white-fronted chat

First Visit To Point Henry

January 27, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

It was the final week of the school holidays. (Thank gosh.) The mister had asked if we could go to Balyang. I countered, asking if he’d be interested in going to Point Henry. He immediately said “Oh, the banded stilt place.” I don’t know how his brain manages to remember everything I’ve told him.

I asked my dad if we could get dropped off on his way to town as it was closeby. As dad lately pointed out, “It may be close as the bird flies but it is a fair bit of a detour.” I felt so guilty by putting my family out during Seth and my adventures but you know what? He has loved it. Loved it so much.

We got dropped off at the carpark and started wandering around the foreshore. There were lots of shells to look at and Seth tried to teach me how to skip rocks. As he later said to mum: “Aunty Jades rocks always made a big splash!”

Then I saw it.

European goldfinch, lifer #98 for him. I had seen them before when a family of them spent a week raiding one of the trees in our backyard but hadn’t seen them since. I was pretty stoked to see them again as I think they are beautiful birds.

I looked back towards Geelong waterfront. It was incredibly beautiful, especially with all the boats from the festival of sails leaving.

There was a lot of jellyfish washed up on the beach, which was kind of awesome. It’s sad, but it also provides a learning opportunity. We didn’t see any when walking around Williamstown/Altona the day before and I really wanted him to get a close up look. Well, we got several 🙂

We had spent about 30 minutes wandering around and I wondered how we were going to spend the rest of the time. Didn’t I read there was a boardwalk? We saw this bird resting on a fence and assumed that we weren’t allowed to walk down that path. Turns out that was an entry point to the wetlands area, but oh well. We found it eventually!

Grey fantail. Want to show him a rufuos one next 😀

Boardwalk

Was very happy to show him a golden headed cisticola, lifer #99. Not sure how to pronounce it but one of my attempts sounded like “testicular.”

Seth found these little bugs. He’s so awesome at finding bugs. At one point, he opened his hand and there was about five in there.

Teeny tiny baby dotterel! Bad photo, but saw the bird running after its parent.

We didn’t have much luck at any of the bird hides, although we did hear some rustling. I wonder if there aren’t as many birds there now that Altona has shut?

Along the foreshore

We wandered around the foreshore again while waiting for my parents to pick us up. We saw this white fronted chat while I was on the phone to mum. It’s behaviour felt different to the other chats I’d seen so was hoping for a plover. No luck.

Also a pacific gull, a bird that we both love.

It was a pretty good trip despite going to an unfamiliar area. Seth really loved it. He’s noticing similarities between the various coastal areas we visit. He’s learning a lot.

It’s definitely not a case of me forcing my hobby onto him. He’s the one that asks for it. He’s developing a fondness of hiking. I’ve definitely influenced him in the sense that he’s been exposed to the natural world, due to my keen interest. But he has his own unique interests in the natural world.

He’s a good little teammate too, helping me find stuff and forcing me to slow down. I’m so grateful that dad took the time to give us lifts to places. I’ve worked super hard not to inconvenience them. I know that our adventuring has helped them to allowed them to get more down with the move without a 6 year old running around.

He’s tiring me out though. 🙂 Lot’s of talking about things afterwards, looking at apps + guides and looking at the photos.

Thinking that I may try for either a banded stilt or a hoodie for bird #100 for him. He’s loving his life list – and he’s fast catching up to mine!

Altona Coastal Park + Jawbone Reserve

December 3, 2014 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

After visiting Truganina Swamp yesterday, I decided to visit Altona Coastal Park and walk through Jawbone Reserve to Williamstown station. I wanted to learn as much as I could about the area even if it didn’t yield much in terms of birds. I had initially planned to visit Cherry Lake as well but thought that may have been too much for me. Good call, past Jade!

I got off at the Seaholme station and it was a short walk to the coastal park.

Altona Coastal Park

I walked past a reserve. Their was a pier nearby, which was fantastic for the normal birds. Lots of pelicans and pacific gulls. They were flying around a lot so it was great for photography. I loved getting the above photo with three pelicans sitting on boats.

Primarily got this one to show Glenn.

It was a bit frustrating there. I could hear a lot of birdlife but not necessarily see much. Of course, a lot of the birds showed their heads while I was sitting down and talking on the phone to Glenn! Alas, I couldn’t multi-task. My feet were hurting a bit at this point so I was hoping to wrap about the trip ASAP. But look! A poorly lit photo of a Golden Headed Cisticola. 🙂

I try to take photos of birds that are tagged so I can contribute to the research projects. I need to make a list of ones I can help with. Also, this area was brilliant for Fairy Wrens. It was a different environment then what I was used to and is definitely an area that requires more patience. Straited Fieldwrens are common here. I probably saw several but they were too quick. I could hear birds everywhere but they were well hidden.

Another black shouldered kite. It was at this point that I changed the camera settings to sports mode. It made the rest of the photos from the day look dark and yucky.

Trying to cross the river

It was at this point that I decided I didn’t need the map. I saw a fence and a path leading towards the creek mouth and decided to follow it. My feet liked being on softer crowd. There were foot prints and bike tracks leading to the water so I tried to cross it. I tried to cross the small streams leading to the creek mouth first. I took off my shoes and socks and saw this little guy.

THEN I SAW A RED CAPPED PLOVER!

And then I realized there was no way to cross, so tried to cross at the actual creek mouth. It looked deep so I hiked up my dress. I put on foot in the water. The sand enveloped my foot and I fell on my butt, getting saturated up to my waist. The camera didn’t get wet, though.

Fuck!

It was funny – I knew I’d be able to see the funny side later. My feet were still sore and I knew I had to backtrack. It was hot and I was incredibly thirsty. I was starting to feel a bit woozy, even though it wasn’t that hot. I don’t have much tolerance for heat.

I ended up chafing because the bike shorts I was wearing took too long to dry. It took ages to get to Jawbone and it didn’t yield anything out of the ordinary. Until I decided to get a closer look at a ‘rabbit.’

Jawbone

I was walking towards the bird hides when I saw a black shape in bushes on the side of the footpath. I thought “Awesome. Another rabbit to photograph.” I hate rabbits but my nephew enjoys seeing them, so I photograph them where possible.

I leaned closer to get a better look. I swore. It was a quail! It was just as started as I was and ran even deeper into the bush. I didn’t have the chance to take a photograph, so I wasn’t able to identify it.

I asked on a Facebook group I’m a part of and they said that brown quails are very common in the area – it’s a good hotspot for them. But you can’t 100% say it is as you also get painted button quails and stubble quails in the area. I’m loving the various Facebook groups I’m involved in. The people are so helpful, despite my obvious newbie-ness. I’m learning so much more then I was by birding by myself and hoping that google had the answers. Google very rarely does; people don’t seem to share that much birding information via blogs, at least stuff that is good for newbies.

I have a thing for white fronted chats.

And spoonbills in breeding plumage. Wish I could have gotten better shots. I want to go to Serendip with Glenn before his break finishes.

Obligatory cormorant shot, because Glenn loves it.

I love blue billed bucks. I’ve seen them before at Jawbone but suspect it was a female. I was shocked at how bright the bill was! It was such an honour to see that close. I really love ducks.

This part of the twitch was a real struggle. I was exhausted, in pain. I found a tap along the path and refilled my water bottle. I sat in the bird hide for about 20 minutes and just drank water, trying to cool down. I did feel better afterwards and didn’t get a migraine from the trip – nor vomit. When you have anxiety and migraines you learn to expect the worse 😛 I think the naprogesic helped. I’ve learned that I need to:

pack more water
Find a better hat, as this one doesn’t cover me up properly
Wear sunscreen.
wear my hiking shoes. Regardless of whether they are dying!

I’m also unfit, I can’t walk 15+ km in a day like I used to. I only walked 6-7 yesterday. I’ve been able to do that before but it’s along the river here and has more shade, and isn’t as hard on my feet. I felt pretty rotten physically today.

I’m also starting to think that Jawbone isn’t really worth the visit any more – I should explore the other areas, now that I know how to get there. Tomorrow we are going to Werribee Zoo. Primarily for Glenn to practice wildlife photography but I’m hoping we’ll see some birds. Has over 130 regular birds sighted there!

I’m loving birding and life at the moment. Sometimes it all falls into place.

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.

Birdwatching at Jawbone Flora and Fauna Reserve

October 16, 2013 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Yesterday was the first time Glenn and I had gone on a Melbourne adventure in yonks. I hadn’t been there independently since June, other then trips to and from the airport last month. I’d been wanting to go birdwatching there but was utterly confused as to where I should start.

I saw Jawbone Flora and Fauna Reserve appear a number of times on Eremaea. In fact, someone else was there yesterday too! I looked it up and it was pretty easy to access, plus was a different environment to the generic wetlands I go to. It had several species I wanted to see, such as the blue billed duck, and was close to an area that Glenn would like to photograph.

Life would be so much easier if driving didn’t scare me so much!

We started at Williamstown and immediately walked to the information centre and around Gem Pier. I really recommend this – the info centre had brochures on all the parks and birdwatching destinations. The lady there recommended that I just walk around the beach to Jawbone.

We spent about 40 minutes around Williamstown photographing things. I’ll be writing about that later – we could easy have spent an afternoon there.

Jawbone was about a 30-40 minute walk away. There were several times I wondered ‘is this it?’ If it’s just a beach – you aren’t there yet. You may see some cool birds offshore but Jawbone is an actual wetland-ish environment.

Getting there

About 10 minutes out of Williamstown I saw some birds on rocks sticking out of the ocean. A lot of cormorants and – tada! Crested Terns!

There was also a couple of pacific gulls, which I got really excited about. I initially thought they were shearwaters. I never thought I could get interested in offshore birds and didn’t know if I’d want to do pelagics but now, I know otherwise. Which is dangerous *evil grin*

There was also lava blister, which had an informative sign near it. This entire walk was actually part of the Hobson Bay trail (something I want to finish walking) and it was quite educational. Lots of signs and information about the history of the area.

I saw these white fronted chats on some grass. Don’t know anything about them but they are another lifer!

There were a number of pelicans and swans along the beach and at Jawbone itself. I got some awesome photos of this guy eating a fish!

Jawbone

Then, finally, I was there! Initially I was disappointed. I found a small wetland area with bridges that seemed very suburban and reminded me of Balyang. There were no birds there other then swamp hens.

Was this it? I walked all this way to see birds I see at home all the time? I consulted the map, and walked further on.

A bird hide!

There is a lake that hugs the coastline. There is a lot of birdlife here. Spoonbills, cormorants, swans, pelicans. It would be very easy to spend a long time here. The western suburbs have a lot of great bird-watching areas.

The hide wasn’t very good for photography. It was hard to get a good look at anything. The birds were fine when I walked around the area itself, though.

There was several stilts around, which I was very excited to see. Later, I looked at the photos again and noticed a dotterel! Finally, some birds I had been wanting to see!

I got this awesome photo of a black swan landing on the water. It looks like it is skiing. It’s a really great area for photography.

I was at the end, on the side near Altona. I saw a bill that looked, well, blue.

I had never seen one in the wild before so I couldn’t be sure. I was on a bridge at the time and there was a dad and his kids riding past me. I know I said ‘oh my god!’ and couldn’t wait to get home to double check.

As you’ve no doubt noticed, we’ve mucked up the camera settings AGAIN and all the photos had a blueish tinge. How could I tell if the bill was actually blue and not something the camera had created?

Look at the tail. I didn’t notice until I checked te book afterwards but that is the real giveaway. The musk duck has a similar tail.

It’s hard to explain how relieved I am to finally see the bird. It eluded me at Lake Lorne, although the freckled duck is apparantly rarer. I certainly didn’t expect to see it. I was content to see a couple of new sea species. It was such a relief though.

I don’t feel so frustrated now. I’ve knocked two ducks off the list. I’m obsessed with ducks and waterbirds at the moment. I want to see as many as possible!

I’m also fond of my current method of learning. I don’t read extensively on the birds I want to see. I choose an area and research the best places to view the birds and just learn on the go. It’s a lot more satisfying to figure this stuff out organically. I know I want to join the birdwatching community and start learning the technical stuff but I don’t think I’m ready for that just yet. I’ve always known my best methods of learning and I think doing it myself makes me happier.

I ended up catching a bus from Kororoit Creek to Williamstown station. The bus is actually really close to the end but is infrequent. I recommend researching public transport as this walk was really difficult for me. I didn’t pack water and needed to be back in Geelong at a certain time.

I definitely plan to return to the area and explore more of the reserves in the region. Specifically Cherry Lake, Altona Coastal Park, Newport Lakes Park and Cheetham Wetlands. This would all be so much easier with a car.

I think I will explore the rest of the sections via the Hobson Bay Trail. Split it into 2-3 more trips and devote time to properly exploring the area. This will allow me to go on detours and properly birdwatch.