Truganina Swamp

Seth + Truganina: Part 2

February 23, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Last Wednesday, I decided to take Seth birding. I didn’t particularly want to take him anywhere but he had been having a rough couple of days, and we hadn’t adventured in over a week. I decided to go to Truganina because I really wanted him to see the banded stilt, and I couldn’t be bother thinking of anywhere else to go.

That’s the type of adventure you get if you wake me up early by playing bird calls on your ipad. I need more prep type for adventuring.

Unfortunately, I didn’t realize until we got to Laverton that many trains from Werribee are express on weekdays and we’d need to take THREE trains to get to the swamp.

Oops. He did okay considering the 6 trains we caught – and the drunk guy at one of the stations!

What did we see?

We hadn’t even gotten to the swamp when we saw this Australian Hobby. I wasn’t 100% sure of the ID, but the behaviour was similar to the one I had seen at WTP earlier in the week. I couldn’t say for sure so promised Seth we would look it up when we got home.

I had settled ID because of the colour and size of the bird. The guide said I should also check Peregrine falcon as the birds can often be confused. I just didn’t think that it was one. The wings weren’t stiff enough, it was flying pretty low to the ground. People in the bird ID group tentatively agreed with me… which is good enough for Seths list 😉

We did see a number of black winged stilts in the area but no bandeds. A friend lives nearby and said that there were a couple of them there that night. I’d checked beforehand about stilt numbers and the bandeds had been there for a couple of weeks. I think they were just hiding very well. I saw some that may have potentially been juvenile, but double checked proved otherwise.

It’s amusing for me, but less so for Sethy. Fortunately, we scored one lifer for the day.

A welcome swallow. I initially thought it was something else but figured that it was a juvenile. The markings are too bright, although they extend further then they normally do. The chest is too clear. The fail is short, yes, but that is common for a juv. 🙂 It can be really tricky trying to hold all of this in my head!

A disheveled looking willy wagtail.

Swans

Another main reason we went there was to see the wild swans. Alas, there were only 3 there this day. We got nice views of a pair flying off as a separate pair landed.

We also saw a swan with a neck tag.

It was a bit of a disappointing twitch, but it was all I could come up with in a short timeframe. Next time I might go to Newport Lakes park. I’m running out of ideas, especially for places that also interest me. I’m sick of Balyang.

Hopefully I’ll do some more birding of my own this week, plus there is the night parrot talk this weekend. Super excited.

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!

Visiting Truganina Swamp

December 3, 2014 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Yesterday, I visited Truganina swamp for the first time. I recently joined a Victoria birdwatching group of Facebook and asked for advice about birding locations close to public transport. This was one of the locations mentioned and I’m so grateful it was. It was so close to the train station!

It was a fantastic session, probably one of the best I’ve had. So many new species and I was able to learn so much. Will definitely be returning. I’m cranky about the weather in Victoria currently as I want to return, despite the sunburn I received yesterday.

BANDED STILT BANDED STILT BANDED STILT.

I know I will probably look bag on this blog and be embarrassed by my excessive use of capitalization/exclamation marks but I don’t care. I’ve been trying to find banded stilts for a while now. You can find them in locations close to Geelong but not in places that are easily accessible. There is a known location off a highway but I was uncomfortable with the idea of standing on the side of the road.

I’ve now seen all species of stilts. I think they are more beautiful then black winged. It was hard to find up-to-date information about whether they were there or not, there were lots of reports about them being there in 2013. Regardless,

Bog standard white fronted chat. I’ve seen them multiple times but I think there is something adorable about them.

Black shouldered kite. Was hoping for other birds of prey but it was nice seeing one in flight.

Obligatory swan photo for Glenn and Seth. I saw a lot of them yesterday and am enamored with their call.

This little guy (or lady) is an Australasian (Richard’s) pipit. I initially had trouble identifying it as I had it confused with a little grassbird. When you look closely, however, the pipits markings are isolated to it’s breast and not over it’s tummy like with the grassbird.

Very thankful to Luke Shelley for asking the right questions to help me figure that out. It is common/moderately commmon and loves open country. There are four subspecies; the one I saw is Anthus Novaeseelandiae which is the one you find most often in Australia. Can be confused with Eurasian Skylark and Horsfield’s bushlark.

🙂 Do you see why I find identification so overwhelming at times? Sometimes it’s easier to ask for a straight ID and then use the information to work backwards. I’m finding that birding in new locations requires just as much time away from the field to understand what I’ve seen.

Right now I feel happier then I have in a long time, though. Well, since the last concert I went to.

This is a little egret. Which means that I’ll eventually find my arch nemesis, the intermediate.

Common Greenshank. I was right with a lot of my guesses yesterday but didn’t trust my gut. I was feeling sick and exhausted afterwards though so am blaming it on my brain, and the sunburn.

Sandpipers

The following images are apparently all sharpies. I can’t tell them apart. They are meant to look different according to age and gender. I find sandpipers to be too overwhelming. You can get other ones in the area so I’ll be double checking my photos now that I have confirmation on the clearer ones.

It was a fantastic twitch and is a place that I highly recommend people go to. It’s close to Westona train station. If coming from Geelong, it can be a bit of a bitch to get too. I had to get off the train at Werribee and catch a train to Laverton. I then had to catch a separate train to Westona. A bit of stuffing around but it was so worth it.

The walk was very quick and easy. It was surprising to see such a wide variety of birdlife so close to suburbia. I saw a blue tongue lizard (striped) while walking there. It was on the footpath and a number of birds (common mynas and house sparrows) were attacking it. It was hissing at them, and me, a lot. I tried to pick it up but it lunged at me, so I wrapped it in my cardigan and put it in someones front garden. It was trying to get there anyway but couldn’t fit through any gaps in the fence.

I struggle to know when to intervene with nature. In this case, I figured it was a wild animal in an artificial environment and I should give it a small helping hand. A local said they were quite common in the area. It’s amazing, and depressing at times, to see how wildlife survive in suburbia. I found a squashed blue tongue on a road near the river recently, which was sad.