Crested Pigeons at rest
Crested Pigeon, Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker, South Australia
On a recent visit to the Laratinga Wetlands in Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills I came across this Crested Pigeon having a little rest on a wooden fence rail. It was quite unconcerned about my presence a few metres away and posed nicely for my camera. In fact, it went straight back to sleep, closing its eyes and enjoying the warm summer’s afternoon sunshine (see photo below). There was another Crested Pigeon just to the right of the photo, but that one was a little more wary of me and my camera.
You can learn more about this beautiful pigeon here: Great Birding Moments: Crested Pigeon
Crested Pigeon, Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker, South Australia
Rock Doves, Laratinga Wetlands
Rock Dove, Laratinga Wetlands, South Australia
Feral Pigeons – also called Rock Doves – are an introduced species of bird in Australia. In fact, they have been introduced to most of the world. I haven’t been to many overseas cities but I am aware that this dove is very common in most urban areas of the world. They are certainly very common in cities and town throughout much of Australia, and their range is constantly growing.
Along some coastal areas here in South Australia they breed in large numbers – often in the 1000s – along the coastal cliffs. Town and city buildings also play host to hundreds of birds and can cause severe problems with their droppings.
This small group of about a half dozen appear to have taken up residence in this large eucalyptus tree in the Laratinga Wetlands in Mt Barker, South Australia. The only place they could be nesting is in the many hollows in the large trees. In this way they are are pest species, taking up hollows that would otherwise be used by parrots, owls and animals like possums.
Rock Dove, Laratinga Wetlands, South Australia
Ducks upside down
Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker, South Australia
On my recent visit to Laratinga Wetlands at Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills I saw many water birds, including plenty of Pacific Black Ducks. This is a common Australian duck species found throughout much of the country where suitable habitat exists. They are often found in wetlands like this one, but also swamps, lakes, rivers, creeks, reservoirs, ponds, parks and gardens and even in suburban home swimming pools. We’ve had ducklings in our swimming pool on many occasions.
What amused me on this occasion was capturing a number of them upside down – see the photo below. They were all feeding on the bottom of the pond, tails stuck up in the air.
See also: Rescue of the ten little ducklings
Pacific Black Ducks, Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker, South Australia
Pacific Black Duck, Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker, South Australia
Australian Reedwarblers in full song
Australian Reedwarbler, Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker, Sth Aust
During my visit to the Laratinga Wetlands in Mt Barker, Adelaide Hills, last week the reed beds were constantly alive with both Little Grassbirds and Australian Reed-warblers singing. Every patch of reeds seemed to have 4 to 6 individual birds of each species. I didn’t do a count as it would be very hard to do this considering that both species can be very secretive in the reeds. I tried to get photos of the Little Grassbird, but they were too shy and stayed mostly in the reeds. I did see the occasional one flit from one reed patch to another but far too quickly for a photo.
The reed-warblers were a little more cooperative. I stood patiently for about half an hour on the jetty in the middle of the photo below. One section was about 3 – 4 metres from the clump of reeds in the photo above. Several reed-warblers kept flitting around on my side of the reeds, in full sun for my benefit. After many failed attempts I was able to get one reasonable shot as shown above.
I took a much closer shot of this species some years ago, and I’ve posted this at the bottom of this post. This photo was taken at Cleland Wildlife Park of a captive bird in a walk-through aviary.
Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker, Sth Aust
Australian Reedwarbler
A bird’s eye view
Little Pied Cormorant, Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker, South Australia
The Laratinga Wetlands at Mt Barker in the Mt Lofty Ranges certainly have a large range of water loving birds. Included in this list are several species of cormorants. On my last visit early last week the only cormorant I saw was the Little Pied Cormorant shown in the photo above. It was either taking advantage of the view from the dead branches of a eucalyptus tree or just having a rest.
The feathers of cormorants are not water repellent, so they are often seen sitting on branches like this, or logs or rocks or on the bank with wings outstretched for drying. This one must have dried its feathers before I had arrived because at no stage did it spread out its wings while I was watching.
These wetlands boast a large number of water birds. The water comes from waste water in Mt Barker. It is purified through filtering via a series of ponds and reed beds before being reused for irrigation nearby. In addition, it provides an excellent habitat for a wide range of water birds. The tree plantings along the ponds also provide great shelter and food for wrens, honeyeaters, parrots and many other species.
Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker, South Australia