Spotted Crake, Take 2!!

I headed back to Laratinga Wetlands early this morning to have a proper look for the Spotless Crake that had been seen recently.

I got there at dawn, and it was cold and foggy. As I got to the right spot, there was a small movement at the bottom of the reeds, I checked my camera and the shutter speed was only 1/5th of a second. Not good!!  I waited, and out popped a Spotted Crake.  So I cranked up the ISO to 3200, and took a couple of pics.

After about 45 minutes, another movement.  Little Grassbird this time. No photos as he stayed just inside the edge of the reeds.  Then right behind him was another movement.  This time it was the Spotless Crake, and I managed a few photos as he crossed from one side to the other, albeit a bit grainy due to the high ISO.

This is an odd time of year in Australia.  Some birds are in eclipse plumage, like this pair of Chestnut Teal. Others are in breeding plumage like this Royal Spoonbill

Once the sun burnt off some of the fog, birds started sunning themselves to warm up.  A group of Tree Martins used a clump of sedge, whilst Galahs and Little Correlas used a gum tree.

There were quite a few waterbirds around, including Common Coot, Pacific Black Duck, Pink-eared Duck and Australian Shoveler.

Overhead were good numbers of Dusky Woodswallows, and there were Superb Fairywrens everywhere mostly also in eclipse plumage. In this plumage, females can be told from males by their red lores and eyering.