eastern rosella

Swan Bay: Viewing from a distance

August 7, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

I used to love hiking. I had to drop the hobby when my agoraphobia worsened. I couldn’t leave the house and lost my fitness. I also lost all my blog posts from around that era.

Sometime, before 2009, I walked Bellarine Rail Trail. I did it over two separate visits and both 16km walks were enough to encourage me to buy expensive hiking shoes! The majority of the walk was through farmland and was beautiful, with the occasional opportunity to photograph a black shouldered kite. I was enamoured though when I got to the Swan Bay portion of the walk.

I don’t know if it is possible to get any closer, especially as I’ve since learned that birds love this area.

The photographs are beautiful but are of rather generic birds. I didn’t have the zoom lens at this time and my feet were blistered. I’m so keen to return here – especially over summer – which I know will annoy the heck out of me considering it is an hour on the bus. Also keen to explore swan bay. No idea how I’ll explore here as well as focus on Serendip + my other chosen locations.

It truly is an amazing wetland.

Lake Lorne in May: Cold Yet Awesome

May 14, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

On Wednesday, I got a text message from Carolyn asking if I wanted to go birding. I was having a bit of an anxious day but ended up saying ‘Yes’ – provided we didn’t visit somewhere along the Barwon River.

Now, I love the Barwon. It’s a beautiful area. It’s also an area I’ve explored WAY too much with a very adventurour 6 year old. On childless birding trips, I want to go further afield. Fortunately, Carolyn was thinking along the same lines, to the point where she suggested the same two places I have been wanting to go to for a while. The latter idea was Lake Lorne…. which I’ll be writing about first because internet downloads are SO slow!

It had been raining on and off all day. It was raining on the way there but cleared up as soon as we got there. As soon as I got out of the car I immediately regretted not bringing the zoom lens.

Look at that spoonbill! Beauties like that deserve the close up treatment. We were lucky enough to find two spoonbills on the day

There was a large number of ducks on the lake, more then I had seen on the previous visits. The lake is quite large so it is easy to overlook just how many different species there are. In this photo, wood ducks and freckleds were scared off by our presence.

We were so fortunate. There was at least 3 whistling kites circling overhead. One ended up landing on a dead branch in on a tree in one of the lakes islands. I loved hearing their call. We also saw a black kite flying off from a tree. It was so quick, I didn’t have the time to get my camera.

The yellow spoonbill was quite close, I was so annoyed that I didn’t bring the zoom lense. I was also happy to get closer to a yellow one. They don’t seem to be as common, nor as friendly, as the royal.

More photos of the kite. Could have spent a lot longer photographing them if I had the time.

Eastern Rosella. I’ve noticed that these are the most common in this area.

Large number of straw necked ibises flying in to roost at this time. It was just before 5pm.

It was also awesome to get this photo series of an egret catching a fish! It was also fascinating how these two birds banded together and worked together to get food. I wonder if this is a common pairing?

Some of the ducks. Carolyn saw blue billed, shovelers and plenty of pink eareds. It was so amazing to see all my favourites.

The ibises roosting.

It was an unexpectedly fantastic twitch. It was so different compared to previous visits. I think I need to visit here a lot more frequently to properly understand it.

It can be very hit and miss in terms of what you get from it. Perhaps it is more interesting in winter? I guess I’ll be learning a lot more about it in the coming months 🙂

Seths First Visit to Lake Lorne

February 20, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Visiting Lake Lorne

This was my second visit to Lake Lorne. The first involved my boyfriend… and the realization that my boyfriend prefers places like Balyang, where the birds seemingly sit and pose for us. It’s actually a great place to take kids birding. The walk around the Lake is relaxing and, because it’s rural, has lots of opportunities to find bugs. It’s half way along the Bellarine Rail Trail, which is interesting if your young cohort loves trains. Plus the playground is awesome!

The first priority was taking a walk around the lake and seeing what was there.

Shit.

I’m all for seeing ibises and egrets, especially in flight. However I’d promised a four year old that we’d see a couple of new species. I looked every along the inner islands and couldn’t see anything. At this stage, I was starting to panic. We’d dipped on the blue billed at Jawbone before. I didn’t know how long he’d be okay for.

I was matter of fact. I said that I couldn’t see the ducks and that I didn’t know why. We’d walk around the lake and then go to the waterhole were I had seen the freckled before. There was still a good chance we would see other birds before we got there, though.

And see them we did!

We accidentally flushed a flock of about 30 masked lapwings to a nearby paddock when we walked to close to them. There were a number of black winged stilts hanging out in that area.

We saw what I’m assuming is a juvenile black kneed dotteral.

Plus a pair of Australasian shoveler! It was a lifer for Sethy and only the second time I had seen one. I was able to get a better view and make a much more confident ID. So keen to see a northern shoveler now.

We saw a couple of Eastern Rosellas, which was lovely. I find there are more Easterns in that area of the Bellarine.

A random bug which I’m keen to ID

We also found numerous noisy miners, which Seth loved. Another lifer! He was fascinated them and loved their calls. I’m keen to teach him more about miners and show him other species, probably starting with the bell miner. One step at a time.

Mcleods Waterhole

We took our time and walked over to the waterhole. It’s a short but really lovely walk. In one section we were surrounding by trees and it really felt like we were in a forest. We didn’t see anything in the main waterhole so settled down to watch the activity in the smaller one.

SUCCESS! There were numerous freckled down – and a juvenile hoary headed greet being fed by it’s parent.

Seth loved it around here. There was a horse nearby that we got to get close to. We walked down a street, and some of the houses had farm stuff in their front years. It was a lovely escape from the city.

Now, I know we saw freckled ducks here. And at some point during the day we found a female blue billed duck. I just can’t really remember which photos are from where. So, in terms of ‘story, let’s just say that all photos from now on are from our return to Lake Lorne. If some look like they are from the waterhole, then blame my obsession with taking photos of everything.

This is a photo of a male freckled duck. I was really interested in this photo because the bird had a crimson colour at the base of the bill. I’ve since learned that his happens during breading season.

The reason we didn’t see them earlier was because they were resting in dense cover for most of the morning. Many freckleds and pink eared ducks seemed to leave the cover when we returned around 1pm for some reason.

I love this shot because the duck at the back has its bill open and it looks adorable.

It was a bit of a difficult twitch. I’m comfortable going to new places by myself but there aren’t many tips about Lake Lorne online. I was flying blind with a 6 year old that asks a lot of questions. Fortunately it all worked out and we ended up learning a lot.

I’m starting to miss birding by myself. I tend to stick to familiar spots west of Melbourne when I’m adventuring with him. I’m very keen to visit places further afield and meet up with more birders. I’ve been so exhausted this past month that I only have energy for one adventure a week – and try to take Seth out once a week as it’s therapeutic for both of us.

Suspect I’d have more energy if someone didn’t sneak upstairs and play bird calls on his ipad to wake me up 😉

First Visit To Kerang Lakes: Fantastic Birding in North Central Vic

December 29, 2014 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

‘Twas a couple of nights before Christmas. News had arrived that two MORE vagrants were seen at Lake Tutchewop. A red-necked phalarope and oriental plover had been sighted, in addition to the much reported dowitcher. People were planning their trips for after Christmas, hoping the birds would stick around.

They didn’t.

I was fortunate enough to visit the Kerang area on the 27th though, accompanying Owen Lishmund and Tim N. It was a brilliant days birding and one that makes me keen to explore more areas of Victoria.

Lake Tutchewop.

The alarm went off at 4.20. I was at the train station and 4.55 and at Footscray Station waiting to be picked up at 5.20. I wasn’t lucid at that hour, but it was surprising to realize that I was the oldest one in our group.

We got to Kerang around 9ish. It was surprising to see how many raptors where there! Owen was looking at the window and just saying various names. I scored a new bird, the black falcon, pretty quickly.

We got to the much hyped Lake Tutchewop. This is what greeted us.

Red capped plovers. And didn’t have to fall into a river to see them!

It was at this point that I realized I probably wouldn’t see the vagrants. Many people were there and we all saw the same birds: sandpipers, one banded stilt, one avocet and a bunch of pelicans.

We visited both sides of the lake. It is an area I’d like to return to do some photography. The guys suggested that we return later in the day when the waders were more likely to be active and do some other birding in the meantime.

As we were leaving, they heard the sound of a white winged fairy wren. Shame I didn’t get to see a male, but I still got a blurry photo of a female.

Also got a clear shot of a black kite. The markings are different to what I expected. I’m hoping that I’ll be as good as others with raptors soon enough.

Tresco West

We went to Tresco West specifically to find the blue bonnets, because I’d mentioned my fascination with parrots. I felt a bit guilty about doing a detour just for my interests, I don’t want to be the newbie that annoys others. I know other birders are awesome and love sharing but I still struggle with the social nuances of group birding.

Tim Dolby wrote more about the bushland reserve here.

We heard the blue bonnet early on. The were very skittish though and I’d only get glimpses of them flying off whenever we got too close (which was still a comfortable 5-10 metres way.) They are apparently the shyest parrots. The subspecies we saw was apparently Northiella haematogaster haematogaster – commonly known as the yellow-vented bluebonnet. Apparently located in multiple places along North Central Victoria.

I’m defintely returning to spend half a day – at least – just to watch the blue bonnets. The reserve deserves much more exploring.

Was also fortunate enough to see a yellow throated miner, something I’d placed on my bucketlist for the day. There are five subspecies of this, although on the east coast it’s primarily race flavigula. One of the races is called a dusky minor – apparently can also be confused with noisy miner. It means I only have one species of miner to find – the black eared miner. This was previously a race of the yellow throated. This is why I keep an eye on subspecies.

Barham

Apparently Goschen was bad this time of year, so it was decided that we would cross the border to see a feral population of ostriches. Only I didn’t realize we had crossed the border until I saw signs saying NSW.

Part of me doesn’t see the point in seeking out feral populations just to add them to the list. Lists in general bore me (like state lists, year lists.) I guess I’ll grow into the ideas. I’m too lazy, I think, I prefer just sitting and watching the species that fascinate me. I like adding birds to my list because I then have the context to learn about them. And, I suspect in 20+ years I’ll regret not ticking some species.

If you want more info, both Kay Parkin and Tim Dolby have written about them. Apparently they do disgusting poops.

The guys wanted to look for bush stone curlew so decided to explore the cemetery, which looked like it was the right habitat. Both of them could look at an area and saw whether it was the right habitat for certain species. I hope to be that smart one day.

This area was amazing, along with the adjoining bushland. We didn’t see any curlews but one of the first birds I saw was a rainbow bee eater.

I’ve been wanting to see bee eaters in the wild for some time now. You can get them at the you yangs but I haven’t visited there properly in ages. The colours are beautiful and they are even more magnificent in flight. They were definitely a highlight of the day for me.

We were all wandering about, following the various calls, when Owen shouted at us to come over.

I was expecting to see a bird but no, it was JUST A LACE MONITOR HANGING OUT IN A TREE! *This* is why I need to leave my suburban birding spots and start going into outback/rural areas. I love seeing other animals. Developing a fascinating with lizards.

Very, very thankful the little guy made it across the road safely.

Was also a number of kangaroos in the area.

At some point, I saw this juv blue faced honeyeater. I have now seen them in three different states.

Return to Lake Tutchewop

We returned to a group of people who had been looking there for a while. No luck. I was knackered at this point, and the sun was really beating down. I decide to just sit down and get photos of both chats and plovers. I do love mucking around with photography but only when it doesn’t interfere with other peoples plans.

This chat has different colours – am assuming it’s a juvenile. There were crimson chats in the area but apparently the bad on this bird is different?

Was nice to get a shot of a plover that wasn’t running away from me.

We’d regularly see large flocks of waders flying around various parts of the lake.

Town and Back Swamp

It was decided that we should head to this swamp. I was knackered and didn’t expect much, I was happy to along with anything. For me, it was one of the highlights.

We did a loop around the swamp, taking note of any interesting birds along the way.

It was very difficult for me to see this glossy ibis, which was one of my target species for the day. It was similar in colour and size to the shelducks (!) that were there. It is smaller then other ibises. I think this will help with identification in the future.

This is a dusky woodswallow. I almost didn’t both taking a photo of it, as I thought I’d seen it (and, I tend not to care about anything at the end of a twitch when I feel exhausted. I’d been active for 14 hours at this point.)

One was a juvenile, which was lovely. The woodswallow I had seen was (duh) masked. There are no subspecies of masked but there are two of dusky. Looks like I have to go to WA!

Eastern Rosella. I don’t care how common they are – or if they look like blue bonnets in the shade. I love them, and I especially love photos of birds feeding.

The below is a photo of a variegated fairy wren. We had seen one earlier in the day but not views as clear as this. There are five subspecies. This is race assimilis, the one that you will find across most of Australia. Kinda resembles the blue breasted but this wasn’t in the range. The guys were awesome. They could hear a bird call and then hone in on it, knowing exactly what it was. And they haven’t been birding their whole lives like I assumed. There is hope for me yet!

“Theres the brown quail for you, Jade.” Earlier in the day, we were talking about quails and I mentioned the one that had eluded me at Jawbone. We were at the end, walking towards the car, when we saw this. Hope to see more quails and get better views in the future

It was a fanastic days birding. I didn’t care about dipping on the big three. There were a number of birds they heard during the day that I would have loved to see. They heard birds and saw things such as little friarbirds. It’s the same with any trip though, I’m so overwhelmed by all the movement and sounds. I think I’ll be like this for quite a while until I get the hang of it. It is a bit of information overwhelm.

Oh! We were driving up there and someone in the car noticed that Kevin Bartram was in a car next to us. That man is a birding legend. I don’t fully understand the story, but apparently he did something similar to Kenn Kaufman by hitching his away across the country when he was 18. I think I met him at some point, but I was exhausted and feeling anti social at that point.

I also met Craig Morley, a prolific birder from Geelong. I see his reports of ebird a lot and had hoped to bump into him one day.

I plan to return to the area in the future – when I can drive – and explore it properly. Not just birding. It was fascinating. I especially want to go to the ibis rookery.

Serendip with Sethy

September 20, 2014 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

On Wednesday, I went to Serendip with my dad and nephew. I was hanging out with family while my mum was getting over an illness and dad decided to give mum a break for a couple of hours.

It was raining on and off, so we first drove around the you yangs for a short while. We tried to find the tawny frogmouth near the information centre with no luck. I later read that this can be rather difficult.

We also went to big rock. I loved the bush there, I hadn’t been there in ages. I’d love to return there to bird!

We got to Serendip just as a group of school kids arrived, which is always fun.

We saw this Eastern Rosella. I did hear another interesting bird but of course, Sethy wouldn’t be quiet while I tried to find where it was.

One of my main priorities was seeing any baby goslings.

I saw these two cape barron geese. I love baby birds. I later saw magpie goslings.

I got this cute photo of a kangaroo sticking its tongue out.

I met a lady who had the same camera as me but wanted to check out the quality of my sigma lens. Accidentally caught the wren with it’s mouth open! Feeling kind of smug, considering Glenn has been struggling to capture one.

While in an open aviary, we saw this rail and it’s chick. Sethy saw the chick first. Wish we’d gotten more photos!

An older gosling.

This bird was apparently sitting on an egg. I’ll have to visit to see the baby when it’s hatched.

Planning to visit again with Glenn this time. We didn’t get to check out any of the decent areas as it started raining again. Also: what is the best time to see brolga courtship displays?