little egret

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.

Jerringot + School

January 29, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Today was the nephews first day of school. I try to keep most of my nephews life private, but this is relevant to the story. We try to encourage good behaviour with what we’ve named ‘adventures,’ This is mostly me taking him for a walk somewhere but often has a birding element. Today, we promised that we’d go to the wetlands after school. And, Nan would come too!

At 2pm this afternoon we were in the bird hide at Jerringot. Fortunately there were no drunks in there, but someone had made a fire outside of the hide and left multiple beer cans there.

One of the first birds we saw there was this little egret. Seth was so excited, it was nans first time she had seen that bird. I don’t think I’ve seen one there before, it’s usually just great egrets. I may be wrong with the ID.

There wasn’t much else in the area in front of the hide which was disappointing. Many birders have reported seeing crakes and rails in their local wetlands. I don’t think the water at Jerringot is quite low enough yet. It’s meant to be awesome for Ballions crake. I don’t know if the birds have changed their habits. I don’t know whether I should look elsewhere for them. It’s incredibly confusing.

I decided we should walk along the side and back to see what was around. I’d also read that rails love crossing that path.

Meh!

However, we did see several black winged stilts in the area opposite us. They weren’t pleased about us being there and quickly flew off.

Nan also ‘saw’ her first Lathams snipe. She’s visually impaired and snipes are difficult to see at the best of times, so that may be a bit of an overstatement. But Seth really loved sharing his hobby with nan.

After this, we got a bit distracted looking for rabbits.

In the back area we saw 3 spoonbills and a couple of ibises. We flushed more snipes and stilts by accident. We walked back along the path and Seth pointed out ducklings in the adjoining pond

I don’t know how that kid does it. He always sees stuff that I miss! At first I thought he was joking because they were that well hidden. The mister is really skilled when it comes to birding.

It was a good twitch. Seth really appreciated being able to share it with his nan. Even better, she is knowledgeable about a lot of native plants. Seth will often ask me questions about things and I’m honest about my lack of knowledge in that area. He loves learning and he loves nature. It sounds silly, but it feels like it has a healing effect on him.

I’m getting a bit exhausted with the constant birding. Everything is a gazillion times harder with a little dude around. Packing extra, slowing down and resting more.

Yet I’m doing considerably more birding then I would be otherwise. I don’t have much money to go further afield. It’s helping with my agoraphobia. I think I’m mostly antsy to return to the wet rainforest 🙂 Or find a bloody shrike tit.

Planning to slow down slightly but also go further afield if we can. Need to see how we can involve his nan.

Now, this tired aunty needs some sleep.

Taking Sethy to Truganina

January 19, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

It was Saturday evening. I had just finished exploring the Otways with two fellow nature geeks and had about an hour to spare before I went to a friends birthday party.

“If you’re good for Nan, I’ll talk you to see the banded stilts tomorrow.”

I had been planning returning to Truganina for some time. The weather during the first two weeks of the year had been horrid, so I’d primarily been adventuring around the Barwon river when the radar looked clear. I knew it was impractical for us to go on adventures with the rest of the family, so pitched this idea to him.

He’s 6. He can get cranky when tired and this is the first time we’d been doing a solo adventure of this magnitude.

And, that is how we ended up on the 10.46 train to Melbourne.

Truganina

Getting there was pretty easy, despite switching trains. We got there in about an hour and went straight to the bird hide.

Unfortunately for Sethy, there were no banded stilts. He loves black winged stilts and I really wanted him to see the bandeds. He did see these two birds and thought they were juveniles. I had to wait until I got home to identify them. I knew that you get both marsh sandpipers and common greenshanks in the area but struggle to tell them apart, especially when the plumage is different.

The bird above is a marsh sandpiper. The bird below is a common greenshank. Once you see them enough, it’s easy to tell them apart in the field. They have different behaviours and sizes. I still struggle to tell them apart, especially via photos, but I think I just need to spend more time observing them.

If you look at the greenshank, the bill is thicker and has a slight curve. This is meant to be a good way to tell them apart – I do see it now.

There did seem to less sandpipers then there was last time. I don’t visit nearly enough to know how the environment changes. Did see two red capped plovers running though!

He was fascinated by the different types of plants you can get here. “Look at those succulents!”

He loved seeing this plan fly overhead at multiple times. And also liked being so close to the train tracks, to the point where he briefly touched them. (I supervised him the whole time. He’s fascinated by everything.)

Actually – maybe we saw an RAAF plane? I did see a sign about the museum on the way up and wondered if it was appropriate for a 6 year old. Will look into it.

When walking to the river, we found the carcass of a blue tongue lizard. The colouring looks different to the two that Seth has had as pets.

He’s fascinated by bones so we got a good look. He would have liked to take it home, but I said no. I know from experience that many carcasses can be stinky and I didn’t have a plastic bag.

It was in pieces and in one area, the ants had done a good job cleaning. Seth picked up a piece of backbone he had found and asked me to look after it.

I may need to take more bags with me next time.

He’s fascinated by everything and I’m not going to stop him, unless it places him at risk. It helps that I was similar to him growing up.

Swans

We walked towards Laverton Creek where we found about 50 swans. Seth was enamoured so we sat down to watch them. Surprisingly, a number of them came up close and started feeding within a meter of where we were sitting

He heard hooting sounds and started making them back. He would observe everything about them. How they’d bite others who got too close. The hissing sounds.

He loved being able to get a close look of their feet. Look at their claws!

Both of their feet.

A juveniles knobbly knees.

He could have easily spent more time here. Two of the birds had tags around their necks – will be submitting their data to the project. The tags were different colours this time.

Other observations:

We also saw a little egret.

Fascinated by the plants.

Seth really enjoyed the trip, which was cool. He’s 6 and can struggle with concentration, but he was really well behaved. This means that we can start travelling a little bit further on adventures.

His life list is now 95, which he is pretty stoked about. He’s proud to have such a big list for someone his age. No idea if he’ll keep up the hobby but if it makes him happy. I think he experiences the same calming effect that I do.

I saw a fox near the train tracks! It moved before I had the chance to take a photo. I wish Seth could have seen it. I think I’d like to explore more of the area with him, it just depends on what is practical.

I also talk through the adventures with him. I thank him when he wants to explore a new area and I see something I didn’t see last time. I tell him when I’m unsure and involve him in the process of finding out. I think this hobby has been great for him. It’s also helped me out, too.

😛 Now just need to summarize another couple of adventures. Have been too busy exploring instead!