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Yellow faced honeyeater

Birdwatching at Paradise Picnic Ground, Apollo Bay

October 3, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

One of the first places many people recommended I visit while in Apollo Bay was the Paradise Picnic Ground. It’s hard to find much information about it online, despite there it being on one of the signs in Apollo Bay.

Basically, it is a teeny picnic area about 7km out from Apollo Bay.

On arrival one picnic area is located near the carpark and toilets. We recommend you follow the track across the road which will lead you to a beautiful picnic area aptly named ‘Paradise’. Here there are a couple of picnic tables set beside the creek under an ancient tree fern canopy.

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It is incredibly beautiful and a lovely place to do photography, and is a bit closer then some of the walks a bit further out. There isn’t much of a walk – although some people have created an unofficial path by bush bashing.

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I wasn’t sure how to find birds here so basically just wandered around for an hour, sitting and listening to the sounds. The eastern yellow robin was a frequent visitor.

I actually went there twice. I went there for a 10 minute walk with my parents on the first day, to see if they’d be interested in exploring. Seth was starting to play up so we decided I’d return the next day ‘to visit a friend.’

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If you like eastern yellow robins, I highly recommended it. They were so photogenic. There were a number of grey fantails hanging around so I ignored some of the birds around that size who had similar behaviour. I regret doing it as I nearly missed out on this yellow faced honeyeater!

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The honey eater was flitting around about a meter from the ground and feeding from flowers. I’m pleased with how the photos turned out

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I did see a bronze cuckoo of some description, but there wasn’t enough of it to be able to tell what species it is. I was so surprised when my friends ID’ed it because it was a lot smaller then I would have thought. The tail is completely different.

I wonder how many times I may have seen it in the past and dismissed it because it was the ‘wrong size’. I’m hoping to see both of them over the spring/summer birding season. I’m not sure I will, as I don’t know enough, and there is just so much to learn.

I’m not fussed about not being able to add something to the life list because I did learn something! This is despite falling over there (the ground was wet and slippery) and being pretty sick with a cold.

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Bog standard brown thornbill – even though the above photo didn’t really look like a thornbill to me. I find little brown birds to be so confusing. Bring on ducks. Ducks are easy.

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I also saw a white throated treecreeper there. In the third picture, it looks like it has something in its mouth.

When I saw this I realized that there is a lot of similarity between here and the brisbane ranges. The treecreeper, robin and honeyeater are all ones I’ve seen in both areas. It was interesting because they are completely different types of forest. Probably not so different in terms of the the trees and flowers, but different in the climate.

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This golden whistler was a lot of fun to photograph. Look at the detail and brightness in that photo! And this was in a dark area!

It took a while to get a good look. I was hoping it was a crested shrike tit, even though I don’t think they’d like this type of forest. Even Sethy said the photo was beautiful.

I didn’t have much luck with other types of birds but darn, the area was great for photography. It has been overshadowed by places like Maits Rest and Melba Gully.

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This adventure wasn’t as good as it could have been for birding. It’s partially because of lack of information online but mostly because of my inexperience. I struggle with bird calls, have no idea about behaviour of many species and was walking around there wondering if I even deserved to call myself a birder.

I pulled myself out of the funk pretty quick – it was mostly because I was sick and feeling sorry for myself. And, I told myself to go easier on myself. Birding isn’t my life. It keeps me sane but it also causes pressure. Because I need to ask stupid questions online, because there are social nuances in the birding community and because I’m just not able to do the huge birding days/trips that others can do.

It is so overwhelming going to new environments. It’s something I haven’t done for a while, at least for the primary purpose of birding. That’s one of the reasons I stopped and just took shots of the scenery.

I was impressed with how the lens handled it. I don’t know whether the photos are better then they would have been with the kit lens. There are definitely better then they would have been with the Nikon!

Hope to return one day, at a point where I have more experience 🙂

Filed Under: Apollo Bay Tagged With: brown thornbill, eastern yellow robin, golden whistler, paradise picnic ground, white throated treecreeper, Yellow faced honeyeater

Visiting Ironbark Basin with Vic Birders

June 22, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

It really did feel like we were repeating my birthday again – although that was one of the reasons I wanted to return! At 9.30 we went to Ironbark Basin to see what birds we could find.

I’m fascinated with the diversity in the area. I didn’t see the pardalote and treecreeper I saw on my previous visit. We definitely heard the treecreepers though. This time, I was moreso trying to listen to what the others were saying and pointed my camera accordingly. As a result, I have a lot of photos of honeyeaters!
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Got some really great views of crescent honeyeaters. I’ve seen them multiple times now and think they are cute, and am getting more comfortable ID’ing them.

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I also got some lovely photos of yellow faced honeyeaters. These were my favourite honeyeater of the day, I love their markings. I need to learn more about their personality. Alas, these Vic Birders trips aren’t about hanging around at the same spot for too long and I couldn’t get to know the birds better. I’ll definitely be returning here though to learn more about it!

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White naped honeyeater. Have very little interest in them, both in terms of behaviour and photographically. Maybe someone can change me mind?

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It was lovely to get good views of a couple of eastern spinebills. I’m thinking I may take Sethy here to find them instead of the botanical gardens in Melbourne. A lot of diversity, although we may need a scope/binoculars.

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Adult female golden whistler. I can now ID them, although the ID’s are never confident and I often check with a bird ID group before hand.

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Highly recommend visiting here if you are a nature nerd. It’s worth spending half a day here. Will be fascinating to see how it changes over the various seasons. I may ask on Facebook. It’s become a new favourite haunt.

Filed Under: Surf Coast Tagged With: crescent honeyeater, eastern spinebill, ironbark basin, Yellow faced honeyeater

Toolangi State Forest and Murrundindi Reserve

December 16, 2014 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

I knew nothing about Toolangi. It had a couple of pages dedicated to it in my book about finding birds in Vic, but all I knew was that it had lyrebirds and leeches. As fate would have it, I wouldn’t only glimpse one of those species last Sunday. And, sadly, it wasn’t the lyrebird.

This was my first outing with the Vic Birders group. I was a bit nervous, seeing as I’m new to birding AND struggled socially. I needn’t have worried though. Everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful, and I left feeling calmer and happier then I’ve felt in a long time.

Toolangi State Forest

Like many others, I was up at an ungodly hour to get to Toolangi by 7.30am. Many others were there earlier. It was a struggle to get up that early but it was worth it. It was a fantastic days birding.

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One of the first birds I saw was an eastern spinebill. It is as beautiful as I expected but is also a lot smaller. I’ll have to go to the botanical gardens to get closer photos of it. I dipped on a lot of birds early on as we were in one of the cars towards the back and many birds flew away before I could get there.

When I got there, though, I met someone that I had met previously at Balyang! We had bumped into him at Balyang during the winter and chatted briefly about the Southern Boobook he had seen there. I had visited there a number of times afterwards with on luck – and had sent Glenn a profane text about how I couldn’t find the f***er. A soon as I saw Matt at Toolangi he said “Oh, I’ve met you and your partner before!”

It helped me feel more relaxed and he is a pretty cool guy. He is a snake catcher and told me that yes, snakes can strike fast even on a slow day. I shouldn’t have been so complacent when I previously saw one at Jerringot.
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Also saw a rufous fantail which was fantastic.

Robins

I have a fondness for robins. I can’t explain why. They are more interesting then wrens. I think it’s because they are so dainty.

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The first bird I saw was a pink robin, which was exciting. I’ve only really seen the Eastern Yellows and, once, a scarlet. The colouring was so bright. It was beautiful. Andrew Allen was kind enough to show me the difference between the species using his app. I should probably get a field guide on an app – I’d left my guide in the car as it’s HEAVY. Everyone that day was helpful towards me and answered my newbie questions. I really appreciated how I was treated as an equal despite my huge gaps in knowledge.

Andrew had the same lens that I did which just confirms that the main fault lies with the lens itself – we must have gotten a dud. I also got a leech on me early on in the trip. The words ‘it’s cute’ escaped my mouth before I could stop myself. I assumed they were a lot larger and more painful. Mums attempts to make us terrified of leeches have failed.

Anyway, apparently the pink robin (female) has been seen around Geelong botanical gardens. Methinks I need to visit there without family (Glenn or Seth) so I can bird without interruption or fear that I’m boring them.

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The above two photos are a rose robin. You can tell because the grey is lighter and the markings are different. It was a lifer for many.

In terms of subspecies – there are no other races of rose robin. It looks like there is a Tasmanian subspecies of pink robin that I’ll have to track down. Darn my obsessive brain!

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This is a lifer… I think. My notes say that I have already seen it, but I can’t find any record of it in my images. Weird. Regardless, it was awesome to add another honey eater to my list. I also saw a yellow faced honey eater and got very blurry photos of a crescent honeyeater.

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White throated treecreeper. The only thing that annoyed me about the day is that people would hear bird calls, say what they were, and walk on without looking for them. Most of them had seen those birds and I didn’t want to slow anyone down. There were many birds I so desperately wanted to see – and this was one that I found by accident! I saw movement and was photographing it when someone walked up and said what species it was.

This is less of a complaint, it’s more about how I want to return there so I can bird at my own pace. Being such a newbie really limits things. And, I know that people would have helped out if I spoke up, I just didn’t want to take away from their experience.

Between Toolangi and Murrundindi

These photos were taken along the drive to Murrundindi. It was really funny. We’d drive, stop and listen, then keep on driving. I got photos of these trees because it was really sad to see.

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Murrundindi

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I was a bit knackered when I got to Murrundindi. It was a beautiful place but the day was heating up and I had learned not to exert myself. I didn’t walk as far as the others and missed out the skink, but I still got to see this little guy. Maybe it’s the yellow faced honeyeater? 😉 It’s hard to keep track.

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It was a really fun morning and I really felt like I was around my kind of people. Everyone loved nature. Everyone wanted to learn. None of the bullshit associated with high school and the social media sphere. Passionate people. The kind of person I want to be.

I’ll probably be backing off of birding somewhat for the rest of the year and focus on freelance stuff. Was toying with going to Mud Islands tomorrow but my budget says I’d be better off staying here. I do want birding and bushwalking to be a large part of my life, I just need to figure out how to balance it with managing anxiety and work.

Filed Under: Toolangi Tagged With: murrundindi reserve, Yellow faced honeyeater

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