Autumn Colours

Maryann and I always try to get up into the hills for the autumn colours. So we headed to Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens and took a quick walk before Lunch. As usual the colours were superb. Lovely views over the lake, and a couple of closeups The Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were out in force making the most of the various nuts to be found. First they landed with raucous call, then carefully select the right nut before flying up into the tree, while this young Australian Magpie watched on in amusement.

Birds SA walk at Hardy Scrub

Today I went on a morning walk with some other Birds SA members to Hardy Scrub in the Onkaparinga River National Park. The park is in the Adelaide Hills between Adelaide and McLaren Vale. The autumn view over McLaren Vale was lovely, as was this Purple-crowned Lorikeet perched on a wire at a nearby farm. The light was horrible, I had to keep the ISO setting pretty high which means the quality of the images is diminished. Early on in the walk we saw Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo, and nearby Fan-tailed Cuckoo. We had been hearing Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos since the start of the walk, and soon 7 flew over followed by more, In the end we probably saw around 100. Other birds seen included Eastern Rosella, Grey Fantail and Eastern Spinebill.

Cleland Wildlife Park - Working Bee

This weekend it was time for another working bee at Cleland Wildlife Park. Around 100volunteers turned up on a beautiful autumn morning. First we all listened carefully to the safety briefing (including this Welcome Swallow perched above the visitor centre), then split into our work groups. On the way to our site, I noticed these interesting fungi This time, some groups were planting trees, others were weeding and pruning the wombat enclosure or the swamp aviary..... but for everyone there was mulch!! tonnes of it to be shovelled, barrowed and raked. Some piles of mulch even had supervisors!! (Black Swan and Superb Fairywren) This Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat watched carefully, but the Tawny Frogmouth and the Kangaroos hardly noticed what was happening. The Red-browed Finches didn't mind all the activity close to their feeder, and this one even sat still in the sun for me. If you are ever in the Adelaide area, Cleland Wildlife Park shouldn't be missed, it's a great day out for all of the family.