Local Birdwatching

This morning I took a short drive around the local wetlands. There is so much standing water around that the birds are spread far and wide. This Little Pied Cormorant was happy to pose, whilst the Pacific Black Duck was making sure it's feathers were in top condition. This male Maned Duck was keeping company with the Pacific Blacks.

Everywhere was bright with the gaudy yellow of Soursob, and a variety of Eucalypts were in blossom.

Walking around "my" wetlands at Kaurna Park I heard the double tone of a Spotted Pardalote. My imitation paid dividends, and soon two were hopping around the tree in front of me. By far the most common bird on the walk was Red Wattlebird, with good numbers of adults (with wattles) and juveniles (without) present.

I was almost home before I spotted Crested Pigeon, and finally one of the many feral European Rabbits that reside in the park.

Skywatch Friday

Sacred Kingfisher, waiting for supper.

Local birds

This morning I took a short drive around my local area. First stop was a local ornamental lake. Nothing much there apart from the usual "mixed up Mallards" and Muscovy Ducks. I turned back towards the car, and spooked a Great Egret, before trying to stalk a White-faced Heron. Next lake held an Australian Pelican, a pair of Maned Duck and some Purple Swamphen. En-route to the agricultural area, I spotted a couple of Masked Lapwings by the side of the road. These birds are normally very timid, and fly off at the earliest opportunity. I stopped a short distance along the road, and they continued approaching. For the first time I saw the wing spurs which gave them their original name of Spur-winged Plover. The agricultural land was very quiet, but I spotted a female fairywren, so pulled over and was rewarded with this stunning male White-winged Fairywren. Last bird of the morning was a Wedge-tailed Eagle fighting against the wind.

Skywatch Friday

A cold front approaching

Franklin Harbour

This weekend is a long weekend in Australia, so we went up to Whyalla to spend it with family. On the Sunday I went out for the day to explore the area around Franklin Harbour and Cowell in the North-East Eyre Peninsular. Not far out of Whyalla, I spotted a bird on a Km post by the side of the road. As soon as I stopped, it hopped onto the bonnet (hood) of my car and tried to eat the dead insects. It was a juvenile Grey Butcherbird. Next stop was at a small quarry, where I had noticed a few birds flying down to a small pool. I couldn't get close enough for any shots, but in the bushes were a White-eared Honeyeater and Singing Honeyeater. Further down the road, there was a large black lump in the middle of the road. I slowed down and saw it was a dead bird. It think it is a Southern Giant Petrel, which would have been "beach-wrecked" that night as it was very fresh. We are currently enjoying a mouse plague in South Australia, so there are plenty of raptors around. Most common were Australian Kestrel and Australian Black-shouldered Kite. Whilst watching the kestrel and kites I heard a few twitterings behind me, and saw a group of White-fronted Chats enjoying a bath in a puddle in the road. Eyre Peninsular is mainly an agricultural area, and there are many sheep farms. This is a typical Australian breed, the Merino, bred mainly for its wool. When I eventually got to Franklin Harbour, it was very quiet with just a few Pied Cormorants feeding in the channel. Last birds before heading home were a pair of Sacred Kingfishers.

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.