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.

Short walk at Laratinga Wetlands

As we were in Mount Barker today, we decided to have pop into Laratinga Wetlands for a short walk.  The water was high here too, but there were still plenty of birds around.

Purple Swamphens were everywhere, and the sun caught this Dusky Moorhen turning it purple too,......something I haven't seen before.

There were a few Australian Shovelers here and many White-faced Herons.

I was hoping to luck into a Spotless Crake that has been seen here, but it wasn't to be.  Only the spotted version was playing ball today.

On the way back I noticed a couple of Common Bronzewings scratching in the leaf litter, a lone Black-fronted Plover, and a co-operative Little Grassbird.

Kaurna WETlands!!

In the last two weeks we have had two major rainfall events in Adelaide, totalling over 90mm (3.5 inches).  This has resulted in the wetlands going from almost dry, (only one small pool with any water) to overflowing.  On this morning's walk with Kobe, I took my "point and shoot" to try and take a few photos to share.

The first photo is where the only water in the wetlands was up to two weeks ago, followed by some general views.  It was a bit grey to start with, but the sun soon broke through to give a lovely winter's day

Many of the footbridges are partially under water

The main collecting pond is flooding over the weir, and on the opposite side  of the wetlands, the water is flowing out of the overflow.

The main area of open water is really looking good in the winter sunshine, and "the heron tree" lived up to it's nickname.

There are still plenty of birds around, but my little camera struggled to capture many.  I did manage to zoom in on the White-faced Heron, but the Egrets (Great and Little), and Chestnut Teal were a little out of range.

Skywatch Friday

 

Autumn sunrise, Coorong National Park, South Australia

Coorong National Park

Yesterday I spent the day in Coorong National Park looking for the highly endangered Orange-bellied Parrot.   You can read more about this rare bird here. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to find one, but I will try again next winter.

The Coorong is a special place of salt lagoons, sand dunes and mallee, all great habitat for birds and other wildlife.

I saw a wide variety of birds, including Straw-necked Ibis, the ever present Australian Pelican, Purple Swamphen and some distant Red-necked Avocets.

 

 

Some birds gave the quickest glimpse, like this Grey Shrike-thrush. This Yellow-rumped Thornbill almost hopped around my feet.  Two Rufous Night-herons spooked from their roost and circled above me for a while.

In the roadside fields and paddocks were Galahs, Cattle Egrets and Cape Barren Geese.