Golden-headed cisticola

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.

3 New Birds at Werribee Treatment Plant

May 7, 2016 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

I didn’t bird as much as I would have liked this past summer. It seemed any time I pushed myself to hard, I got a migraine. It was brutal. I was crying the day before I was meant to be seeing a musical as I was so scared I’d be too sick to go.

Nonetheless, I was so happy to go to WTP again. It was exhausting. And, seeing as I was meeting a birding friend for the first time, a bit awkward. Nonetheless, it was exhilarating.

Yes. That *is* a wood sandpiper. I’m generally a bit blah about sandpipers, but wood sandpipers have fascinating markings. They aren’t meant to be that common but we saw a couple of them. I was so grateful to be able to get a good look.

There also had been a red necked phalarope hanging around here over all summer. I had been extremely lazy about seeing it and it was nearing the end of the season. It was an unusual vagrant but tended to move around the plant a fair bit.

Well, it was seen that day. Alas, not by us. It was spotted in an area you need another permit for. It’s no biggy, I knew that I’d have little chance of seeing it and would wait until the next time it came back.

A parent brolga with a chick. I’d love to be able to show Sethy brolgas in the wild at some point. Apparently the ones at Serendip don’t count. Ha!

Little grassbird. Finally got the bugger. At first I thought it was a crake but it was too small.

Beautiful golden headed cisticola.

Incredibly photogenic brown falcon. Damn, I could spend all day photographing birds of prey.

I don’t have enough opportunities to see spoonbills in flight.

I did see this cormorant, which wasn’t looking too healthy. I was concerned, especially as cases of botulism had gotten around. It seemed to pick up.

We also saw a small group of godwits, which was another lifer!

It’s hard to remember much else from the trip. I know I loved it, I just stopped documenting so often as I have a lot on.

First Visit To Point Henry

January 27, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

It was the final week of the school holidays. (Thank gosh.) The mister had asked if we could go to Balyang. I countered, asking if he’d be interested in going to Point Henry. He immediately said “Oh, the banded stilt place.” I don’t know how his brain manages to remember everything I’ve told him.

I asked my dad if we could get dropped off on his way to town as it was closeby. As dad lately pointed out, “It may be close as the bird flies but it is a fair bit of a detour.” I felt so guilty by putting my family out during Seth and my adventures but you know what? He has loved it. Loved it so much.

We got dropped off at the carpark and started wandering around the foreshore. There were lots of shells to look at and Seth tried to teach me how to skip rocks. As he later said to mum: “Aunty Jades rocks always made a big splash!”

Then I saw it.

European goldfinch, lifer #98 for him. I had seen them before when a family of them spent a week raiding one of the trees in our backyard but hadn’t seen them since. I was pretty stoked to see them again as I think they are beautiful birds.

I looked back towards Geelong waterfront. It was incredibly beautiful, especially with all the boats from the festival of sails leaving.

There was a lot of jellyfish washed up on the beach, which was kind of awesome. It’s sad, but it also provides a learning opportunity. We didn’t see any when walking around Williamstown/Altona the day before and I really wanted him to get a close up look. Well, we got several 🙂

We had spent about 30 minutes wandering around and I wondered how we were going to spend the rest of the time. Didn’t I read there was a boardwalk? We saw this bird resting on a fence and assumed that we weren’t allowed to walk down that path. Turns out that was an entry point to the wetlands area, but oh well. We found it eventually!

Grey fantail. Want to show him a rufuos one next 😀

Boardwalk

Was very happy to show him a golden headed cisticola, lifer #99. Not sure how to pronounce it but one of my attempts sounded like “testicular.”

Seth found these little bugs. He’s so awesome at finding bugs. At one point, he opened his hand and there was about five in there.

Teeny tiny baby dotterel! Bad photo, but saw the bird running after its parent.

We didn’t have much luck at any of the bird hides, although we did hear some rustling. I wonder if there aren’t as many birds there now that Altona has shut?

Along the foreshore

We wandered around the foreshore again while waiting for my parents to pick us up. We saw this white fronted chat while I was on the phone to mum. It’s behaviour felt different to the other chats I’d seen so was hoping for a plover. No luck.

Also a pacific gull, a bird that we both love.

It was a pretty good trip despite going to an unfamiliar area. Seth really loved it. He’s noticing similarities between the various coastal areas we visit. He’s learning a lot.

It’s definitely not a case of me forcing my hobby onto him. He’s the one that asks for it. He’s developing a fondness of hiking. I’ve definitely influenced him in the sense that he’s been exposed to the natural world, due to my keen interest. But he has his own unique interests in the natural world.

He’s a good little teammate too, helping me find stuff and forcing me to slow down. I’m so grateful that dad took the time to give us lifts to places. I’ve worked super hard not to inconvenience them. I know that our adventuring has helped them to allowed them to get more down with the move without a 6 year old running around.

He’s tiring me out though. 🙂 Lot’s of talking about things afterwards, looking at apps + guides and looking at the photos.

Thinking that I may try for either a banded stilt or a hoodie for bird #100 for him. He’s loving his life list – and he’s fast catching up to mine!

First Visit To Werribee Treatment Plant

December 19, 2014 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

The Werribee Treatment Plant was the place I wanted to get to this year. I contacted someone from Birdingpals in January, asking if they could help. He forwarded my address onto a local but nothing came of it. I was going to hire a guide for the day but that requires money I don’t have. I’d accepted that I probably wouldn’t get there anytime soon and decided to find affording birding destinations close to public transport and camp grounds. I know I’ll be doing that next year.

I asked for advice on the Facebook group – and got an offer to visit Werribee Treatment Plant for the morning. We only got to visit a small part of it but I loved it. Birding is the only time my brain gives me real peace.

Raptors

I love raptors. Normally I have to work really hard just to get a glimpse of one. Here, they were everywhere. So many species. So many calls. It’s worth coming here just for the plethora of raptors.

I was called a sick bitch for getting this photo. Well, I am one. 🙂 I’m not sure what species it is but LOOK! It’s doing a poop!

It sounds silly, but getting decent poop shots has become an obsession of mine. I was photographing a new holland honeyeater and accidentally got a photo of it doing a teeny one. Glenn was jealous, and we both have been trying to top my original shot. It didn’t help that we saw some hilarious bird poop shots online. This… is was the culmination of a lot of work and hoping.

Was so honoured to see this white bellied sea eagle. I think that they are a magnificent bird and could spend all day watching them. I become enamored with them during the 2014 breeding season via EagleCam. I was devastated when the chick died. I just think they are so beautiful – I’m particularly fond of eagles.

We saw this guy and both got out of the car, carefully so as not to scare it away. I had trouble focusing. Then it turned around and hung out above as for a while! Got some interesting photos with lens flare. This alone was the trip.

Another highlight was hearing the call of a whistling kite in the wild. Glenn fell in love with the bird after hearing a captive one at Jirrahlinga. I loved it.

Pipit

I think this is a pipit, although we all know how easily confused I get. Loved how it wasn’t as skittish as the one I saw elsewhere.

Sandpipers

We went to a bird hide and saw a number of shorebirds. The tide was out a fair way. There were a LOT of sandpipers, and one red necked stint. Lots of swans and avocets. I saw a couple of sharpies being territorial

Also got photos of a curlew sandpiper! Only a couple of sandpipers left to see. Finally feel like I’m making a dint. I know I’m at the annoying stage of just list building, but I’m trying to learn as much as I can. Once I’ve learned as much as I can about the birds in the area I can focus on just watching them.

Other:

A nest. Was wondering whether it was the sea eagles?

Zebra finch. Was so excited to see. I love robins, wrens and finches. I think they are fascinating. I love the markings on this guy.

A chat. I want to see other species of them 🙂

This is more then just a buff banded rail. We saw something run across the path and were a bit confused. It looked a bit unusual – almost like a rufuos bristlebird? We waited for it to come closer. We saw that it was a rail but didn’t understand why. I looked at the photos and that was when I noticed that there was a tiger snake in the frame!

Think I may become a herper?

Dipped on any other crakes and rails, not for lack of trying. They are now a group of bogey birds that vex me so.

Loved the reflections here. Totally worth coming back just for photography. We saw musk ducks, Great crested grebes, shelducks. It was beautiful to see them up close.

Common greenshank or mash sandpiper. Can’t instantly tell them apart yet.

A much better shot of a golden headed cisticola. Not bad for something taken through a windscreen!

Had such a fab time and am so grateful to those that have been helping me lately. I’d love to return. Feeling a bit crazy because I haven’t birded for 5 days 😛 Silly work.