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Fabulous Day at Werribee Treatment Plant

January 8, 2018 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Today, I was so fortunate to be invited to Werribee Treatment Plant. I hadn’t been here in ages: I’d stepped back from birding and was craving something different from the usual Barwon River birds.

I’ve been actively working on getting out more and getting my life in order but the WTP is a place I can’t visit independently: It’s so darn large and I won’t be getting my licence for a while. So, when a friend asked if I wanted to come along, I jumped at the chance. I love hanging out with fellow birders. It was one of the first times I’ve been around nature loves and haven’t felt like there is something wrong with me.

We ended up spending about 4 hours here. I’ve found this is the perfect timeframe if you have let to learn the art of discreet peeing.

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Golden-headed cisticola. I learned yesterday that it is a lot easier to pick up birds by their calls.

It sounds silly, but I lost some cognitive function while changing anxiety medication. I didn’t notice it at the time, but one of the lost skills was being able to notice different bird calls. Yesterday, I could tell what was a little grassbird and what was a cisticola. All based on memories from years ago! It’s going to make birdwatching so much easier.

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A greenshank. Still devastated that I never got to see that phalarope while it was down here but it will hopefully return.

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Wish I had the zoom lens for these spoonbills. They are also at Serendip in decent numbers.

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Sharpies. The people I was with had hoped to find a pectoral sandpiper, however, I’ve learned that I’m just not into shorebirds. Nor am I a twitcher. I’ll photograph most birds in front of me if they are close enough. It’s the behaviour that interests me more than ticking something.

Exceptions are made for some species of honeyeater and parrots, of course.

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Whiskered tern. I don’t recall paying much attention to them before, so was fascinated by the black colouring on the chest.

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Beautiful black kite. It circled overhead for a bit near a swamp area. I found a rabbit carcass while walking back so suspect it was after that. I’m so impressed with how I was able to recover the detail, despite the original images looking pretty meh. I’m finally working out the best ways to use Lightroom. I also switched to sports mode as the lens was struggling to focus.

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The swamp.

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There were thousands of shelducks flying at one point, which was phenomenal. It was a great day for ducks. I’m learning that I’ve improved a lot with duck identification, even at a distance. I guess I I’m not as bad of a birder as I used to believe.

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The below photos were taken from the birdhide at around 11. The tide was up and it really stunk! I could taste the smell the whole bus ride home. It was worth it though.

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My camera is pretty average and I don’t know how to use any of the settings, so I tend to sit back and give other people the best position when photographing something. I don’t mind, I’m mostly so grateful to be somewhere. Then this guy showed up.

There was another little window thing I could open so I moved there. These turned out so much better than expected. I could have spent the whole time here photographing this guy if it was possible. I’m keen to get those behaviour shots: especially feeding and pooping.

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~

Today was one of those birding days which makes everything worthwhile. Life has sucked in the past few years, while I worked through various health and personal issues. Today reminded me of the person I used to be before I got sick. I’m already getting ahead of myself and planning future day trips locally. 🙂 Just have to pace myself.

Filed Under: West Melbourne Tagged With: australian shelduck, common greenshank

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