Winter - Kaurna Wetlands Park

We've had some reasonable rain this autumn, so I decided to have a quick walk around "my" wetlands to see how they were progressing. Most of the channels had some water in them, but the wetland area is still dry and looking very lush and green. The eastern stormwater pond was almost full, and had a Little Pied Cormorant, a White-faced Heron and a couple of Pacific Black Duck's in attendance. It wasn't until I got to the northern path that I began to see some flowering Eucalypts. There seemed to be three different types in bloom with red, yellow and apricot coloured flowers respectively. The Red Wattlebirds seemed to prefer the red flowers. The White-plumed Honeyeaters spent most time in the yellow flowering trees. And, as usual, the New-holland Honeyeaters were absolutely everywhere!!

River Torrens Linear Park

Yesterday I walked part of the River Torrens Linear Park. This park stretches from Gulf St. Vincent right through the City of Adelaide to the hills, and apart from a couple of short stretches is continuous. It has a footpath and cycleway running its complete length. There is a weir close to the sea designed to maintain the water level in the river. In the summer the river can dry out in places. There is also a boom to stop rubbish and debris flowing into the Gulf which the birds find convenient to rest on. The sea end is being redeveloped and now has a stretch of the coastal path and cycleway and some new pelican sculptures. There were also lots of real pelicans there as well. There were plenty of flowering eucalypts along the walk, some with very interesting bark. One species of eucalypt with white flowers was very popular with the birds and had lots of Rainbow and Musk Lorikeets and also Little Wattlebirds feeding on the nectar. Amongst the many birds along the river bank were Maned Ducks, Masked Lapwings and Spotted Doves. Finally, back at the beach there were a group of Silver Gulls squabbling over a baby octopus.

Spring has Sprung.

I am very busy in the house at the moment, but this morning was such a nice spring day that I decided to take a "quick" walk around Kaurna Wetlands Park. Well, as we birdwatchers and photographers know, rarely is a quick walk quick. This 2Km (1.2 mile) walk ended up taking over 2 1/2 hours! There is a lot of water in the park at the moment, and suprisingly still not many waterbirds. I guess it's because there is a lot of water everywhere, so thay have a great choice. There were lots of passerines though, with New Holland Honeyeaters the most common by far. I heard them calling, and saw them chasing each other throughout the walk. This one did stop and pose for me though. Next most numerous was the Red Wattlebird, one of the largest Honeyeaters. This one was taken right at the end of the walk, opposite my house on Wattlebird Drive!! Many of the euclypts are in flower at the moment, so the honeyeaters and lorikeets have an abundant source of food. Eucalypt flowers come in a great variety of shapes and colours. Here are a selection from this morning's walk. I added a new bird to my park list this morning - Rufous Songlark. This bird has a lovely almost metalic sounding song, and a whipcrack like call so it's very easy to identify by sound. Though easy to hear, I always have trouble seeing them - I cannot get a direction on their song. After about ten minutes I finally tracked him down but only managed this poor record shot. At the top end of the park is a small reedbed, and whilst listening to Australian Reed Warblers singing I couldn't help but notice a very unhappy pair of Willie Wagtails. No wonder!! I was only a few yards from their nest, a neat cup stuck on to a branch hanging out over the water. So as not to disturb them, I moved to the other side of the reedbed and settled down to wait for a glimpse of the Reed Warbler. Eventually patience paid off, though they didn't come particularly close. Finally, another unidentified flower - this one is very common along roadsides and in fields. It reminds me of Mallow in the UK. Tomorrow is a public holiday in South Australia so I shall be out birding again, and hopefully get some more shots to post.