For the first time since I started blogging I have missed a month - in fact two! I have been struggling with my health for about three months now and so don't get out happy snapping so much.
This is a collection of shots from the few trips I have made. They are mostly from short walks with Kobe around "our" wetlands at Kaurna Park.
Early in spring the wetlands were full, and on calm clear days the reflections were wonderful.
By far the most common breeding bird this year is Red Wattlebird. The chicks look so funny with no tail, but they soon grow one!
This is a Little Raven - it looks like a young bird to me, but I am not 100% sure.
This spring I added a new bird to the park list - Barbary (or African Collared) Dove. There is a growing population of escaped aviary birds in Adelaide, but up till now the closest I had seen them was at Greenfields, about 10 kilometres (6 miles) away. I first noticed it on call, obviously a dove, but very different from Spotted Dove.
Waterbirds were loving it - lots of ducks around, especially Pacific Blacks. As the water level dropped, more wading birds turned up. As usual, Australian Ibis was first, closely followed by Great Egret, Royal Spoonbill and White-faced Heron.
On a quick visit to Belair National Park, the only thing of note was a very confiding Koala, sitting low in a gum tree by Playford Lake.
In spring, I always take a trip or two out to look at the native orchids, so today we headed up to Belair National Park to do just that. We saw lots of Bulldogs, the most common orchid in the park
There weren't many Green-hooded Orchids this year, and we only saw a couple of Nodding Greenhoods.
There were some Common Pink Sun-orchids, and lots of Purple Cockatoos
It is always a thrill to see Spider Orchids, and along with the usual King Spider Orchid we also saw some Narrow-lipped Spider Orchids.
The creeks were still running, and there were lots of Arum Lilies in the damper areas
At the last spot we visited, we saw Cowslip Orchid, and some Rabbit-ears,
Of course, Belair is the Koala capital!! and today was no different. We saw at least five different individuals including this very co-operative one low down in a gum tree.
I have managed a couple of birding days in the last couple of weeks, but didn't get enough photos for a blog post. So here is an amalgamation of them.
A few weeks back, I took another trip to Laratinga Wetlands at Mount Barker to look for Spotless Crake that has been seen here. No luck with the crake, but there were lots of the usual suspects there.
Black-fronted Plover, Straw-necked Ibis, and Grey Teal were easy to spot.
There were three Yellow-billed Spoonbills here, with one aggressive one chasing the others off it's log.
The trees were full of Little Corellas, and at one point they all flew down to the water to drink, and they didn't flinch as this huge Pelican flew low over the water.
Another trip was to Morialta Conservation Park. This may steal first spot from Belair as my favourite spot for Koalas. We saw at least six on the short walk, but this one was particularly photogenic.
There were many Eucalyptus trees in blossom, so there were plenty of Lorikeets around. This is a Musk Lorikeet, A little further along, this Laughing Kookaburra was feeding on a side track.
Wherever I looked there were lots of Monarch butterflies around, but they didn't settle very much. This one was a fair way away so is heavily cropped. Also around were plenty of blackberries, reminding us that autumn is well and truly just around the corner.
Finally, a quick stop for lunch at Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens yielded this Eastern Spinebill.
This morning I was on a working bee at Cleland Wildlife Park. Around 100 volunteers turned up to weed and mulch various areas in the park. The weather forecast was not good, and proved to be accurate as showers turned to drizzle, then to rain. My group was working on the edge of the lake, and as we walked round to start we saw a pair of Chestnut Teal, and Rajah Shelduck.
We were also close to the Koala display, and this chap looked most disgruntled. He was cold, wet, AND we were disturbing him!
I noticed a lovely Grevillea by the path and took a couple of shots. The first showing the flower almost open, and the second fully open.
After we finished working, we were treated to a sausage sizzle and a talk by the education officer. He showed us a Squirrel Glider, (a tiny possum), a couple of sleepy reptiles and a lovely Black-breasted Buzzard.
We were then free to wander around the park, so I headed off on my usual route through the open areas and the aviaries. One of the first wild birds I noticed was a Common Bronzewing dipping into the Emu food, whilst nearby were some New-holland Honeyeaters.
A rustle in the bushes gave away this Bettong, a rat-like marsupial.
The park is in great shape with flowers everywhere. I don't know what these are, but the contrasting colours caught my attention.
In the woodland aviary, this Dusky Woodswallow was the only co-operative bird. There are a number of Tree Ferns the aviary, and this one was just throwing out a new stem. Outside is a small feeding station where you regularly get to see Red-browed Finches.
Part 2 to follow......
Today, Maryann and I headed up into the Adelaide Hills to Belair National Park, to look for native orchids. Last year I missed them, so I put a reminder on my phone!! I had been given a tip for one spot that was supposed to be reasonable, and we saw our first orchid within a few metres of the road. It was a Donkey Orchid. These can be quite variable in colour, and we saw ones ranging from quite dark brown through to almost yellow.
Nearby were some Cowslip Orchids, and all around there were Sundews.
As I looked, I also picked out a Sun Orchid, and another that I have not yet identified.
All around was this wonderful salmon pink Cape Tulip, and this white lily like flower that I now know are introduced weeds. A shame, because they are both lovely.
We saw a few more unidentified flowers - and I decided that I must get a flower book to add to my library!!
Taking a break from flowers, we walked up "koala street" and saw two within the first 100 metres. I also spotted this lovely overgrown tree stump.
