pink eared duck

Lake Lorne with the little dude – again!

May 22, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

This trip took place on May 6th

Lake Lorne 🙂 It’s quickly becoming one of my favourite accessible birding locations. It can take a short while to get out via public transport – especially when compared to my local haunts – but it has a lot of diversity.

Sethy and I had gone to Lake Lorne in February. He enjoyed it, but was a bit disappointed. I had promised him freckled and blue billed ducks. We had gotten a bad view of a blue billed and the freckled were in small numbers.

Earlier this month, Carolyn invited me to both Ocean Grove and Lake Lorne. We had a fantastic twitch. I was so impressed with the birds I had seen there that I decided I should take Sethy up there ASAP. I don’t know the area intuitively yet, nor am I knowledgeable about bird movements on the peninsula. I wanted to get there quickly to hopefully see the same amount of birds. Was so glad I did!

Yes, swans are boring. I don’t care though, I always love seeing a family of swans.

Black fronted dotterel. Really need to find us a red kneed for Sethys list!

An unknown plant type that looked interesting. I’m going to start printing out some of these photos to take to the field nats, to help us figure out what we’ve seen.

Whistling Kite

I was hoping the whistling kites would show up in similar numbers to last time. The ducks here were fantastic but we were too busy looking at the kites.

We were able to observe their behaviour most of the time we were there and I got some really clear photos that will be able to help when teaching the little dude about ID’ing.

Spoonbill

I was able to get some beautiful photos of the spoonbills feeding. Sethy was getting a little bird bored and wouldn’t let me spend too long watching them, which was a shame.

Ducks

Blue billed, male and female.

You can see the decent number of pink eared ducks here, which I always love. Someone one ebird recently reported 150!

Small group of freckled ducks.

Shovelers.

This account is a bit rushed because there really isn’t that much to say. I’m not knowledgeable enough about this area to provide any real commentary.

Both visits this month have been great for photography. I don’t know if that is a seasonal thing. I’m thinking of returning soon by myself to see what photos I can get.

Sethy loved it, because the birds were accessible. I’m running out of places to take him to! Fortunately, people at the field nats are helping out with ideas and even things to pass onto him.

I’m feeling a bit unsure about what birding adventures I’ll go on next, especially with the impending move. Hopefully it wont impact me too much and I’ll get back into the birding/hiking scene.

10 Months Later: Pink Eared Duck Still at Balyang

February 6, 2014 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

I’m meant to be launching an ebook right now. I wonder who is procrastinating?.

After meeting R at Jerringot, I decided to go back to Balyang to see if the pink eared duck was still there. It had been three weeks since I last visited, and my nephew hasn’t dragged me there much lately since he hasn’t been here as much. Basically, I wasn’t so sick of it.

I saw darters on the next. The babies seem to have fledged and, well, more darters are busy creating new ones.

If you look at the next photo, you can actually see the two heads from the birds mating. Young love 🙂

The following photo was pretty exciting – actually seeing eggs on the next! It got me wondering about how many clutches darters raise in a year. I read that they breed all round, although most of them breed in spring/summer. It seems like these nests are always in use.

The water is significantly lower in the lake area closest to the bridge over the river. I got some lovely pics of swamphens walking through the mud. I also got some photos of babies, although I was careful not to disturb them. The mum would ‘honk’ if I got too close and the chicks would rush into the reeds around the island.

This heron was around, although it was a bit skittish. Possible the one that I normally see at Jerringot?

I also saw my favourite, the pink eared duck! This means that he has been there for about 10 months and that the one at Jerringot is probably a separate one.

His/her behaviour is pretty consistant. I often see it on the side of the make lake/swamp area. You’ll probably need a scope or binoculars to get a decent look.

Sometimes, he is on the small island with the large, dead tree. On Tuesday, he swam near that area and came very close to the main area where people are. I got some brilliant views.

I noticed it ‘sleeping’ while floating, but it frequently had its eye open. I don’t know if it’s normal behaviour but was still fascinating.

The trip to Balyang was pretty generic and I don’t see myself rushing back, but I *should* take advantage of living so close to it before I move. I really love getting to know an area intimately and learning how it changes with each year and season.

Planning to focus on Jerringot and Belmont Common in the coming months. Hopefully will have a telephoto lens for the camera soon which should definitely help things!

Lathams Snipe at Last!

January 29, 2014 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

… I think. I can never be too sure.

I had gotten to the end of a stressful but somewhat rewarding birding session at Jerringot. I’d ‘dipped’ on all my target species and was somewhat frustrated. I paused to look at some swamphens when I heard a new birdcall and saw a flash of movement. I was too busy saying ‘shit! SHIT!’ in my head to get a photo in time. I was sure it was a snipe as it had the right body shape.

I think this particular bird was but alas, I wasn’t confident enough to ID it. Later, I was going through my photos when I saw this:

I’m fairly certain that I’ve just crossed the lathams snipe off my list!

It’s hard to describe just how difficult it has been to find this bird. I’ve visited once a month since they’ve meant to have arrived and have had no sightings. I’ve had very few sightings of many of the birds commonly seen here. It’s demoralizing and I’ve felt like a fake birdwatcher.

It’s also highlighted the importance of getting a pair of binoculars and maybe even a scope. I have no idea how I’m going to afford it but I’m learning that it is a definite necessity. My current method is get photos of any shapes or movements and look at the photos later. I miss out on a lot of birds this way.

I have no idea what to look for or how to even start the research.

Slightly off topic, but I was telling Seth about the sighting and he started telling me about the fictional birds he had seen. The funniest was the ‘booby snipe’ 🙂 I love his enthusiasm but there is a little bit of guilt there as I always get the giggles when he mentions birds with ‘boobie’ in the name.

Back to the birds!

I’m not sure what these two are. I’m guessing juvenile wattlebirds? They were very cute!

Again, I’m not sure what these are. I need to consult a proper field guide. They don’t match any birds that are normally seen at Jerringot.

Another one that stumps me. Maybe a dusky woodswallow? Really hard ID’ing animals when a five year old has ‘borrowed’ your field guide.

This is one that I am really excited about. A pink eared duck! I love them but have never seen one here. I don’t think it is usual as there are no reports on eremaea. I don’t know whether I should tell anyone about it as there is the resident one at Balyang.

A great egret (I think.) All the birds seem to have moved from the site at the golf course, as it is drying out, to this area closer to the road. There were about 5 herons today, more then usual.

Rabbits are generic, and a pest. This image is purely for my nephew who still gets excited when he sees one. We’re city kids.

Black winged stilt. It is seen here about 1/5 of the time so it’s no ‘big deal’, but it is still the first time I’ve seen one locally. Pretty exciting. It flew off when it saw me enter the hide. I located it at the back of the swamp with the ibis and spoonbills.

It was a very productive visit. Still no sign of the crakes and rails! It’s hard sneaking in birdwatching with all this hot weather we’ve had lately, I try not to be outside too much if it gets above 30. Am contemplating returning to Serendip and maybe even join a local birdwatching club! Birdwatching gives me such a high.

Windy Balyang

October 1, 2013 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Today was the first time I had been birdwatching in about a week. It’s weird how reluctant I am to go on an adventure, despite feeling a lot healthier. I nearly didn’t go as Glenn didn’t want to come with me. The weather this morning was horribly windy, with hail and sideways rain. I decided to just go. Glenn is on holidays soon and I doubt we’ll be as active as we are planning. As long as we get to Werribee Treatment Plant!

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A heron flew over and landed before I had a chance to get the camera ready. It was nice; I don’t see them there that often. He flew over again later.

I was sitting down, watching the birds on the teeny island in the middle when this guy waddled over. There were a lot of people feeding ducks there today and I think he wanted food. Still, I got some beautiful shots

There were a lot of welcome swallows about. They were incredibly hard to photograph; I got some average ones of them in flight. This little guy was still long enough for me to get several photos.

I then went for a walk along the path that is alongside the road. I was hoping to see something rare – perhaps a lathams snipe. I did get to see this pink-eared duck and got several shots.

I really do love these ducks. I wish I could see a large population and had a camera with a better lens. They are so cute.

Glenn wasn’t there so I didn’t have to rush everywhere. I got to walk slowly and do photography that I enjoy, rather for identification purposes. I love shooting the sun through flowers. I’m thinking about going to the botanical gardens to continue this.

Mr Pelican was there again. He came up close as a family was feeding him as I was able to get some really lovely shots.

This trio of ducks were keen to be fed. They are pretty tame and really fun to photography.

Glenn loves getting photos of birds in flight. I was sitting down in a secluded area, trying to get photos of the small birds that were flying really fast. I heard a honk and snapped a photo of this guy. I got several more as he flew over to where I was sitting. He wanted to join his ducky friends and get in on the bread action.

It ended up being a really nice shot, even though it was accidental.

The final bird (and the second new species) is the White plumed honeyeater.

It was a lovely trip; one that taught me a lot. I do prefer solo birdwatching; I just feel bitchy leaving Glenn here. I see it as my job to make sure he enjoys his days off. It’s silly and is an anxiety thought pattern I’ll have to defeat. I felt accomplished and a lot more peaceful.

I know I need to do this more, it’s just a matter of when. I have very little income coming in and hang out with my nephew pretty often. The weather is manky on a regular basis and I don’t have a car. It feels like there are so many obstacles and that this journey is going to take a long time.

This is just panic as Glenn will have a MONTH off and I need Jade Time. There is also impatience due to being sick for so long. I think I need to make some birdwatching/hiking friends. I’ll see what local tours we can do on Glenns month off.