An interesting morning at Arundel Wetlands with 50 birds photographed and one new lifer.
On the waterholes the usual species were seen.
With no wind about the water was very calm. The Australasian Grebe is a very common little water bird at the Arundel Wetlands. I like how this shot shows how small they are.
Every now and then on visits to the Arundel Wetlands you will hear the tell tale squawks of the Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo as they nosily fly over. They must have a roost somewhere in the area but I have not found it yet.
The Grey Teal have started to gather in larger numbers with a group of about 40-50 on the main water, this pair had decided to get away from the crowd.
Glossy Ibis are also seen regularly although sometimes they will be there for weeks on end and then not seen again for a couple of months.
It turned out to be a bit of a Birds of Prey day with Black Kite, and Whistling Kite circling around and then the appearance of a Brown Goshawk who came flying in quickly and disappeared just as quick before I could get a decent photo. I had heard one was around but this was a first for me at the Arundel Wetlands.
I made my way to the North-eastern end of the wetlands where a couple of the native trees were in flower providing me with a mixed bag of Scarlet Honeyeater, Noisy Miner, Eastern Spinebill, Brown Honeyeater, Rufous Whistler, and Rufous Fantail.
The best of the bunch though was a Variegated Fairy-wren who posed perfectly on an exposed branch in the morning sun.
He was that close that I was able to get a couple of profile head shots.
Heading back to the main water another raptor with this time a young Brahminy Kite flying over.
This was followed by a new lifer for me, a bird I had wanted to see for ages but could never seem to locate. The Pacific Baza seems to be relatively common with lots of posts on facebook with them perched nicely in local parks etc. but for whatever reason I had never ran into one until now. Great to get Aussie bird number 297.
I then had a quick look in another section of the wetlands and was rewarded with Black-fronted and Red-kneed Dotterel.
The morning finished off with more Birds of Prey with a small group of Black Kite and then a welcome return to the wetlands by a Black-shouldered Kite. Unfortunately the Black-shouldered Kite was to far out over the reeds for a decent shot.
- World Bird Count: 444
- Australian Bird Count: 297
Birds Photographed:
- Hardhead
- Pacific Black Duck
- Dusky Moorhen
- Little Pied Cormorant
- Australian White Ibis
- Little Black Cormorant
- Eurasian Coot
- Royal Spoonbill
- Superb Fairy-Wren
- Australasian Darter
- Welcome Swallow
- Grey Fantail
- Australasian Grebe
- Spotted Dove
- Rainbow Lorikeet
- Australasian Swamphen
- Chestnut Teal
- Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo
- Intermediate Egret
- Tawny Grassbird
- Comb-Crested Jacana
- Glossy Ibis
- Grey Teal
- Black Swan
- Brown Goshawk
- Torresian Crow
- Whistling Kite
- Noisy Miner
- Brown Honeyeater
- Rufous Fantail
- Variegated Fairy-Wren
- Scarlet Honeyeater
- Eastern Spinebill
- Rufous Whistler
- Noisy Friarbird
- Silvereye
- Australian Pelican
- Pacific Baza (new – #297)
- Brahminy Kite
- Rainbow Bee-eater
- Spangled Drongo
- Straw-necked Ibis
- White-necked Heron
- Mangrove Gerygone
- Australian Wood Duck
- Pied Stilt
- Black-fronted Dotterel
- Red-kneed Dotterel
- Black Kite
- Black-shouldered Kite