Birding in Lowan Conservation Park
5 Comments »18th July, 2015; Category: Bush birds, Honeyeaters, Murray Bridge, Pardalotes, Pigeons and Doves, Thornbills, Woodswallows, Wrens
Lowan Conservation Park
A few Sundays ago we had a break in our cold, wintry weather and we went for a drive to Lowan Conservation Park, a 40 minute drive north east from home in Murray Bridge, South Australia. The park is about 15 kilometres south east of Bowhill. I had visited this park on several previous occasions and found that the birding can be either a feast or a famine; it all depends largely on what is in flower, or the weather conditions.
The park is predominantly mallee woodland (see photos) with a mixture of other smaller scrubs and bushes. My wife has written about some of the plants on her site here.
On our most recent visit I didn’t even bother to take any photos; I saw no birds to photograph, well, none within range. And while we had our picnic afternoon tea in the sun I heard very little. It was a real struggle to get a short list of birds – mostly heard. (PS The photos on this post were taken on another visit.)
Bird list:
- Little Raven
- Mallee Ringneck
- Grey Shrike-thrush
- Weebill
- White-winged Chough
- Singing Honeyeater
- Australian Magpie
- Grey Butcherbird
- Galah
- Grey Fantail
- Noisy Miner? (or Yellow-throated Miner? – I only heard them)
- Striated Pardalote
That is not a great list, but there was not much flowering. In a park of some 660 hectares one would expect far more honeyeaters, but the mallee has to be in flower. Honeyeater species I would expect to see – or already have seen on other occasions – include: Striped, White-fronted, White-eared, White-plumed, Spiny-cheeked, Purple-gaped, Yellow-plumed, Brown-headed, New Holland and Red Wattlebird.
In addition to the honeyeaters I would expect to see more parrots, pigeons, wrens, thornbills, chats, woodswallows, robins (I did see one, but it flew off before I could get a positive ID), owls, nightjars, frogmouths, swallows, cuckoos, eagles, kites, falcons and even a Malleefowl or two. I have seen two Chestnut Quail-thrush there many years ago; I hope that they are still around.
I guess that the best time to visit would be in the spring, when there is a chance of more flowers. I think that it might be worth camping there overnight. By the way – there is only a rough, stony and sometimes sandy track through the park and NO facilities at all.
Trevor
Further reading:
Lowan Conservation Park
Lowan Conservation Park
Random bird photos at Peterborough
Crested Pigeon
Over recent days I have posted a few photos of some birds taken on a recent visit to Peterborough. On this visit we were visiting relatives for a few days. Peterborough is in the mid-north of South Australia. One of the spots I always like to check out is Victoria Park near the swimming pool and caravan park.
Many years ago the local council made a very pleasant park, including lawned picnic areas, barbecue facilities and an artificial lake. This water attracts quite a range of water-birds as well as providing drinking water for many of the local bush species such as pigeons, honeyeaters, ravens and magpies.
Today I thought I would share some random photos taken on this most recent visit.
Black-tailed Native-hen
Australian Magpie Lark
Crested Pigeon
Peaceful Dove posing in the sun
No Comments »13th April, 2015; Category: Bird baths, Bush birds, Camera, Garden birds, Pigeons and Doves
Peaceful Dove
One of my favourite Australian birds has to be the Peaceful Dove, shown in today’s photos. I meant to show these shots a few weeks ago when I took then, but somehow life got in the way. The photos shown today are of a solitary bird in our garden one morning. It looked like it was going to visit the nearby bird bath. Instead, it found a sunny spot to settle down for at least ten minutes – enough time for me to go to the other end of the house to collect my camera.
The Peaceful Dove is one of my favourite birds because they are quiet, gentle looking birds which come regularly into our garden. We frequently hear them calling their soft ‘toodle-doo” call, and they make no fuss at all as they flutter from tree to tree. The markings on their plumage shows delightful patterns and soft, pastel colours. Today’s photos show the colours well, lit up by the early morning sunshine.
As an extra comment on this species, I didn’t fully appreciate the beautiful blue skin around the eyes and beak. This shows up really well in today’s shots.
Peaceful Dove
Peaceful Dove
Another close encounter
Silvereye and Spotted Pardalote
I had another close encounter with one of the resident birds in our home garden this morning.
I had just finished watching a long parade of birds coming to either drink from our bird baths, or to have an early morning splash before a warm day. The various visitors had quite depleted the water, so it was time to get a bucket of water from the rainwater tank and then clean and refill the bird baths.
After cleaning the containers I went to fill them up again with fresh water but was distracted by a little Spotted Pardalote coming in for a drink. It gradually approached closer and closer until it was about 50cm away from me. It watched me intently for about ten seconds, obviously waiting for me to refill the bird baths.
I love these close encounters. Pity I didn’t have my camera with me – the photo above was taken some time ago and also shows another regular visitor to our garden, a Silvereye.
Other species seen while having breakfast include:
- Brown-headed honeyeaters
- Red Wattlebirds
- New Holland honeyeaters
- Spotted Turtledove
- Crested pigeon
- Australian Magpie
- House sparrow
- Striated Pardalote
- Yellow thornbill
Pigeons and doves
Crested pigeon
I went for a walk of The Estate this afternoon.
When I say “The Estate”, please understand that we only own a 5 acre (2 hectare) block.
As I passed along the neighbour’s fence, I glanced over into the area in front of their house. On the grass I saw six birds feeding on the grass: 2 Crested pigeons, 2 Spotted Turtledoves and 2 Peaceful doves, all within about 2 or 3 metres of each other.
This is the first time I’ve seen all 3 species feeding in such close proximity to each other.
Note: I didn’t have my camera with me, so the photos shown today were taken on another occasion.
Spotted Turtledove
Peaceful Dove