tawny frogmouth

Ebirds Global Big Day 2016: Western Suburbs of Geelong.

May 18, 2016 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Ages ago, I emailed a mate telling him about the cool frogs we’d found at Balyang. I didn’t got a response to that, but I did get an email in early May asking me if I’d like to join him and another GFNC member birding around Serendip and the You Yangs.

I immediately said yes. My cat had been missing for a couple of weeks at this point and I had been feeling shit. While nothing could replace the Beej, birding may take my mind off him for a bit.

It was just before 8 when we arrived at Serendip. It was earlier then I had ever gotten there before – normally I get there around lunchtime.

I highly recommend you visit there at ungodly hours. I normally avoid being up too early as it triggers migraines but in this case it was worth the risk. No-one else was there and the staff were still feeding the animals. The magpie geese hadn’t moved away from some of the common ponds yet and were sitting a lot closer then they normally would. Next season, I’m definitely returning to get some good photos. Alas,we didn’t have much time to take photos today.

We had just gotten out of the bird enclosure when I noticed these two tawny frogmouths in a tree. I felt so proud of myself. I can’t do bird calls and struggle with a lot of species, but I can always spot movement or when something looks different. Apparently they can be very hit and miss here.

We walked along a back here, behind a waterhole. It had dried up. I saw a group of bones that had once belonged to a roo.

We went to one of back ponding areas.

Two shelducks and a shoveller! Woohoo! I really wished I had my proper big lens that day, and I’d been able to photograph them pooping.

I got a good view of its underwings as well.

We left and started driving towards the you Yangs, when Jeff stopped suddenly.

There was a pair of whistling kites eating a carcass.

I didn’t get that many photos at the You Yangs. We went off the path a bit and the bush bashing was pretty tricky. Some of the bits were steep, which is normally fine. It’s less fine if there is no defined path and the dirt is slippery.

I was too busy trying not to fall over to focus on the birds. Have a couple of scratches from that day – my legs are showing a lot of signs of my clumsiness! I was so pleased with myself, I pushed myself really hard and didn’t get sick at all.

We went to a couple of other haunts in the region before going to Avalon Beach. It was so great to return there, I hadn’t been there in a long time.

There was a decent number of banded stilts there which was great to see.

Also a pied oystercatcher.

It was a phenomenal day, my report doesn’t do it justice. I very much need to improve my fitness though if I’m going to go on more of them.

I’ve learned that one of the reason I don’t see as many birds is because I tend to stick to the paths. Often, some of the best birding can be found off path.

We ended up seeing around 100 species which was pretty awesome. I saw so glad to get home that night though!

The Queens Park Tawny Frogmouth Chicks

October 29, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Recently, one of my GFNC friends told me that there was a tawny frogmouth family along the Barwon river. It was nesting quite close to the path.

I had seen a nest before at Woodlands Historic Park. I hadn’t been able to get a good view of the nest so knew this was a good opportunity. It was apparently nesting right next to the path. This meant I would be able to get good views, and photos, without disturbing them too much.

I went down there the next day and saw this:

It was a gloomy Saturday. I had bussed it down to this particular stretch and spent 15 minutes watching them, while trying to protect my camera from the rain. The photos were mediocre but I didn’t care. I had seen it!

I went down there to show Sethy and mum the next day. They love wildlife and I knew they would love seeing it. It was considerably more sunny and both of them were out. I got some magnificent photos.

The above photos were taken on the 10th and 11th of October. Earlier this week, on the 26th, I saw this.

They weren’t there. It was slightly too early for them to fledge. Something had happened to them. Whether predator or weather, I do not know.

The ending is sad but I was able to learn a lot from the experience.

Birds in southern areas may have two broods in a season compared to the north, where they mostly have one.
Both sexes incubate the eggs. The male sits during the day, but both sexes share sitting at night. (Via Birdlife.)
Breeding is advertised by both partners drumming nightly from the nest site. (Via Australia Zoo). This reminds me of the Palm Cockatoo behaviour – and it would be something that would be amazing to see.
Chicks hatch after a month. Both parents help to feed them until they are fledged, in about a month’s time. During this time the whole family may be seen roosting side by side on a branch. (via Billabong Sanctuary)

I also read that the clutch size is different in different areas. I will edit this post accordingly when I have my book.

There is another family a little bit further up. They are nesting further away from the path, and about twice as high. I hope they have better luck.

Birding the Barwon With My Nephew

January 5, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

It is the 5th of January. So far this year, I have gone on three separate adventures with the nephew exploring various parts of the Barwon River. I’ve been trying to familiarize him with places beyond just Balyang. A lot of the birding has been generic but you know what? The little dude loved it. Sometimes, that’s all that matters.

Belmont Common + Balyang

On Thursday I was planning to go to Bunyip area with a birder who had contacted me the day before. It would have required an early start. I woke up at 4.30 after a horrid nights sleep and knew there was no way I could do the trip without getting sick. I hated calling it off but I’m glad I did, considering the hot weather caused many sleepless nights on the weekend.

We asked if we could go to our local haunt, ‘The Wetlands’ when my parents were going to Bunnings. They have been super busy lately so I’ve tried to take Seth on adventures that don’t require much of their time.

Seth LOVED it.

He may have gotten distracted by the rabbits, though.

I don’t mind. He’s 6 and it is still something of a novelty to him. We’d checked out a lot of the usual haunts and there wasn’t that much to see. There was a random person sitting in the hide with multiple bags – he didn’t look like a birder. Up the back there was stilts, ibises and spoonbills. The water looked too high for crakes and rails so I decided to just let him be a kid.

It meant I didn’t get to look in the trees as much as I liked, especially as an oriole had recently been reported there. But sometimes it’s more about the adventure.

I showed him my secret spot where we flushed five Lathams Snipe. We walked back to the hide. I heard the sound of lorikeets. I followed, hoping that they were purple crowned.

They weren’t. Musk lorikeets are still a new bird for Seth. He learned more about walking quietly so they wouldn’t get scared. Hopefully learned about telling the difference between birds.

That night he still had way too much energy so we went for a wander around Balyang. We explored Balyang, the nearby boardwalk and the area where the Tawny Frogmouth is. We ended up being gone for so long that my parents were worried. But, there was a lot to see.

There was baby ducklings. Afterwards, my mum was telling Seth about how mother ducks, and other birds, can get incredibly protective. We spent about five minutes watching them from a distance and Seth was able to observe the behaviour. I dunno, there is something cool about seeing something instead of just hearing about it.

I saw a duck that I hadn’t seen there before. I’m not sure if it’s a domestic one but if it is, it’s new. I thought the markings on the face may make it a domestic/teal hybrid?

Saw this heron. It was moving it’s feet in the water as if it was either trying to find something with its feet or trying to find a safe place to put it. Was interesting behaviour.

Got some very poor quality photos of the frogmouth having a stretch. I don’t want to invade its space.

Walking from Buckley Falls to Queens Park

Yesterday, I decided to give my parents a break for a couple of hours and offered to walk from Buckley Falls to Queens Park. It would be about 3km and would allow me to walk along an area I really liked.

Seth decided he wanted to walk on the other side of the river, starting at Baums Weir. There were two people there when we got there but they told us about a valley where we could see a wallaby and how we may see platypus in the river. I wouldn’t have believed you could find either so close to suburbia but this little section was so secluded and lovely. I want to walk in the opposite direction next time and see where it takes us.

We walked to Fyansford without much happening. We did manage to see two birds of prey though!

Whistling kite. Always get confused when trying to ID them

Nankeen kestral. Another lifer for the mister. I struggled to ID it initially as the tail wasn’t spread out like it was in the field guide. However the black band on the tail helps you figure it out.

Seth was excited to see it, that kid has really good eyes. We saw other birds, like grey fantails and a black faced cuckoo shrike that hung around for a while. We have to double check if they were lifers. We found a very fluffy caterpillar! He really enjoyed the walk, talking about how the hills changed and how their were different types of trees. It makes me want to learn more about the area so I can give him the right answers.

Buckleys to Balyang

Today I woke up hoping to either go to Truganina or Serendip. Glenn didn’t want to do either and I wasn’t sure if I had the mojo to go anywhere on my own. The decision was taken away from us when we realized our budgeting snafu: we didn’t have any money and weren’t getting paid until tonight.

Glenn was in a bit of a huff and went to have a nap. I decided to make the best of the situation and asked the little dude if he wanted to go for a walk. He loved the walk we had done yesterday, and was curious to see what was on the other side of the river. We went down the steps and very slowly walked.

It was a warm day and the kid has little legs. He has a lot of energy but less so for walking longish distances in warm weather. We had to take frequent breaks but made the most of it. We saw a guy set up a tightrope between two trees and practice. We saw a small green spider and bugs mating. We heard an interesting call and looked on youtube to see if it sounded like a sacred kingfisher (it didn’t.) We went down any side paths we could.

It was meh in terms of birding – which was to be expected with a little dude hanging around. He loved it though.

We heard a bird call in a tree close to the bridge to red gum island. I looked and saw a shape in a tree. Maybe it was a bird of prey!

It was another tawny. I’m fairly certain it was separate to the one we saw close to Balyang. It looked younger. It was about 3 metres away from the path so we walked under the tree and spent 15 minutes just watching it. It watched us back, for a while. Then it yawned and pretended that we weren’t there.

We were getting closer to Buckley Falls, thankfully. But wait – what was that? A darter!

One of the first things it did when we saw it was do a poop. I didn’t get my camera out it time to capture it, but I did capture the aftermath.

You’re welcome.

And we saw a turtle. Oh yeah.

Buckley Falls was a bit of a let down. Too many people. We didn’t find any skinks and someone was loudly annoyed by it.

Seth has enjoyed the adventures but I’ll be glad to return to birding without him. Sometimes he’s awesome but sometimes…. my gosh. It was fun having a good excuse to see more of the Barwon, though.

Yea Wetlands

December 14, 2014 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

I went to my great grandmothers funeral in Mansfield a month ago. It was a long drive from Geelong and I had a bad cold, so I kept an eye for interesting stuff along the side of the road. I saw a number of wetlands and a rail trail. I made a mental note to research and visit those places later – although I didn’t think I’d be able to until 2016!

One of those places was the Yea Wetlands. Or, depending on who is sharing the car with you, ‘YAY!’ I’d never properly birded in that area and had no idea what to expect. It ended up being one of the highlights of the day.

Tawny Frogmouth

We saw this tawny frogmouth sunning itself on a log across the river. It was so close. We were on a suspension bridge so all of us turned around and started snapping photos of it. They are some of the clearest I’ve ever gotten and that includes the photos of birds I’ve taken in free slight aviaries. I loved being able to capture the detail on it’s feathers. It wasn’t there on our return.

Sacred Kingfisher

Another highlight was seeing a sacred kingfisher with a lizard in its mouth! I’ve been wanting to see something like this for some time. This is only the second time I’ve seen a sacred kingfisher and any kookaburras I’ve seen have been well camouflaged

The detail of the lizard is poor quality. I spoke to a couple of people about lenses during the weekend and they confirmed what I’ve suspected: there must be something wrong with the lens. Even when they put it on the right manual settings the photos turned out crap. Glenn and I are thinking about upgrading the lens anyway. I mostly want photos to ID whereas Glenn wants the great shot.
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Bell Miner

I was very excited to see the bell miners! The second photo shows a number of juveniles under a nest. This means that I don’t have to go to the botanical gardens in Melbourne to track down these guys and the Eastern Spinebill. (I loathe leaving the house – and especially going to Melbourne – so am grateful for any excuse to avoid an area :P) Their call and colouring was different to what I expected.

Others:

I think this is the White-throated Gerygone. It’s probably the rufous whistler; I know I saw and got a photo of the gerygone but am feeling too overwhelmed at the moment to double check. The gerygone looked way different to what I thought it would be, a lot smaller. It was rather difficult to photograph.

(I’m certain it isn’t the gerygone but I’m going to pretend it is – I’m tired!)

Like the flycather, it was smaller then expected. I expected it to be mostly one colour with a white throat. It mates for life. Can resemble the fairy gerygone and younger ones can look like a weebill. I’m not sure these are something that interest me that much yet, I normally stick to the groups of birds I’m passionate about. Still, always fun seeing a new bird.

Brush tailed possum tail sticking out from a hollow. I know a 6 year old that loves possums and knew he’d dig this.

The above photo is a leadens flycather. Someone questioned the ID on Facebook later that night but apparently the undertail is diagnostic?

It moved so quick that I struggled to see it, let alone get a photo. I was really surprised when I got home to see that I got a clearish shot! It is so much smaller then I expected. I thought it would be willy wagtail sized. Someone else said they had originally thought the same thing. This makes me feel less stupid 🙂 I’ve been wanting to see a flycatcher for sometime although, as usual, I know nothing about them.

It’s apparently misidentified a lot. Graeme Chapman has info on telling them apart. It prefers drier habitats then the satin. Would these wetlands qualify as dry?

Was a very big day and I still feel like I’m recovering from it. I loved being with others that had a similar passion not just for birds but for all things nature. People would stop to get photos of bugs and skinks and fungi. My primary interest is birds but I am fascinated by other animals – I just don’t have the energy to pursue that passion. People would talk at length about camera settings. I felt like I was amongst kindred spirits – something I haven’t felt in a long, long time.

I was getting exhausted by the end and did rest a bit. I was paranoid that I was being rude during times when I wasn’t overly social. I mostly felt relaxed which is a lovely break from my normal feelings of anxiety. It confirms that I need to find a balance between career and my love of nature.

I need to explore everywhere and learn as much as I can. Australia is so fascinating. And the birders I met yesterday were so generous with their knowledge.

Now to sleep off the exhaustion 😛

First Visit To Woodlands Historic Park

December 13, 2014 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

I recently joined a Facebook group for Victorian birders and had arranged to join a group trip to Toolangi. Somebody was coming up the day before and was going to meet up with another birder to see a peregrine falcon. I asked if I could tag along and they were both gracious enough to say yes. For this, I am so appreciative.

As a kid, I was a bird nerd. I was focused on learning as much as I could about parrots but I was also fascinated by peregrine falcons. An animal book I had growing up said they were the fasted birds in the world. I loved them, even if I didn’t research them.

Above is the crappy photo of the aforementioned falcon. I never would have found it by myself. Despite Phillips best description, I needed Bill to physically point me towards where the bird was. The photos were crap but I don’t care. I would have loved to see more of it – possibly it hunting – but I’m so happy I got to see it. I can’t describe any information about it’s location simply because I was unfamiliar with the area and don’t remember.

We dipped on finding purple crowned lorikeets which was fine, as I know I’ll find them. As soon as we walked into the woodlands we saw this tawny frogmouth. Part of me groaned inside, as I’d struggled so hard to find one around Geelong. I do love seeing them though.

It was a great day for raptors. I learned so much! We saw a parent and juvenile calling to each other. We heard magpies doing a call saying that there was a raptor in the area.

We definitely saw a collared sparrowhawk. Looking at the pictures, and the images in my field guide, I can see why they said the tail gave it away. There is one subspecies up north that I’ll have to track down. Also saw a brown falcon so can tick it off the list. The above bird is a young brown goshawk (I think). I wrote down the birds I saw but not in the order that I saw them.

Also saw this spider which was cool. Saw another interesting small greenish spider but my camera wouldn’t focus on it.

Rufous Whistler

I had seen a female golden whistler in the past but never a male. I believe I saw a male golden whistler at some point during the weekend. Seeing the rufous though helped me understand what rufous means 😛 It’s a consistent colour. I remember it’s call being beautiful, but I don’t remember what it is.

There are give subspecies of it – it’s described as a nomadic or migratory species in some parts of Aus. According to birds in backyards, “The female and immature birds can be distinguished from most other whistlers by heavy streaking on the underparts.”

It’s rarely seen on the ground and forages higher then other whistlers. And produces two broods in a season. If all that information is overwhelming for you then just look at how pretty it is. I only googled because I know nothing about whistlers.

Straited Pardalote

We did get to see a straited pardalote which was pretty awesome. I’ve seen one before but hadn’t seen it with this behaviour. Phillip used callback to get it closer and it was on a branch above us, spreading it’s wings. This behaviour was different to the one I had seen at Ocean Grove.

Bill suggested that it may be it’s defense behaviour – there may have been females or young in the area. I was just researching online and the bird is apparently very defensive of it’s territory. Maybe the difference in behaviour was because I saw it without using callback?

There are a number of subspecies across Australia and markings are meant to differ? No idea.

I think the above is a weebill. I know I also saw a yellow faced honeyeater – either here or at some point on the next day. It was incredibly overwhelming – almost to the point where I couldn’t keep track of everything. I had so much fun though.

Getting Sick

I’ve written about how I’m susceptible to migraines and have a problem coping with heat on warm todays. Today was no exception. I started feeling really sick after about an hour of walking. There was a slight incline and my legs were burning. I had a funny feeling in my gut and couldn’t seem to catch my breath. I ended up saying “you guys go ahead and I’ll wait here for a bit.

They came back and we drove to another area of the woodlands. Again, I sat down by myself for a bit. I felt rude but still had fun watching the reed warblers. I was burping (not so discreetly) to try and feel better. At one point, I really thought I was going to throw up. I ended up burping out the tummy upset and being okay for the trip home.

I know this is way too much information, but it’s one of the frustration aspects of birding. I don’t know if it’s a health issue, a side effect of my antidepressants or just the result of me being unfit. I don’t get sick as often anymore as I’ve been pushing myself more with my fitness levels. It just made me feel like a shitty liability.

Overall it was a fun trip. I love seeing new areas and learning about them. It reminded me of Ocean Grove Nature Reserve somewhat. Philip is extremely knowledgeable and I was very grateful to be able to tag along. I learn a lot and there was no way I would have saw that much by myself, let along learn anything.

Part me of feels guilty for taking away from Bills experience. I honestly do not know how to behave in some group situations and don’t know if I’m cramping other peoples style. I suspect this is something I’ll have to relearn now that I’m actually being social again.