My Nature Blog
I’ve never really had much much luck with crakes. I went to Jerringot a fair bit when living out that way and only saw them the once. It took about four visits to Eastern Park to find the Ballions. I didn’t mind: they are elusive buggers and there were other birds higher up on my priority list.
Nonetheless: TWO CRAKES AT ONCE!
[Read more…] about Brilliant Views Of Crakes At Werribee Treatment Plant
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.
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.
Yesterday, I was going through my photos from the Western Treatment Plant with Glenn. He was saying how our sigma lens wasn’t working as good as he’d hope and that the Canon lens I’d borrowed was doing a better job.
It was true that the Canon lens was focusing a lot faster. However, I argued that that the Sigma lens was still pretty good. Glenn has a habit of not going through his photos properly. He’ll choose the best ones from a glance of the folder. That means he often misses the small details – the details that can really make the shot.
Yesterday, he was upset because I had gotten shots of birds of prey eating mice and he didn’t. As the below photos show, methinks he was mistake. He actually got better shots. They have much more detail and capture different moments.
He did take other photos, although he was right in that the quality was meh in some of them. It was mostly due to the settings of the camera and the fact we didn’t change them for different lighting. And at times the car was moving.
Cute Greenshank
A cormorant I’m pretending has a case of the giggles.
A beautiful Avocet
~
I learned SO MUCH yesterday – and the information is mixing with other bits of information I’m getting and turning me into a nerd.
I saw a golden headed cisticola yesterday and couldn’t figure out what it was. You know why? I hadn’t seen it in winter before and didn’t know that the top of their head turned blue.
We struggled to find any double banded plovers. I’ve since learned that there have been significantly less DBP’s in the Geelong region, according the the GFNC winter wader count. This is a quote from the email I got. I’m not sure about the etiquette with posting but it is so fascinating.
It is interesting to note that this lack of birds has also been observed this winter by other wader teams around Port Philip Bay eg Avalon and Western Treatment Plant but not so much the Westernport and Corner Inlet /Gippsland counts. Numerous suggestions as to what this might represent have been circulated including a reduction in open exposed ground in some Port Philip Bay sites which have been fenced off for conservation but actually have meant there is less open area for these birds. The other interesting factor back in New Zealand is that it is a beech mast year. In a mast year beech forests produce a higher than normal amount of seeds. Rats and stoats feed on the seeds and turn on native birds when the seeds run out. This may have put the Double-banded Plover young at risk and we may be seeing the result of a poor breeding season. We will see what next winter brings for these birds and what our wader experts across the Tasman think.
I’ve already posted twice about Wednesdays trip to Werribee Treatment Plant. It seems I am a glutton for punishment because I am adding a third post in as many days. This post, however, is about a bird that is fast becoming a favourite.
I’m talking about Barn Owls.
[Read more…] about Seeing barn owls TWICE MORE at WTP
