MILDURA- GOING TO LOCK 11

Yesterday we went to see Lock 11 in Mildura, at the Murray River. There weren't that much birds near the lock, but there were enough for me to make a short but satisfying list.

AUSTRALIAN WOOD DUCK- One grazing on grass
CRESTED PIGEON- A few hanging around eucalyptus trees
GALAH- Several flying around eucalyptus trees
LITTLE CORELLA- Several flying around eucalyptus trees

A pair of little corellas feeding

A laughing kookaburra perching in a tree

A black kite soars overhead














RED-RUMPED PARROT- Quite a few hanging around eucalyptus trees, one seen at nest in tree hollow.
LITTLE PIED CORMORANT- One seen perching on tree overlooking the river
GREAT CORMORANT- A few flying overhead, swimming around in the river
AUSTRALIAN WHITE IBIS- A few flying overhead.
BLACK KITE- Seen soaring above Lock 11
DUSKY MOORHEN- One seen in the distance
LAUGHING KOOKABURRA- One in eucalyptus tree
NOISY MINER- Many hanging around eucalyptus trees, walking on the ground
MAGPIE-LARK- A few hanging around eucalyptus trees, strutting on the ground, calling
WELCOME SWALLOW- Few flying around, one perching on the top of a boat.
COMMON MYNA- One or two birds hiding in trees, flying away at the last moment

MILDURA- A VISIT TO LAKE CARDROSS

Our family drove to Mildura yesterday for the new year. Today, me and my dad went birding with some of our relatives who live in Mildura. We decided to explore Lake Cardross and the surrounding forest

We started our journey through the forest by watching a few unidentified honeyeaters in the trees. Then we decided to walk to the lake. On the way to the lake, western gerygones and other small birds flitted in the trees and grass surrounding the path. We continued walking through the forest, observing various bushbirds. Red wattlebirds, Willie wagtails and singing honeyeaters were three familiar birds I had seen in Melbourne before. Spiny-cheeked honeyeaters and other birds I couldn't identify flew in and out of trees too quick for my camera to follow.

A spiny-cheeked honeyeater perches in a tree

A black-shouldered kite flew around and scared all of the birds off their perches. It perched on a tree for a moment, then some honeyeaters or other smaller birds chased it off. After the kite had gone, an eastern ringneck parrot flew onto a bare tree right next to me, letting me take some good photos of it.

An eastern ringneck parrot

We headed back to the lake, where we saw an eastern great egret, little pied cormorant, australasian and hoary-headed grebe. Then we headed for home, stopping to observe a black-shouldered kite.






A majestic black-shouldered kite.

We had a great time at Lake Cardross!

PIGEON ISLAND, SRI LANKA

Looking back through my posts, it appears I have not posted on Pigeon Island in Sri Lanka. As I should not get away with such a crime, I will post about the isle here.

Pigeon Island is an island off the shores of Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. It is famous for its population of wild, pure-bred rock doves. It is quite far out to sea, and our family was about to go to it!

We climbed into a small boat, passing a smaller island in front of us. Lesser crested terns, brown-hooded gulls (possibly) and house crows flew above us, the first two being lifers for me.

Brown-hooded gull

Lesser crested tern

If you can, please help me with these IDs. Then there were the more hard to identify birds, such as this character. Is this a crow, or a more interesting shearwater? And if this is a shearwater, what species of shearwater is it?

Possible shearwater

Finally, we arrived at Pigeon Island. When we stepped on the island, I realized how many rock doves there were. With the rock doves, perched randomly in the trees of the isle, were heaps of house crows. To one side, there were several rockpools, which I explored. There were various shells, crabs and even small fish at the rockpools.

Then we went snorkelling. We saw a black-spotted sergeant and some other fish we couldn't identify. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the fish.

A purebred rock dove, the star of the isle

Then a storm came in so we headed back to the mainland and drove back to Colombo. We stopped at Marble Beach but it wasn't open to visitors. It was quite cool seeing the lightning in the sky and it made us feel lucky that we had gotten to the island before the storm had.

A VISIT TO QUEENS PARK

Today I visited Queens Park. There was the usual amount of birds, but I saw some different fish and turtles that I would like to showcase here. Since I am not so good at identifying fish, please correct me if necessary.

CARP

COMMON GALAXIAS

EASTERN SNAKE-NECKED TURTLE

PHOTOS FROM THE AQUARIUM

Yesterday I visited the Aquarium in Melbourne. I had heaps of fun. Here are some of my photos of the captive collection there.

A gentoo penguin

Asian glass catfish- notice how their bodies are see-through

Silver shark fish from Borneo

A Mexican axolotl, an aquatic species of salamander that can regrow cut-off limbs

A Queensland Giant Grouper, one of the world's largest bony fish

WHITE-NECKED HERONS- A GALLERY

Today I went to the Western Treatment Plant. One of the first things we saw was a giant flock of white-necked herons. Here are a few images from that flock.

With a white-faced heron for comparision

Two together

A TRIP TO THE WESTERN TREATMENT PLANT

Today my father, my grandmother and I went to the Western Treatment Plant. We woke up early at six o'clock in the morning and birded.

We started by going down Point Wilson Road, pointing out birds to my grandmother, who was just beginning to enjoy birding. Three large birds flying to the grass excited us all. From photos, I worked out that they were white-necked herons, a lifer for me and there were more! These herons have had a good year in Victoria, popping up all over the place.

A white-necked heron

We went down 28-Mile Road and opened Gate Three. We didn't expect a lot, but Austin Road Pond was booming with waterbirds. Banded stilts, my second lifer of the day, were everywhere. Just then, I spotted a small, contrastingly-patterned plover- my third lifer for today, a red-kneed dotterel! On the other side of the pond, I saw another lifer- a flock of black-tailed native-hens! There was also a royal spoonbill near the shore and two Australian shelducks. On the other side of the road, there were millions of cape barren geese and black swans in a distant pond, but they were too far away to photograph.

A banded stilt feeds

A red-kneed dotterel hides near some reeds.

The rest of the trip wasn't as good. We headed to Western Lagoon, where we saw a large flock of hoary-headed grebes and an equally large flock of black swans. We haphazardly went down 28 Mile Road, where we observed a pair of swamp harriers, then turned around and headed for Beach Road. Beach Road wasn't productive as the water levels were too high. Finally, we headed for home, with 4 new lifers for me.

Two hoary-headed grebes together.

Nankeen night herons

I have some good photos of nankeen night herons from yesterday's Melbourne Zoo trip that I would like to share.

An immature leans down at the water

An angry-looking juvenile

The graceful adult in breeding plumage

The immature

Various birds from the Melbourne Zoo

To top up the previous post, here are some photos of various birds from the Melbourne Zoo.

Little wattlebird

Dusky moorhen young

Chestnut teal male and female

Pair of great cormorants

Birding the Melbourne Zoo

What many people do not realize is that wild birds can often be found in the vicinity of zoos or zoological parks. Taking this into note, this post is about birding the Melbourne Zoo.

From the front of the zoo, where you get your map, there is not much life. However, parts of the carpark are home for various birds, like the noisy miner and the bell miner.

A noisy miner, one of Australia's commonest honeyeaters

As you enter the zoo silver gulls, feral pigeons and house sparrows swoop and feed around you- so far, just the common city birds. Then, dusky moorhens reveal themselves. There are many in the zoo and if you come at the right time you can see the mothers guarding their chicks. But beware getting close to the chicks, because the mothers will swiftly chase you away!

Your first stop should be the Asian Elephant Trail. As you walk in, bird life is scarce, until you come to Pelican Lake. While the pelicans here are part of the zoo's collection, the great cormorants, nankeen night-herons, grey teals, dusky moorhens and Pacific black ducks who frequent the lakes are wild birds. As you continue down the trail, a flock of white-browed scrubwrens might reveal themselves to you, chirping and fluttering across the path.

A white-browed scrubwren

Continuing down, you head to the Orangutan Sanctuary. From here, a better view of the lake can be obtained and those same birds viewed at closer quarters. If you look carefully you can see the nankeen night-herons in the trees, roosting and building their nests. Below, great cormorants build their nests and Pacific black ducks dabble in the water.

An adult nankeen night-heron

As you finish the trail, you head to the giraffe enclosure, to enter the Australian Bush sector. The wild birds here consist of little and red wattlebirds, bell miners, white-plumed honeyeaters and similar. At the waterhole in front of the wombat enclosure, you may see wild Pacific black ducks and chestnut teals dabbling, occasionally accompanied by a few captive blue-billed ducks or whistling ducks. The collection of captive birds is also quite interesting.

A bell miner

If you still aren't tired, you may continue to the Japanese Garden, where dusky moorhens and Pacific black ducks, with the occasional nankeen night heron, live side-by-side with a collection of captive waterbirds.

That is what it is like birding the Melbourne Zoo.

A VISIT TO AFTON STREET CONSERVATION PRESERVE- EVENING BIRDS

Yesterday my dad and I went on a late visit to Afton Street Conservation Preserve as it was getting dark. There were only a few waterbirds hanging around- two Pacific black ducks and an eastern great egret perched on a branch, plus a few yellow-rumped thornbills, New Holland honeyeaters, red wattlebirds, spotted paradalotes and white-plumed honeyeaters in the grassy and forested areas.

The real surprise came just as we were about to leave the park. I heard a strange bird call and noticed a bird on the fence. I slowly approached the bird to discover that it was a lifer, a horsefield's bronze-cuckoo!

The cuckoo on the fence

It just goes to show that the most unexpected birds can be found in places you wouldn't expect them to be in.

RANDOM IMAGES FROM AROUND THE PLACE

Here are some random images from around Sri Lanka, Portland and similar that I couldn't access before or decided not to use.

Probable immature wedge-tailed eagle, near Cape Nelson, Portland

Little cormorant at Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Sri Lanka

Feral spot-billed pelican at unknown lake in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Welcome swallow at Portland

WILLIAMSTOWN LIFE

Yesterday we went to Williamstown Beach. We had a great time, but I am going to talk about the life that I saw while exploring the beach.

AQUATIC PLANTS
Sea lettuce, Ulva australis was common around the beach. There were also a few Neptune's necklace plants and a few other ones I couldn't identify.

BIRDS

I spotted two juvenile Pacific gulls, but my images of them are too bad to show here. Silver gulls were commoner and little pied cormorants were abundant along the rocks. A white-faced heron also came soaring in over the beach and feral pigeons and house sparrows dominated the area around the car park.

SHELLS

There were a few colonies of edible blue mussels and many variegated limpets, as well as a few shells I couldn't identify. There was a large, clam-like, white shell half-buried in the sand, but my photos of that were also too bad to show here.

A little pied cormorant perched on a rock

Various shells. The big, stripy, circular-shaped shells are variegated limpets. The small, zebra-striped, ribbed shells are ribbed top shells. The big, white snail-like shell is a predatory sand snail.

FISH
I spotted a school of small fish that I think are smallmouth hardyheads, but I'm not sure. They may also be juvenile yellow-eyed mullets. Please post your thoughts in the comments. An image is below.

All in all, it was a great trip.

SONG THRUSH IN THE GARDEN

This post is up because after some time I have seen a song thrush in my garden! Here in Melbourne they can be quite uncommon, but today there was one singing its head off on a pine tree, giving me the best views I have ever had of a thrush in my garden. Here is a photo:

In Melbourne the song thrush is an introduced species, introduced to remind the Europeans of their old home. They didn't survive well though. In Australia, they are now confined to the Melbourne Area.

A VISIT TO WESTGATE PARK

Today was quite sunny, so my dad and I went to Westgate Park, a park with many different waterbirds inhabiting it that is almost just underneath the Westgate Bridge.

From the carpark (which overlooks a lake) we saw a black-winged stilt, several silver gulls, a black swan and a red wattlebird.

A black-winged stilt

We continued walking towards the main lakes. The most prominent birds on the main lakes were hardheads. There was a large flock of hardheads in the lake. The flock also consisted of coots, little pied cormorants, silver gulls, chestnut teals, grebes, moorhens and black swans, sprawled out across the lake. In the middle of the lake there was an eastern great egret.

The eastern great egret

There were a few swallows swooping around the lake, probably with one or two tree martins that we couldn't distinguish. There were also several coot nests, with birds sitting on them and one hardhead nest with a female hardhead.

A welcome swallow

A coot on its nest

One of the main highlights was a white-faced heron flying away from the lake. There were millions of dragonflies flying around and in mating position and I spotted many common galaxias fish in the water.

All in all, this was a great trip.