Trevor's Birding

Preening his feathers

1 Comment »29th July, 2015; Category: Bird Behaviour, Waterbirds

Purple Swamphen, Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker, South Australia

On my visit to the Laratinga Wetlands last week I saw several Purple Swamphens.

The individual featured in today’s photos show one that was quite unafraid of me and allowed me to approach to within a few metres. These wetlands attract many visitors daily: walkers, cyclists, runners, picnickers, photographers and avid birders like myself. So, taking that into account the birds are quite used to the human traffic on the paths around the wetlands.

It the photo above the bird is busy doing his early morning preening. In the subsequent photo shown below the bird seems to be asking whether his feathers look okay. I love getting special bird poses like this one.

Good birding.

Purple Swamphen, Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker, South Australia

How’s the serenity?

1 Comment »27th July, 2015; Category: Favourite Birding Spots, Good Birding Sites, Photos, Waterbirds

Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker, South Australia

How’s the serenity?

Most Australians will recognise that quote from the laconic Aussie movie “The Castle“.

It sure is a scene filled with serenity, early one frosty morning last week. The photos in today’s post were taken at the Laratinga Wetlands just east of Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills. A series of ponds make up this wonderful birding and picnic spot. While one could perhaps buy a lovely home overlooking this spot, or within a few minutes’ walk, I really have to burst your bubble or shatter your dream.

The ponds make up the local town’s sewage works!

In reality, it is far, far better than it sounds. First, there is no smell. None. Second, the environment has been wonderfully landscaped with Australian native trees, bushes and ground cover plants. Third, the local authorities have created a lawned picnic area complete with shelter sheds – it rains quite often in Mt Barker – and well kept, clean toilets. The tracks around each of the ponds are used daily by hundreds of locals and visitors like myself for photography, walking, cycling, running or just birding. The birdlife is always abundant and interesting.

The photo below shows just one of the many birds I saw there last week, a Eurasian Coot. The other photos below show one of the ponds shrouded in early morning misty fog.

Eurasian Coot, Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker

Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker, South Australia

Galahs at Laratinga Wetlands

2 Comments »25th July, 2015; Category: Birders, Cockatoos and Corellas, Good Birding Sites, Nests, Parrots and Lorikeets, Trip reports

Female Galah, Laratinga Wetlands

Earlier in the week my wife had several appointments in Mt Barker which is about half way between home here in Murray Bridge and Adelaide. Her appointments were to take several hours, so took the opportunity to visit the Laratinga Wetlands on the eastern edge of Mt Barker.

The Laratinga Wetlands consist of a series of ponds which essentially deal with the town’s sewage and storm water. The treated water is later recycled into local agricultural use. The series of large ponds which make up the wetlands have been landscaped with both plants and lawns. A picnic area is provided for the public, including barbecues and toilets. Many local people and visitors use these facilities and the tracks around the ponds are popular with birders, walkers, runners, and cyclists.

Over coming days I will share some of the bird photos I took on my most recent visit. Today’s photos show a female Galah sunning itself on the trunk of one of the huge eucalypt trees surrounding the wetlands. I know that this one is a female because of the red eye. Meanwhile, I presume that the male is busy in the hollow below her, cleaning out the hollow and preparing it for nesting later in the season.

Further reading:

Female Galah with a male (?) in the hollow below

Birding at Browns Road Monarto

No Comments »23rd July, 2015; Category: Birders, Honeyeaters, Murray Bridge, Pigeons and Doves

New Holland Honeyeater at Browns Road Monarto

This afternoon my wife and I took a detour coming home from Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills. We had been there for a appointment, after which we had a relaxing lunch in one of the local cafes. Instead of taking the South-Eastern Freeway home to Murray Bridge we took the old Princes Highway route. It is a longer, more circuitous route but far more interesting.

Just past Callington we turned off into Browns Road near Monarto. We stopped at a spot where we could park the car safely before going on a short walk through the scrub. The sign on the gate says “Monarto Woodlands” but local birders usually refer to this area as Browns Road.

The scrub here is a confusing mixture of plant species. While there are some species common to the surrounding region, many of the trees and shrubs are introduced from other parts of Australia. A quick glance shows many Western Australian species, for example. This has come about due to extensive planting back in the 1980s when this area was designated as a satellite city to Adelaide. While a large area of farming land was purchased by the then state government, and the city was planned, no building ever occurred and much of the land has been returned to productive agricultural use. The only exception has been the establishment nearby of Monarto Open Range Zoo, part of Adelaide Zoo (and well worth a visit too, I might add).

We didn’t have all that much time on our visit this afternoon and my back and hips were being quite a pain. In the few minutes we were there I managed to record the following species:

White-winged Chough
Singing Honeyeater
Red wattlebird
New Holland Honeyeater (pictured above)
White-browed Babbler
Peaceful Dove
Crested Pigeon
Grey Fantail
Willie Wagtail
Yellow Thornbill
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
Silvereye
Grey Shrike-thrush
Common Starling
Adelaide Rosella
Australian Magpie (white backed)
Weebill

While this is not a great list it is not bad for about ten minutes of birding. In recent weeks many other South Australian birders have visited this area and have reported far more species. I must visit more often, seeing it is about a 20 minute drive from home.

Some of the plants flowering are shown in the photos below.

Further reading:

Flowering eucalypt

Acacia species in flower

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