A non birding drive
2007 Victorian trip report #10
When we travel I generally keep a keen eye out for the birds we can see as we travel along. When I am driving I have to be doubly attentive of course. When my wife is driving I can relax and take in the bird life and the scenery as we go. Unless I need to navigate.
Over recent days I have written about our visit to the Cranbourne Botanic Gardens south east of Melbourne, Victoria.
We were about 40 minutes later than planned setting off to our next destination. We were heading towards our friends’ home in Gisborne about an hour north of
I didn’t get much birding done on that leg of the trip, even though I was not driving. It was a combination of having to navigate, fading light, heavy rain and watching out for all the idiots on the road. Despite all the hazards of driving on unfamiliar roads we did arrive safely, though at one point my wife found out that the brakes worked very well. Three lanes of traffic travelling at 100kph in the dark on a wet road coming to a screeching halt does nothing for the nerves. But the brakes worked. And no idiot ran into the back of us.
Happy Second Birthday
6 Comments »3rd September, 2007; Category: General
Today marks the second birthday of this blog about birds and birding. It has been an interesting journey. I look forward to another great year of birding and blogging about birds and birding.
A growing blog
This blog has grown from a few dozen tentative readers in the first few months (mainly friends and family) through to nearly 29,000 visitors in 2006. Up to the end of August this year the site had received about 70,000 visitors for the year to date averaging over 300 per day. The graph in my statistics shows no sign of slowing down and it still continues its upward movement.
Dusky Woodswallow
Thank you readers
Thank you to all my regular loyal visitors and readers. Thank you also to all those who take the trouble to leave a comment or to ask a question. Developing this site as a birding community is one of the aims I have in posting articles almost every day. I hope you continue to visit and participate. Any day now this blog will pass the 600 article mark. I have many more interesting articles planned for coming weeks and months. What I cannot plan for is the many wonderful sightings of birds I know will come over the next year or so, and I will just have to share them with my readers.
Special links:
I often include links to other articles and provide further reading links. As a Birthday Special I have links below to highlights from the last two years:
- Great Birding Moments
- How to be a birder – some hints
- Archives – a complete listing of all articles on this blog
- Common Blackbirds – the most popular article with the most comments
- Do Blackbirds Swoop – aggressive bird behaviour – another very popular article
- Great Birding Moments – Crested Pigeon – many comments on this one too.
An alphabetical list of birds I like
When asked to name a favourite bird it is very hard picking just one or two species; I like so many different kinds of birds. Instead, I decided to list 26 Favourite Birds, one for each letter of the alphabet. I’ve also included a reason for my selection.
Birds I like:
- Apostlebirds – I love the way they work together as a family.
- Babblers – I love these clowns of the bird world.
- Chats – these beautiful little birds add a splash of colour to the Australian bush.
- Doves – especially the Peaceful Dove for its quiet, hypnotic call.
- Egrets – they are so graceful, so elegant, so patient and so white.
- Firetail Finches – so much stunning beauty packed in such a tiny body.
- Gannets – their amazing diving abilities while fishing wins them my Gold Medal every time.
- Harriers – their slow, patient searching for their next meal is so graceful.
- Ibis – seeing flocks of hundreds heading home to roost in the setting sun is an inspiring sight.
- Jacky Winters – their graceful flitting from a fence post to catch an insect on the wing deserves a place in poetry.
- Kingfishers – like a bright iridescent blue dart piercing the pond’s stillness.
- Lapwings – handsomely dressed like gentlemen going to the ball.
- Mistletoebirds – a splash of red in the drab leaves of a gum tree in the Australian bush.
- Nightjars – secretive by day but bold by night.
- Owls – deadly in their silent approach to prey.
- Pardalotes – such friendly and approachable residents of our garden.
- Quail – such beautiful, cryptic markings.
- Rainbow Bee-eaters – so many colours on just one bird.
- Sittellas – how do they hop along the underside of a branch?
- Terns – the masters of the wind and always such clean looking birds.
- Variegated Wrens – such brilliant colours.
- Whistlers – their powerful songs lift one’s spirits.
- Yellow Robin – a friendly ray of sunshine lighting up the bush.
- Zebra Finch – such cheerful little birds.
Okay – so I missed U and X.
I can’t think of any Australian birds starting with those letters.
Can anyone enlighten me?
Birding in Loxton, South Australia
6 Comments »19th August, 2007; Category: General
On my trip to Loxton last Monday I made time for a little birding along the river front near the caravan park. I only had about a half hour late in the afternoon. Loxton in the Riverland region of South Australia is about three hours by road north east of Adelaide.
Australian Pelican, River Murray, Loxton
The visit was rushed and not very productive as far as birds were concerned. I did manage to get the above photo of an Australian Pelican cruising the shallows near where I parked. Other birds seen in the vicinity include:
- Australian Wood Duck
- Pacific Black Duck
- Little Raven
- Galah
- Yellow Rosella
- Little Corella
- Little Black Cormorant
- Silver Gull
- Unidentified Tern (possibly Gull-Billed Tern)
- Crested Pigeon
- Rock Dove
- Australian Magpie
- Australian Magpie Lark
- White Plumed Honeyeater
- Red Wattlebird
- Noisy Miner
- House Sparrow
- Common Starling
- Welcome Swallow
- Striated Pardalote
- Wren (heard – possibly a Superb Blue)
River Murray at Loxton, South Australia
This photo shows the low level of water in the Murray River at present. The reeds in the middle right of the photo are normally quite green and in the water. The whole river system needs several years of above average rainfall and snowfalls in the catchment areas to replenish the water to its normal levels.
Birding on a trip to Loxton
No Comments »18th August, 2007; Category: General
I wrote yesterday about my recent trip to Loxton and the Blue Bonnet Parrots I saw along the way.
Over the years I have become very observant of the various species of birds encountered while I drive. It sharpens my observation skills while at the same time proving to be a very frustrating birding experience. Many a time I’ve wanted to stop and look at something but have been unable due to being in a hurry or some sort of time schedule. There is much too much hurry in this world. We all need to stop and smell the roses – or in this case – look at the birds.
As I drove along early last Monday morning I was enthralled by the drifting fog along the road. Visibility was still quite good so I didn’t need to modify my speed too much, but it heightened my alertness, which is good.
By far the most common bird observed on the two hour journey was the Australian Magpie. These are often seen in twos and threes on the side of the road, on fences or feeding in the nearby paddocks. This journey took me through the transition zone between the White Backed and the Black Backed subspecies (click here for more details). I saw both.
Also very common were the many Little Ravens on the side of the road and in the paddocks. I may well have seen some Australian Ravens too, but I didn’t stop to check them out. White Winged Choughs were also common all along the route. Several times I saw a Noisy Miner fly across the road in front of the car, along with the occasional Red Wattlebird and Singing Honeyeater.
Singing Honeyeater
One of the surprises of the trip was the almost total absence of Willie Wagtails. I’m sure they were there in good numbers; I just didn’t see many. More common were the Red Rumped Parrots and Mallee Ringnecks flying across the road in front of the car. Even the Common Bronzewing Pigeons were more frequently encountered than the Willie Wagtail. Strange.
Another delight was to see a single Grey Butcherbird sitting on the fence near the road. Several times I also saw a Grey Currawong flying along through the trees.
Grey Currawong
Other species observed as I drove along included:
- Black Faced Cuckoo Shrike,
- Galahs,
- Australian Magpie Larks,
- House Sparrows,
- Common Starlings,
- Welcome Swallows,
- Crested Pigeons,
- Rock Doves,
- Nankeen Kestrel
- and one Black Shouldered Kite.
That makes quite a nice list of species seen.