A little local birding

For the first timer in a few months, I managed to get out for a few hours birding earlier this week.  I visited the local wetlands to see if I could catch up with some summer visitors.

First stop was Wicker Road at Port Adelaide.  Not many waterbirds, but in the trees along the road were White-plumed Honeyeater, Red Wattlebird and Singing Honeyeater.

 

 

Along the road was a Kestrel, and a Black-shouldered Kite.  I managed one shot of the Kite as he flew off, but a few minutes later he returned with some unidentified prey in his talons.

At Greenfields, I noticed this Pelican - I'm not sure that he was going to obey the sign though. Nearby were Royal Spoonbills, Masked Lapwing, White-faced Heron and Australian white Ibis.

I decided to head North towards Port Gawler, and clicked Magpielark and Australian Hobby along the way.  White-headed Stilt and Grey Butcherbird were also seen before I caught up with a small party of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and a single Common Greenshank.

South Australia's Riverland

This weekend I had a chance to get out for a whole day, so I decided to head east, to the Riverland, and visit a couple of parks I had not been to before. First stop was Moorook Game Reserve, part of the River Murray flood plain. Almost immediately I spotted some Tree Martins, very busy around some holes in a dead gum tree branch. They kept nervously looking up, and above was a Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike. There was not much else going on, so I continued on to Murray River National Park. Many of the tracks in the park were closed due to flood damage, but on one I heard lots of birds calling, so I went to investigate. I found a group of about twelve Brown Treecreepers. After waiting a while they came closer allowing some good shots. There were lots of parrots in the park, Yellow Rosellas were everywhere. There were also Red-rumped Parrots, and closely related, Mulga Parrots. The immature/female types can be difficult to tell, but I'm pretty sure the 2nd pic is a Red-rumped due to the white undertail coverts. On the way back, I spotted a Pacific Heron, but it flew before I could get too close, so I only managed to grab a shaky flight shot. Much more helpful was this Hobby, perched on a power line.

Raptors

As the sky cleared this morning after a week of heavy rain, I noticed the resident pair of Peregrines toing and froing around the office block next my office window. Last year they successfully fledged a chick, and hopefully they'll do the same this year. It got me thinking about what a great country Australia is for raptors. We are blessed with the second largest eagle in the world, Wedge-tailed Eagle, and a whole host of kites, falcons, hawks and eagles. Here are few that I have managed to capture over the past couple of years. After being in Australia for 7 months I moved from Sydney to Adelaide, and as I drove through the Hay Plain, a wonderful stretch of flat, open scrub with saltbush and bluebush, I happened across this "Wedgie" - my first good photo opportunity with one: More recently, I found this one on a recently roadkilled joey, and he was so full that he could hardly fly!! Notice his bulging crop in the second photo. Another lovely eagle is the White-bellied Sea-eagle. this is a juvenile bird taken over Karatha in the Pilbara in Western Australia on a long distance twitch for Red-legged Crake - (but that is a whole different story). Black Kite is partially migratory in South Australia in that we get a lot more in the summer, with only a few overwintering. Sometime they can be in flocks of twenty or thirty, but I have never managed any decent photos. These were taken of a small group at Montecollina Bore in the Strzlecki Desert in South Australia. One of them appeared to be eating on the wing. I hadn't heard of that before. Finally, some falcons. Brown Falcon is very common, and about the same size as Peregrine though built more like an Accipiter. This one was taken at Farina, on the same trip as the kite photos. Australian Hobby is much more scarce, and I'm lucky if I get to see more than one or two each year. Like Brown Falcon, Australian Kestrel is also pretty common. This one settled beside me at Magic Point, Maroubra which is only a few Km from Sydney city centre. He was totally unconcerned that I was only about 5m (16ft) away and sat for about 20 minutes before opening his wings and drifting off. What a gorgeous bird!