Look at all those pelicans
Australian Pelicans
A few weeks ago I wrote about a trip I went on via boat through the Coorong south of Adelaide in South Australia. The Coorong is a natural lakes system near the mouth of the River Murray and is acknowledged as one of the major bird habitats in the world.
Just after leaving the river mouth our boat passed the sand bar shown in the photo above. I won’t even attempt to estimate how many Australian Pelicans were sitting there. All I can say is: there must a few fish in the lakes and river system, and this was just one of many large gatherings of this species we saw on the day.
Coorong National Park, South Australia
Plenty of magpies
I must apologise to my regular readers who like to see regular updates on this site, along with seeing some of the bird photos I’ve taken. Life has been a little rugged lately with illness, busyness and having to give a great deal of assistance to my dear wife. She recently broke a bone in her foot as the result of a fall, though it seems to be improving steadily.
One of the results of the broken bone was our doctor insisting on a bone density test, so this necessitated a trip to Adelaide, an hour’s drive from home. On the way along the South-Eastern freeway near Mt Barker, I was amazed to see a very large gathering of Australian Magpies. It is quite common to see up to about a dozen feeding in a loose flock, but this gathering must have numbered between 50 and 60 – I couldn’t count them accurately while driving at highway speed, nor did I have my camera ready.
They were all feeding in the recently mowed grass on the roadside verge, an area of several tennis courts. Such a large congregation of magpies is, in my experience, quite unusual. I can only surmise that the mower, which was working about a hundred metres further along, had stirred up a feast of insects.
Australian Magpie