white faced heron

Belmont Common: Cygnets are grown up

October 29, 2014 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

I was always planning to go to Belmont Common today. However, when mum phoned up asking if I wanted to go to the pet shop, I saw the opportunity for a lift there. I had forgotten what life is like with my 6 year old nephew. No amounts of promises that he’ll behave will stop him from acting up sometimes. Intentionally.

Despite his best efforts to scare everything away, I was able to make the observations that I wanted to.

There are plenty of babies around. I saw this butcherbird chick.

I could hear multiple honeyeater fledglings. I saw a mudlark next that a friend had recently photographed. As they predicted, another bird species was stealing nest materials rather then using the now abandoned nest.

There was a lot of activity in the area near the golf course. A LOT of swamphens. One heron and an ibis. Of course, someone ‘accidentally’ scared them away.

I saw this magpie that looked a little worse for wear. Will research it later. Is it ill or just had a dirt bath?

One of the main reasons I wanted to go there was to suss out whether the cygnets where still there. They were, and they were mostly grown up. I wonder what happens when they grow up – when do they decide to leave? Do they stick together as a family? Where do swans hang out – and how do they know to hang out in a certain space?

Dad said it was possible they’d go to Swan Bay 😉

I also believe I saw a number of Latham Snipes. I think that’s what they were. Someone was running up and down the hill at the back and flushed several before I could try to get a photo. I’d estimate there was at least 6.

I know that the tone of this post is somewhat depressive – one of the challenges of living a normal life while suffering from a mental illness. I think it’s important to keep up the observations regardless of my mood as I can forget key details over time.

Glenns Barwon River Birthday Ramble

October 29, 2014 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

On Monday it was Glenns birthday. We had originally planned to go to Melbourne to do some photography but the stormy weather had other plans. We didn’t fancy going to the zoo and botanical gardens in drizzly weather so chose to stick around Geelong.

Glenn, however, decided that the day was conspiring against him and didn’t see the point in going anyway. I persuaded him to go. We had a bit of a tiff where I told him that he was choosing to be in a funky mood and he could still have a good day if he wanted. We decided to walk to Queens Park bridge so he could try to photography the baby honey eaters.

Honeyeaters

He had a lot more success then I did when it came to getting photos. The tripod helped, as did the fact we were there mid afternoon. He was fascinated at how the act of feeding was over with so quickly. There would be nothing for a long period and you had to be so quick to get the action shot. It was such a challenge, but he did really well.

I think they were close to fledging. One of them was moving about on a branch next to the nest. The parents were working so hard.

Buckley falls

The birding past Queens Park bridge was pretty uneventful. No kingfishers this time, nor the elusive crested shrike tit. Glenn had an opportunity to practice photographing red rumps once we got to the golf course.

A facebook contact had observed a night heron in the area. Another Facebook friend had gotten some great photos of a heron feeding. I wanted Glenn to try to get some more photos of herons.

The feeding photos weren’t great, but the wind helped make the photographs more interesting. Glenn said he thought there was three herons in the area.

Black Cormorants

I’m proud of how Glenn is able to ID birds now. He asked if a darter was a type of cormorant. I said no and handed him my field guide. I asked him to point out the differences in the birds. “Oh, they are shaped differently and the beak isn’t hooked.” He then looked further down the page and pointed at the black cormorants. “These are the ones we saw. I recognize the wings.”

I didn’t intend for Glenn to get as nerdy as he has, but I like how he now understands the importance of knowing how the bird will behave. His photography has improved so much as a result.

I told Glenn about how bad my agoraphobia has gotten and how much I’m struggling. He said “you enjoy birdwatching, don’t you?” and I told him that all trips were a struggle. He’s encouraged me to back to the doctor so…. we’ll see what happens. Also will be moving over the next few months. Will really miss the area – but will be happy to be close to a different bus line!

Heron Watch #1

September 25, 2014 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

This post has been a long time coming. Primarily because we’ve gone down to Balyang so much and have So. Many. Photos. It has been a struggle to get a clear photo of the chicks due to the position of the nest.

I first found them on the 14th of September. A friend had posted about seeing them on the 12th. The next day, I went down and looked for about an hour. I couldn’t see them anywhere and was getting really frustrated. I looked at the Facebook post when I got home and noticed what looked like Eucalyptus leaves. Apparently they were high in a tree! On the 14th I went to see them and nearly went home again, in frustration. The person who first told me about them wasn’t the best at giving directions. Although I gave Glenn ultra specific directions and he said he wouldn’t have been able to find them!

I was able to get a number of photos on the first visit but they weren’t very clear.

15th September

Glenn was able to get a clear photo of the nest and we saw that there were three baby herons. Visibility depended on how active they where.

We were fortunate enough to get a photo of one of them yawning.

We observed an adult near the nest. Not sure of the sex. It appears the parent doesn’t spend much time at the nest. I’ve only seen it there part of the time and the checks are left to be mostly independent.

22nd September

I was unable to monitor the nest that much the week before due to being at my parents house. I got home on the Friday but needed a bit of downtime.

We got a very clear shot of this chick. An issue was that the other chick looked like a branch.

23nd September

Glenn decided to go to Balyang early on Tuesday morning to take advantage of the increased bird activity

I noticed that the head of the adult seemed a lot fluffier, when at other times it is less so. The below picture captures the adult feeding the young.

I don’t have any further observations. I’m planning to do more research on the nesting habits of white faced herons. I’d also be interested in finding out where other birds nest in the region. Many peers are getting great photos at the moment, whereas I’m getting nagged to watch a 6 year old on his bike.

Jerringot in Autumn

May 2, 2014 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Today, I was meant to go out for an hour with family. I called 2 hours beforehand to doublecheck the time and… it was cancelled. Everyone had forgotten to tell me. I was angry but then I realized. This frees up an afternoon! Jerringot, here I come!

I haven’t done much birding lately because I find wetlands to be boring when the water dries up and the waders leave. I was primarily going there to see crakes and rails, and had mostly dipped.

Lately, I’ve been realizing the importance of really getting to know a place. To learn how it changes with the seasons and monitor the ebb and flow of various species. Sometimes it will be generic but it will contribute to the birding community. It may be able to help someone, like the many birding bloggers and tweeters have helped me.

As predicted, it was a pretty generic visit

I got to the hide and there was nothing nearby. It was awesome to see that the water levels had risen considerably since last time. There were workers along the road cutting down trees, so I didn’t spend much time in the hide. I saw a fair about of spoonbills at the back so wandered over to the chair to have a look.

It was truly amazing to see so many spoonbills. There weren’t any at Balyang. I stayed here for a while, not daring to get closer in case I scared anything. This means that I didn’t get a clear view of the spot the pink eared duck favours.

(Random: a scaly breasted lorikeet has been sighted at Balyang. Now have to double check all photos!)

I was mostly testing out the sigma lens to see how it works at a distance and in different situations. It didn’t handle this shoot too well, I suspect that’s because I was shooting into the sun and hadn’t adjusted any settings. The kit lens can handle that sort of situation but this can’t.

I walked back, glad that the workers were gone. I saw this awesome web on the way back.

Glenn and I have been practicing photographing spiders webs recently and have gotten some beautiful shots. This one sucks, but it’s always something that fascinates me.

I went to the hide and saw a person there that I had been talking to on the Bird ID’ing facebook page. I’d seen his posts a few times and he told me about two swans that were there.

I didn’t get any photos but YAY! I wonder if these are the two swans that had babies here last year. Wouldn’t that be awesome? If so, what attracts them to this specific place? They tend to love this little area close to the road, at least last years pair did. He also told me that the pink eared duck was there, which I always love hearing about.

It’s always nice meeting other birders and chatting to them. It doesn’t happen much, but I love learning more about birds and seeing the different types of people. Nice seeing someone closer to my age!

Now to go through other birding photos x

Hot Balyang

October 11, 2013 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Today I’m picking up my other boyfriend from kinder! 🙂 We are going to look at photos of adventures and have pizza, which is a sometimes food.

We also went on an adventure on Wednesday. They came over and we’d agreed to briefly go to Balyang. It was a stinking hot day and the birds had different behaviour.

Obligatory Swamp Hen shot. Glenns camera is so much better then mine when it comes to showing movement. They make these shots look almost artistic, sort of like a painting. It’s awesome because everything is just set on auto.

These two ducks were in a cranky mood, chasing every other duck away. I’m hoping it means there will be baby duckies soon!

In contrast, these ducks were like ‘chill out, dude.

There was a willy wagtail – ‘nans favourite bird!’ picking up bits of twigs to, hopefully, make a nest.

I loved getting photos of this cockatoo. The way the sun was shining through his feathers. I actually took Glenn through ALL of the Drysdale photos to show him examples of the suns going through feathers, as he often skimmed over the shots which didn’t fit his vision.

That is the first Heron I have ever seen in my LIFE! Seth said, upon seeing the bird below.

It was a fun trip. The seagulls where diving under the water and fluffing out their wings. All the birds were behaving a little bit different. Nothing knocked off the list, but that wasn’t the purpose. It was showing an interest in something the little dude loves.