Before we begin - My
Life list.
I'm starting to become utterly obsessed with this birdwatching buisness. I try to get out at least twice a week, and with 2 great birdwatching spots so close by (Lake Monger and Herdsman) it's pretty easy to do so. Unfortunately I can't afford to join Birds Australia but I can still attend thier walks and day trips and fully intend to do so. I've even decided to make up an Excell spreadsheet to keep track of what birds I've seen and where.
So today. I headed out a little before 9am to do the rest of Maurice Hamer Park that goes along the south-west shore of Herdsman Lake. Saw a lot of the usuals. Lots of Australian shelducks which weren't there a few days ago and two swamp harriers which I watched through binoculars for quite a while - very speccy.
I was near a stand of reeds when I heard a call I was unfamiliar with. So I quietly crept around the nearby trees trying to spot my quarry. I looked around in the trees and to my disappointment saw a wattlebird. I see wattlebirds pretty much every day and find that they seem to come up with some new bizarre call everyday so I was about to write off this sound as a new wattlebird call. But as I watched I noticed whatever was calling was still calling and the wattlebird was not making the sound. Then I saw motion in the reeds and looked closely - yep, there was a Clamourous Reed Warbler. I looked for these on my last visit but didn't see any. I managed to see two today. They're hard to spot and harder to watch. As soon as you figure out where they are and see them they move a little to hide behind reeds. So you keep watching that area expecting them to pop back up then notice movement about a metre away, same bird!
( Pics from the 11th - Glossy Ibis )( Coots anyone?? Also from the 11th. )As I headed back to the car I was approached by a black swan. Some of these get used to humans and obviously this one was, he came right up to me and allowed me to take some great photos and as I drove away I noticed him across the road at the window of someones house. But the most alarming feature of this swan was its neck. It seems to be bent out of shape, you can see in the photos. He seemed to be getting along okay however. Wasn't tagged so I doubt he's had human assistance overcoming his "disability".
( Bentneck the swan. )( Herdsman Bird List )After leaving Herdsman I headed a little further to Perry Lakes - a pair lakes a little further south-east. I was kind of disappointed when I arrived. Both lakes are mostly dry and I there wasn't a swamphen or any kind of rail in sight (I'd read these lakes were good for spotting them). There was a bit of water in one of the lakes where I found a sole white-faced heron and a bunch of Pacific black ducks. There were LOTS of rainbow lorikeets here (introduced species). Two were sitting alone in a tree and I snapped a few photos.
( Rainbow lorikeets. )So I headed back to my car still happy about the reed warbler and came across a small burnt patch of bush on the lake shore. There was a kookaburra sitting in the tree.
( Kookaburra sits in the burnt gum tree... )In another part of the same tree I saw what I thought was feathers. I figured "Eh, it's probably not." Most of the birds imitating branches that I see are actually branches doing damn good imitations of branches. So I rounded the tree, just to check... and my god. TWO tawny frogmouths just sitting there in the fork!! *bounces and squees* I actually have tawnies on my life list because I figured I must have seen one or two previously but this is the first confirmed sighting of them for me. I managed to get some awesome pics of these guys!!
( Tawnies!! )The tawnies absolutely made my day.
( Perry Lakes bird list )![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
