Victor Harbor and Goolwa

Today I went to Victor Harbor and Goolwa. After seeing some great video of the birds at Nangawooka Flora Reserve, it was high on my list of places to visit.

There was quite a bit of activity there, particularly amongst the parrots, with plenty of squabbling, and some nest hole prospecting going on.  Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Adelaide Rosella, Rainbow Lorikeet and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo were all snapped in quick succession.

The small birds were a bit less cooperative, but I did grab some shots of Brush Wattlebird and House Sparrow.

I then headed top Basham Beach to see if there were any whales there.  On the way, at a small roadside pool I saw White-faced Heron and some White-headed Stilts.  No whales at Basham, but I did catch up with some at the surfing beach at Middleton.

Next stop was Goolwa, but the tide was in so there were no waders to be seen. The usual Purple Swamphens, Dusky Moorhens and Willie Wagtails were around the picnic areas.

On the way out to the boat ramp, there was a family of Black-shouldered Kites in the Pines. and at the ramp were Little Pied Cormorants and a confiding Great Egret.

Heading back, I stopped of at the barrage, and tried my hand with some flight shots.  Firstly with a Caspian Tern and then with the Great Crested Terns.  I am so glad I am not shooting film! These are the best from around 200 frames.

Last shots of the day were of a much more sedate Australian Pelican...

Whales, Winds and Wrens

This weekend I had arranged to take a couple of visitors (Peter and Margaret Swan from Scotland) out and show them some of our wildlife. Earlier in the week someone had mentioned that the whales at Victor Harbour were being very co-operative so I decided to try them. So on Friday morning we headed south and went to Basham Beach a few Km east of Victor. (This shot was taken using my new lens). The forecast was for hot winds from the north, and they weren't wrong. We had winds of 60kph (37mph) gusting up to 90 kph (55 mph). This made whale watching "interesting" and birding virtually impossible!! But the whales were very co-operative, and when we arrived there were two adults and two calves very close into the shore. As we watched we picked up many more whales further out. I estimate at least a dozen, ranging from 30m to 300m from shore. After whale watching we headed east to Goolwa to look for migrant waders (shorebirds) on Hindmarsh Island, but it was far too windy and also a little early in the season so we saw very few. We did see a couple of very smart Caspian Terns though. On the way home we called in at Laratinga Wetlands, but the water levels were too high to spot any crakes. We did see three Australian Shoveller which I hadn't seen here before. And as the wind died down as evening approached, the bird song started, and we saw lots of Superb Fairywrens. This shot of a female was about the best I managed.

Whales at Victor Harbour

This weekend Maryann and I headed down to Victor Harbour, on the Fleurieu Peninsular, south of Adelaide. Encounter Bay is a popular site for watching Southern Right Whales. They spend part of the winter here when the Southern Ocean is too cold for their calves. During the whale watching season, there is an information centre in Victor Harbour where they give you the latest information on sightings.

On Saturday there were a couple of whale sightings off Granite Island, which is linked to Victor by a causeway.

A popular way to get to Granite Island is by horse-drawn tram, which also gets you at eye level with any birds perched on street lighting along the way. This is an adult Pacific Gull. As we approached the island there were some Little Pied Cormorants loafing on the rocks. Offshore, I only saw one whale blow a long way off, but there were good numbers of birds flying by, predominantly Silver Gulls and also a few Australian Gannets, but nothing close enough to photograph. (This Gannet was taken a couple of years ago in New Zealand) The next spot to try for whales was a few Km east towards Goolwa, at Basham Beach. We did see a couple of whales here, but the weather wasn't good and this is the best of a bad bunch of photos.

Back in 2003 I was lucky to spend a fair amount of time in South Africa on business, so I have supplemented this post with some photos of Southern Right Whales I took on a pelagic seabird trip off the Cape of Good Hope.