This trip took place on May 15
I knew I had to take Sethy back to Ocean Grove Nature Reserve after my recent visit with Carolyn. He also LOVED it when we were there for the moth night. He just loves going to the proper bush, not normal parks and reserves close to suburbia. Fortunately this was close to public transport, and Sethy was mature enough to for the longish trip.
One of the first birds we saw were these hybrid lorikeets, which Sethy was so excited to see. Ocean Grove is considered to be an awesome place to find hybrids but personally, I’m more interested in finding the local population of swift parrots.
The above bird is a pink robin, which was a complete surprise. I’d been hoping to find flames but a certain someone didn’t want to walk along the track. I almost dismissed this photo as being a wren but something made me reconsider.
In the ID forum I use, a friend posted this to help me out:
they look much browner overall than the Flames or Rose Robins, with no white edges on the tail and tan coloured wing bars. There also seems to be a slight pink flush on the belly of this bird. Another good ID point, if you get to see it, is the yellow on the “soles” of their claws. Pink Robins visit the OGNR in Autumn/Winter in small numbers. Listen out for the distinct click call they sometimes make – like a stick being snapped. They also have a trilling call.
Normally I try to paraphrase, but this information will be so useful to Sethy and myself in the future. I am so thankful to how helpful people are. It was a lifer for Sethy, although I’m very keen for him to go to Toolangi and see both male pink and rose robins in the wild.
Bog standard red rumps. Beautiful nonetheless.
Seth loves seeing different types of trees. A new goal will be to get him to try and identify them. That may be tricky as it will mean I have to identify them first.
Fungi
The fungi there was magnificent. I’d love to take mum here to explore. Not as good as the otways but still, it was pretty awesome.
Other critters
As usual, a certain 6 year old was great at finding various bugs hiding in the undergrowth. I have no idea what they are, nor how I should go about ID’ing them. Regardless, it’s an opportunity for future learning.
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I think I’ll be trying to visit the nature reserve, or places similar to this, more often with him. We didn’t see any wild wallabies but we did find two sets of bones. Took photos so we could play ‘guess which part of the animal this comes from’. Surprisingly, it’s a good way to learn. Seth is enamoured with Jakes Bones at the moment as well.
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