Autumn sunrise, Coorong National Park, South Australia
Showing posts with label Coorong National Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coorong National Park. Show all posts
Friday, May 24, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
Coorong National Park
Yesterday I spent the day in Coorong National Park looking for the highly endangered Orange-bellied Parrot. You can read more about this rare bird here. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to find one, but I will try again next winter.
The Coorong is a special place of salt lagoons, sand dunes and mallee, all great habitat for birds and other wildlife.
I saw a wide variety of birds, including Straw-necked Ibis, the ever present Australian Pelican, Purple Swamphen and some distant Red-necked Avocets.
Some birds gave the quickest glimpse, like this Grey Shrike-thrush. This Yellow-rumped Thornbill almost hopped around my feet. Two Rufous Night-herons spooked from their roost and circled above me for a while.
In the roadside fields and paddocks were Galahs, Cattle Egrets and Cape Barren Geese.
The Coorong is a special place of salt lagoons, sand dunes and mallee, all great habitat for birds and other wildlife.
I saw a wide variety of birds, including Straw-necked Ibis, the ever present Australian Pelican, Purple Swamphen and some distant Red-necked Avocets.
Some birds gave the quickest glimpse, like this Grey Shrike-thrush. This Yellow-rumped Thornbill almost hopped around my feet. Two Rufous Night-herons spooked from their roost and circled above me for a while.
In the roadside fields and paddocks were Galahs, Cattle Egrets and Cape Barren Geese.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Whales and Egrets
Today is Labour Day in South Australia, so we decided to head south to Bashams Beach to see the Southern Right Whales before they head off to the Antarctic for the summer. We saw four whales, but they were all a long way off, and just loafing on the surface, no fin or tail slapping. While watching the whales, this Silver Gull with no feet flew past. (It would have been a good shot had I not managed to crop a wing tip!!)
We moved round the coast to Goolwa for lunch, watching the boats in the newly filled river channel.
Following the river towards to sea and the Coorong National Park, there were not many birds as the water was so deep, but we did spot a Little Black Cormorant, and this Great Egret chasing, and missing a small fish.
We moved round the coast to Goolwa for lunch, watching the boats in the newly filled river channel.
Following the river towards to sea and the Coorong National Park, there were not many birds as the water was so deep, but we did spot a Little Black Cormorant, and this Great Egret chasing, and missing a small fish.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Coorong and the Lower Lakes
Yesterday, I took a short trip to the northern end of the Coorong National Park, and the Lower Lakes. There were two reasons for my trip. Firstly, three rare and endangered Orange-bellied Parrots had been seen there on the last OBP survey a couple of weeks ago, and secondly, the bund wall between Lakes Alexandrina and Albert is going to be breached this week, as it is in danger of being washed away by flood water.
On the way, there was a very confiding Nankeen Kestrel. They usually fly away if you stop anywhere close, but this one let me reposition the car three times before I overstepped the mark!!
I started at Long Point where there were a couple of Pied Oystercatchers just off shore from the campsite. There were lots of Welcome Swallows flying around, and my many attempts at flight shots were all dismal, so I compensated with some nice perched ones. Around the car park there were a few Singing Honeyeaters, busy competing for the best song perch. This one decided a bush close to my car was a good spot.......I agree.
This area is known as the Limestone Coast, and a little further on I came across an area of limestone interspersed with plants. I kept seeing movement, but could only see plants, until I spotted this Australian Pipit playing hide and seek. Amongst the plants were a lot of blue flowers that look like Lupins to me. The limestone made a cliff against the lagoon, and there were a number of Galahs resting there. Then a commotion in the bushes behind me gave away the location of a party of White-browed Babblers. A Grey Shrike-thrush was singing away, so I replied with a whistle, and he soon came to investigate.
Further on again, and the track headed over a ridge and showed the full beauty of the Coorong, a series of lagoons separated from the sea by sand dunes.
There had been no sign of any Orange-bellied Parrots, or of any other Neophema parrots, and I was almost at the end of the park. I noticed a sheltered area of saltmarsh just off the track and started scanning. Nothing at first, but as I got my eye in I spotted a small parrot, then another. I was straining to identify them. Was it an Orange-bellied? No, eventually I decided they were Elegant Parrots, much more common cousins. In the end I counted about 8 parrots foraging in the Samphire and couldn't turn any of them into Orange-bellied.
Once out of the National Park, I headed to the ferry at Narrung, and the bund wall. This was put in to stop water draining from Lake Alexandrina into Lake Albert, but with the increased flows down the River Murray, Lake Alexandrina is almost full, and the water level is threatening to flow over the bund. There was a White-faced Heron feeding along the bund, and on a small sand bar behind it, a group of Pelicans with a Great Egret and Little Black Cormorant. I was hearing a lot of Reed Warblers along the edge of the lake, and this one popped into view allowing me to grab a couple of shots.
I started at Long Point where there were a couple of Pied Oystercatchers just off shore from the campsite. There were lots of Welcome Swallows flying around, and my many attempts at flight shots were all dismal, so I compensated with some nice perched ones. Around the car park there were a few Singing Honeyeaters, busy competing for the best song perch. This one decided a bush close to my car was a good spot.......I agree.
This area is known as the Limestone Coast, and a little further on I came across an area of limestone interspersed with plants. I kept seeing movement, but could only see plants, until I spotted this Australian Pipit playing hide and seek. Amongst the plants were a lot of blue flowers that look like Lupins to me. The limestone made a cliff against the lagoon, and there were a number of Galahs resting there. Then a commotion in the bushes behind me gave away the location of a party of White-browed Babblers. A Grey Shrike-thrush was singing away, so I replied with a whistle, and he soon came to investigate.
Further on again, and the track headed over a ridge and showed the full beauty of the Coorong, a series of lagoons separated from the sea by sand dunes.
There had been no sign of any Orange-bellied Parrots, or of any other Neophema parrots, and I was almost at the end of the park. I noticed a sheltered area of saltmarsh just off the track and started scanning. Nothing at first, but as I got my eye in I spotted a small parrot, then another. I was straining to identify them. Was it an Orange-bellied? No, eventually I decided they were Elegant Parrots, much more common cousins. In the end I counted about 8 parrots foraging in the Samphire and couldn't turn any of them into Orange-bellied.
Once out of the National Park, I headed to the ferry at Narrung, and the bund wall. This was put in to stop water draining from Lake Alexandrina into Lake Albert, but with the increased flows down the River Murray, Lake Alexandrina is almost full, and the water level is threatening to flow over the bund. There was a White-faced Heron feeding along the bund, and on a small sand bar behind it, a group of Pelicans with a Great Egret and Little Black Cormorant. I was hearing a lot of Reed Warblers along the edge of the lake, and this one popped into view allowing me to grab a couple of shots.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Parrot Identification
Today I attended a workshop in Goolwa. On the way I spotted a raptor sitting in a pine tree. It was one of the more common Australian raptors, a Whistling Kite. Outside the church hall where the workshop was held was a large flowering eucalypt. It was full of New Holland Honeyeaters.
The workshop was hosted by the Department for Environment and Heritage, and concerned the critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrot. This parrot is on the verge of extinction with only 50 birds left in the wild (all of which breed at one site in Tasmania)and approximately 200 in captivity. The reintroduction of captive birds at a second site in Tasmania has been suspended as it was not successful. You can read more about the OBP here.
The workshop was held to help people identify OBP from the other three common similar species in the area, Elegant Parrot, Rock Parrot and Blue-winged Parrot in preparation for the first of three winter surveys.
After the workshop, we all went to Hindmarsh Island to look for parrots. OBP has been recorded here in the past, but we were not expecting to see any and were not disappointed. Hindmarsh Island is at the northern end of the Coorong National Park, and the area we visited was an area of saltmarsh and Samphire.
We found at least five Rock Parrots here, and I managed a few shots, but they are highly cropped, so apologies for the quality. There were also a few Singing Honeyeaters here.
A short distance away we also saw some Elegant Parrots. They were too far away to be photographed, so here is one I photographed a couple of years ago.
Finally, on the way home I spotted an Australian Black-shouldered Kite, and as I watched he caught some prey, which the female then took from him. I have not seen this behaviour in Black-shouldered Kites before.
Oh, when I said we didn't see an OBP, I was not quite telling the whole truth, as we did see one..............
The workshop was hosted by the Department for Environment and Heritage, and concerned the critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrot. This parrot is on the verge of extinction with only 50 birds left in the wild (all of which breed at one site in Tasmania)and approximately 200 in captivity. The reintroduction of captive birds at a second site in Tasmania has been suspended as it was not successful. You can read more about the OBP here.
The workshop was held to help people identify OBP from the other three common similar species in the area, Elegant Parrot, Rock Parrot and Blue-winged Parrot in preparation for the first of three winter surveys.
After the workshop, we all went to Hindmarsh Island to look for parrots. OBP has been recorded here in the past, but we were not expecting to see any and were not disappointed. Hindmarsh Island is at the northern end of the Coorong National Park, and the area we visited was an area of saltmarsh and Samphire.
We found at least five Rock Parrots here, and I managed a few shots, but they are highly cropped, so apologies for the quality. There were also a few Singing Honeyeaters here.
A short distance away we also saw some Elegant Parrots. They were too far away to be photographed, so here is one I photographed a couple of years ago.
Finally, on the way home I spotted an Australian Black-shouldered Kite, and as I watched he caught some prey, which the female then took from him. I have not seen this behaviour in Black-shouldered Kites before.
Oh, when I said we didn't see an OBP, I was not quite telling the whole truth, as we did see one..............
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