Chiltern

Chiltern: Day 1 + 2

May 14, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

It’s taken me a while to write the proper summary of my first and second day in Chiltern. That is because my camera died within about 30 minutes of us getting to our birding location.

I arrive in Chiltern close to dinner time. I’d been on public transport for about 5 hours, including the time waiting at Southern Cross station. It had been a huge day, but that didn’t wipe the smile off my face when I bumped into Bill and Jenn at the hotel!

I love being around fellow birders. I love birding full stop. So, I asked if I could accompany them. It was raining, but I assumed that a plastic bag over the camera would have worked like it had before.

The camera broke. It first stopped working. Then would make a ‘beep beep’ sound whenever I tried to do anything.

I panicked. I put the camera back in the car and tried to calm my breathing. We did see a lot of awesome birds that afternoon – including a yellow tufted honeyeater! But, with the camera broken, I wasn’t able to enjoy it.

It may sound like I’m rushing through the details here. Heck yeah, because it nearly brought on a panic attack. I had planned to buy food that night and possibly go out to dinner, briefly, with everyone. Instead, I was curled up in bed in the fetal position. Positive self talk was barely working. I hate to mentally go through all the reasons I was awesome just to get in the mental state where I could bargain with myself.

I would go to the regent honeyeater release in the morning. After that, if I was still upset, I would somehow catch a train home. The honeyeaters would be released pretty early. Fortunately it didn’t come to that but it was a hell of a night.

My anxiety is at a point where it’s hard to describe. I can function now. I can handle social stuff. But, it is difficult to handle things that require multiple action steps to do. Catching a train to Chiltern – where I would be away from home for three days, and where there was multiple modes of public transport – was a big step for me. I don’t do stuff like that anymore, as much as I used to. I don’t have the mental energy for it.

So, for something to go wrong… it just floored me. It nearly broke me. I phoned Glenn that night to tell him and he was amazingly supportive, especially considering it was his camera. Bill came over after the dinner to check on the camera, as I had obviously been distressed before. He couldn’t get it to work either. I ended up crying myself to sleep, hoping that tomorrow would bring happy things.

Yes, I am that lame. My brain is brilliant but when I’m broken, and it’s broken, things go awry.

Philip Peel saved me on the Saturday. He lent me a camera body he wasn’t using.

Yes, it sounds silly to be so attached to a camera. I don’t have a pair of binoculars as I haven’t had a job for around 6 months. Everything to do with birding is bootstrapped. I feel guilty enough using Glenns camera and using money for public transport/accommodation. I was content to use my broken body and the lenses to just manually focus. At least I would see and learn.

Having an actual camera though was amazing. It just… made it worth it. I would have something to remember the weekend by. I would remember my experiences, rather then someone elses. Rather then wax lyrical about my eternal struggle with the ‘woe is me’ mindset, lets talk about the birdies!

Cyanide dam and Honeyeater Picnic ground

I could easily have spent the whole day here. It is beautiful and really fascinating. It warrants proper exploration, not the quick visit we did. I’m so glad I went on this weekend. A rushed view sucks, but it helps you realize just how amazing a place is.

Albino Swamp Wallaby. Was quite timid. There was so many kangaroos here as well!

Suspected Brown Treecreeper. I also saw my first mistletoebird but alas, I didn’t get a photo. I also didn’t get a closeup.

Me being me, I also got a couple of pictures of the sign at the main picnic ground:

I would love to walk the whitebox track at some point. I suspect I will have a very long bucket list for when I return. I know I also saw a speckled warbler here but the views weren’t good and I didn’t learn much, sadly.

I did see my first red capped robin, which was fantastic. It was a shame I had the smaller lens with me at the time. It’s an incredibly beautiful bird. I love robins. I’m annoyed that the camera wasn’t in focus at the time though, damn it.

A frog that had somehow got smooshed.

A ring tail possum. Others said it must have been sick for it to be so close to the ground.

Chiltern Dam

Here is where I get a bit confused. I know we were at two dams for the day. I know that I enjoyed this one more. I couldn’t tell you exactly where I saw specific birds though. For that, you will have to check out Philip Peels excellent report.

First ever crested shrike tit! It was so fantastic to see this, possibly more exciting then many of the other birds I saw. I could have spent hours watching it. Incredibly beautiful.

The sign. Because I could.

Little lorikeets. I have finally seen all the lorikeets in the state! So excited. And, the Mr was so jealous.

Would love to check out here too on a less busy day.

First look at the diamond firetail. Not sure I am fond of the bird yet, but they are awesome to photograph.

Fungi. I wonder what the fungi is like in other areas around here?

The weekend was a bit of a stressbomb, which is natural when you push yourself out of your comfort zone.

I took some time off in the afternoon to myself, which I think was important for recharging. I did go to the group dinner and spotlighting afterwards.

Chiltern is so beautiful and the vic birders group are relaxed and friendly. It was a really lovely time, one that went by so quickly. It was an emotional roller coaster of sorts but the birding payoff, and friendships, was so worth it.

I feel less weird now. More in love with Victoria. I know that I need to travel, especially through rural Australia. I know I’m in love with this country. I don’t think this blog can ever do it justice though.

Chiltern deserves its reputation. The people are friendly. The pizza at IGA is shit. There is so much more I could say about it other but I’ll wait until I return. It seriously was an amazing weekend.

Day 3: Our Final Day In Chiltern

April 22, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

I was lucky enough to have a 6am sleep in this Sunday morning. We were up early, hoping to see the regent honeyeater in better light before heading off and exploring various locations in north east Vic.

Now, I hate trying to do ‘big days’ of birding. I’m thankful for them, because it’s a braindump of birding genious from a bunch of very kind and generous birders. However, I prefer getting long, close looks at my favourite bird species. Sometimes, it feels like the goal is to just add various birds to tick them off your ‘yearly state list’.

Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this day. Yes, it was a bit of a slog. Yeah, it was disappointed that the view we got of the plumed whistling ducks was little more then a glimpse. But I learned loads. And the company was great 🙂

We picked up these white-backed swallows on a read heading towards Rutherglen. I couldn’t tell you were. Philip saw them and our convey suddenly stopped. They were fairly high up and it was hard to get good views of them. I don’t think I’m a fan of swallows yet. They were beautiful birds but their behaviour wasn’t that interesting.

We headed to Rutherglen where we stopped for coffee. This city looked lovely – very similar to Chiltern, but with more shops. I’d have loved to have spent a couple of days here. I can hear you asking, why would I mention something as boring as coffee? Because we found an Eurasian tree sparrow in the outside dining area, which was a lifer for many.

Lake King

Lake King, in Rutherglen, is meant to be a great place to see birds. I can’t recall why we stopped here. I certainly wouldn’t seek this location out but it was a lovely place to go looking for species. I got my first photos of a yellow billed spoonbill landing on a branch! I could watch spoonbills all day.

Kings road swamp

I honestly have no idea where this is. I also wasn’t paying too much attention to the birds here, I was too distracted by the reptiles.

Tip: if you love reptiles, go birding with a snake catcher.

I’m not sure what frog this is. It was hiding under a rock. I did see another frog, but didn’t get a photo in time.

This photo is quite possibly of a robust skink. The lens was too long to get a really great photo and he was a quick little bugger!

The above two photos are of a dead brown snake that we found. I found to emphasis that Matt is a professional snake catcher and gave us a lot of warnings. It was fascinating getting a close look at it.

I learned on the weekend that I’m actually a skilled birder. Yes, I suck with calls and identification. But I’m good at finding random movements and tracking them with the camera.

This is apparently a different subspecies of the striated pardalote. I need to do more research into this. Regardless, such a beautiful bird to photography.

We had really beautiful views of these diamond firetails. I’m not overly interested in them as a species yet but they are really lovely to photography.

Another time where I had no idea where I was. Half the group went off to look for double barred finches and dipped. I was at the car where I saw a fox (missed the photo!), a kangaroo getting caught on the fence (it got free) and this wedgie! There is something so majestic about seeing such a large bird. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.

I did get to see plumed whistling ducks, which were a target bird for the weekend. I didn’t see the point in searching for them once I realized that they were little more then specks in a distance on my 500mm lens. We had to stand on a log – and have someone supporting us – to be even able to get those views. This isn’t a complaint, moreso a warning that it’s worth doing research. I would much rather travel to Queensland to get up close beautiful views of this bird, and spend my time getting awesome views of one that is local. Still… I love whistling ducks.

We also saw this barking owl. I’m not giving away the location. I was warned that this can be dangerous, as not everyone is as respectful of the birds as we are. I did ask about what other situations I should be careful about sharing, as my default response is to share the knowledge. Basically, in any situation where the bird is endangered or rare in the state. Also if certain types of species are breeding. This warrants more research.

We got to get really close and spend 15 minutes photographing it. It was such a beautiful bird. I would have loved to have spent more time with it and gotten other photos. Still, such an honour. My first owl! And so close!

It was a stressful weekend for me, but was also amazing. I learned so much. At times, I was more relaxed then I had ever been. It was exhausting but oh so worth it. I’ll need more time to digest the awesomeness of it.

I do know I need to return to Chiltern. I’d love to learn more about the local area. I’d also love to go birding with many of the people I hung out with. 🙂 I love nature

Seeing the Regent Honeyeaters in Chiltern

April 22, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

It was Saturday morning. According to the Regent Honeyeater Facebook Page there had been 50mm of rain. It certainly felt like that. I’d worn earplugs the night before but still woke up multiple times during the night due to the intensity of the rain. I was very glad I paid $90 a night for a hotel room rather then attempt to camp like some of the others.

We went to Bartleys block briefly before heading to honeyeater picnic ground for the briefing. It was a very well run ship, and everyone involved with the recovery efforts were super helpful.

We spent about 30 minutes getting told about the work that had gone into the program and getting welcomed by the indigenous elder. We were told about the safety precautions we had to take and about how we had to be quiet around the birds.

It was a struggle to hear at times, due to the intensity of the rain. One of the staff overheard me asking questions about harness safety and answered them.

It sounds cavalier, but I hadn’t yet gotten that interested in regent honeyeaters. Bad birder! I had my obsessions – parrots, robins, ducks, – and hadn’t ‘bonded’ with the species yet. I went this weekend because I knew it would be an opportunity I would cherish as I became a more experienced birder. It was a chance for me to learn. It would allow me to explore one of the best birding regions in Victoria.

Five people walked up to the tents. Despite the rain, everyone had pointed their cameras at the tents. They unzipped them at the same time.

Nothing happened.

Then a large group of them flew out to a nearby tree. We were all snapping furiously, despite the dodgy light. I don’t think many people got shots of them flying out, which would have been fantastic.

Then a noisy friarbird – an ill timed lifer – flew into the tree and scared them away.

We didn’t see them nearby after that. Many of the remaining ones (smartly) hung around inside the tents.

The following photos show what happened, although they are rather boring. It was a magical experience to be a part of despite my naivety. I did buy the DVD and two pins, and will be doing further research. Maybe see if I can contribute my social media skills to the project?

Regardless, their website is shite and the link from the fb page leads to the woodlands project. Will analyze later.

The Sunday

On Saturday, I opted to have a break in the afternoon. I’d had a really rough nights sleep and wanted to go to the pub, and then go owling that night.

Turns out that after they had dropped me off, everyone went to the caravan park to look for a recently reported regent honeyeater. Guess what they found? A wild unbanded one!

Now, I understand why nobody told me until afterwards. I made the choice to have time out (moreso, my hungry tummy did) and be by myself for a bit. However, I walked past the caravan twice both times when I had gone into town.

It didn’t matter. We met at the caravan park prior to leaving the next morning and got some amazing views of the regent in considerably better lighting. This was such a relief. I’m a newbie and don’t know how hard it would be see one in the wild. I didn’t know how hard I may have to work in the future – or how much it would cost.

They were very selfish thoughts, yes. Things have been rough here lately and I’m not coping well.

I know I as unable to properly appreciate it at the time, but it was such an honour to see the bird. I need to familiarize myself with it’s call and behaviour to help me find and identify it in the future.

Currently, there is a discussion going on about whether there was one or two unbanded birds in this particular tree. I have no idea, but the whole conversation is exciting.

I will be following the progress of these birds and doing more research into the recovery efforts. I was super impressed with what I saw.

I have further photos in my regent honeyeater album on flickr