Monday, January 29, 2018

A warm day in Tolderol

On Sunday I headed down to Tolderol, a reserve on the northern edge of Lake Alexandrina. This summer, Tolderol has been packed full of migrant waders.

The temperature was forecast to hit 44˚C (111˚F) so the plan was for a quick visit.  Well, things didn't quite turn out that way as bumped into a few fellow birders there.

Just inside the gate was a Black-shouldered Kite, but all I managed was a quick shot as he flew by

On the pools were waders galore, local residents like Red-capped Plovers and Red-kneed Dotterel.



Summer migrants were here too, with plenty of Curlew Sandpipers, Red-necked Stints and Sharp-tailed Sandpipers.



The heat must have affected the White-fronted Chats. Normally very flighty, a number of them sat still for photos.

But the birds we were really after were two rare vagrants to South Australia. Pectoral Sandpiper and Oriental Pratincole. Both had been seen here in the past few weeks. We eventually saw both, but from a distance.  I only got very distant and very poor shots of the Pectoral Sandpiper, but better photos of the two Oriental Pratincoles, as well as a poor flight shot later in the day.