. Apparently there was a chick further up. I didn’t move as I was minding the scope so took the following pictures. I felt so guilty doing so as I knew my presence was causing the bird distress.

The above is what I believe may be some sort of fungi, although I really have no idea.

An awesome looking spider!

A white throated needletail. I believe a fork tailed swift was also spotted but I can’t be sure that I saw it. So fast and difficult to discern!

An egg we found shortly after leaving the red capped. I’m not sure what species it belongs to.

A common greenshank. It was nice that others on the group were able to point out the call, it really helps newbies like me learn.

This was my first proper field nats excursion. I don’t know why it took me so long to join! Yes, there is an age bias towards older people. Someone explained it to be though that a lot of people have less time for the activities once they start families. They drop out of the community a bit and then rejoin when the kids are a bit older.

Everyone is super friendly and it’s not overwhelming like other groups I’ve been on. The pace is slower. I don’t feel as zonked.

I’m definitely planning on returning to the area. In fact, Seth and I visited here last weekend! I’d love to get to know the area better, preferably with someone else helping me.

Summary of John Youngs Night Parrot Talk in Melbourne

March 4, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

On Sunday Night, I had the pleasure of hearing John Young talk about the Night Parrot. I had debated going but knew I would probably regret it if I let the anxiety win.

Russell Woodford did a fantastic write up at Birding Aus. The formatting is a bit wonky, no paragraphs, but it covers the main points. I also thought that the following was interesting:

John thought that people may have incorrectly identified bourkes parrots as being nights parrots in the past. This means that some of the data may not be accurate.
He thinks that the Qld parrots seem to be isolated to a very small colony. Perhaps the one that *may* have been sighted in the NT was different, somehow?
While he despised feral cats, he was sympathetic towards people who had domesticated cats that are properly controlled. So many birders are anti cats, which can upset me as I’m very much a cat person.

The footage was fascinating. It didn’t seem like a kangaroo, as others have described it. It reminded me of a cockatoo or a lorikeet bouncing. I don’t know if the extended wings is a typical behaviour.

I completely support his reasons for not releasing further information. We can’t risk it – not until we have a better of understanding of what we are dealing with. Youngs approach is slow but it is the one that poses minimal risk to the birds.

It was a compelling evening. Additionally, events like this attract the ‘whos who’ of the local birding community. I can now say I’ve seen James Mustafas awesome beard.

I’m not overly obsessed with finding the bird but I hope that John Young is able to learn more about it. It’s behaviour is so unique.

Oh – and has anyone researched whether it is similar in any way to the ground parrot or kakapo?