Little Para Linear Park

In between showers on Sunday I visited another local wetland at White's Road. It is part of the Little Para Linear Park, which follows the course of the Little Para River. Whites Road Wetland sits between the evaporation Ponds and the production area of the local saltfields and is in a fertile area used for agriculture and also horse breeding and training (due to it's close proximity to Globe Derby Trotting Track). As I started birding, I could have been fooled into thinking I was back in England!! My first birds of the day where all immigrants like me!! Greenfinch, Goldfinch and House Sparrow, along with calling Starlings and Blackbirds. These were all seen around one of the access gates to the Saltworks, so the setting is not particularly aesthetic. There were some locals here as well, with Singing Honeyeater enjoying the sunshine, and Welcome Swallows hawking for insects and taking a breather on the fence. Then I moved on to the wetlands where I walked along a path that is the closest we get to an english country lane. With all the rain, there is plenty of standing water so the lake wasn't as packed with birds as it usually is. The ground is covered with an invasive weed (Soursob) at the moment, and they are just beginning to flower. The bees were busy collecting pollen and you can see the pollen on the back legs of this one. This noisy Red Wattlebird caught my attention proudly showing its yellow belly, and when I got back to the car, I was very soundly told off by Willie Wagtail for parking too close to a favoured perch!! Whilst I was walking I kept hearing the lovely flutey song of a Grey Shrike-thrush, and I thought I had spotted him in an old Casuarina, but it was a Spotted Dove (another immigrant - but from Asia this time). Finally I caught up with him, as I whistled a poor imitation of his song, and he popped up to see who was answering him.