A VISIT TO BRIMBANK PARK AND A LITTLE PONDING

Yesterday my dad and I went to Brimbank Park again. We saw pretty much the same birds as yesterday, except this time, one of the fords wasn't flooded. We crossed the ford, but discovered the path led to a more residential area. On the river from the ford, we could see wood ducks, dusky moorhens and a few manky mallards. From the path along the other side of the river, we could see wattlebirds, a few pacific black ducks and another manky mallard.

In the area where we saw red-browed finches last time, we managed to spot a few white-browed scrubwrens and an unidentified bird of prey soaring far in the distance- so far that I couldn't focus on it with my camera. Plus, I managed to get some good images of a male superb fairy-wren.

All in all, it was a good visit.

A white-browed scrubwren in a tree

A dusky moorhen from the ford

A male superb fairy-wren

After visiting Brimbank Park, we had a snack at the Leaping Lizard Cafe and we went to a pond near my house and looked for pond bugs which we kept in our fish tank. We found an Ischura sp. damselfly nymph, a mosquito larvae, some water snails and some small water skaters. These were all identified using a book that I have. I recommend this to other people with an interest in wildlife, for it is quite fun and interesting to look at what might be lurking in the water.

BIRDING BRIMBANK PARK

The day before yesterday, my mother and I went to Brimbank Park in Keilor to do some birding.

First we headed to the first ford, only to find it flooded (as usual). We walked to the second ford, seeing lots of fairy-wrens, only to find that it too was flooded (as usual), so we headed to the path and decided to continue following the Maribrynong River. We saw four Australian magpies and two wood ducks while walking to the path. Along the path, I managed to spot three red-browed finches on a tree stump, some more finches on the ground, a sulphur-crested cockatoo nesting and a grey fantail.

This short outing was well worth it for these images and the birds I saw.

A red-browed finch

Grey Fantail on a branch

Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo

Australian magpie on a branch

A male superb fairy-wren

SPOT THE SEA SNAIL

In THIS image taken at Altona Beach there is one sea snail without a shell that was washed up by the water. Can you spot it?

SMELL THE SEAWEED

When I went to Altona Beach yesterday, I could smell the seaweed rotting in the sun. It stank like rotten eggs! So there is no wonder that Altona Council are planning to create A GIANT HOVERCRAFT TO VACCUM UP THE SEAWEED! Other ideas are being proposed to get Altona rid of the seaweed. Apparently, Altona has so much seaweed because it is positioned near some seagrass fields.

The seaweed in action

TREE SPARROW FINALLY SHOWS ITSELF AWAY FROM MY BIRD FEEDER

Garden history happened yesterday. For the first time, a EURASIAN TREE SPARROW flew away from my bird feeder and started eating the grasses BY ITSELF! Unfortunately, I couldn't get very good images. My best one is below. Notice how it is different to the house sparrow.

There's the sparrow!

P.S: You may need this image later

SILVER GULLS, SILVER GULLS

Though many people believe that the silver gull (also known as a seagull) is a mangy, trash bird that we shouldn't pay attention to, I believe that silver gulls can be beautiful. If you doubt that statement, well, look at these images and tell me what you think!

Well, what do you think?

P.S: I still don't like silver gulls when I go to a beach specially looking for terns and the little birds are everywhere! I did find the terns though. Similarly, I don't like it when I try to find at least one swift parrot and end up with just rainbow and musky lorikeets.

LAVERTON CREEK MOUTH

Today my dad and I went to Laverton Creek Mouth to try and see the singing honeyeater, bar-tailed godwit and striated fieldwren at this site.

It took about half an hour to get there from the house. We parked along the road that goes along the foreshore of the ocean here. From the road we saw lots of silver gulls and a white-faced heron on the large clumps of floating seaweed out to see. Closer examination revealed a few more herons, two Pacific gulls and an Australian pied oystercatcher. Walking left from the carpark, I spotted some black-winged stilts (actually, they are a seperate species from the black-winged stilt that should be called the white-headed stilt, but here in Australia, we just call them black-winged stilts) with a flock of silver gulls, as well as a single little egret.

Black-winged stilts

A little egret (bottom) with a white-faced heron (top)

Continuing on, I saw some little pied and little black cormorants, more silver gulls, a few superb fairy-wrens and hundreds of chestnut and grey teals. On the way back, I spotted a lifer singing honeyeater in a bottlebrush tree.

Singing honeyeater

While returning, we also came across three pacific gulls within a flock of silver gulls. This is one of my dad's photos. The pacific gull is the largest bird in the image, with the big, yellowy bill. Notice how the tip of the pacific gull's bill is red on BOTH MANDIBLES- this distinguishes it from the similar but less common kelp gull.

Pacific gull with silver gulls- compare and contrast

All in all, this was a very nice trip and I would have returned again if not for the overpowering stench of seaweed.

P.S: The location is on Altona Beach, near the mouth of Laverton Creek, in Altona, Victoria, on the shores of the Port Phillip Bay

RAGS TO RICHES- THE MULTIPLICATION GAME- A review

After playing this game for so many times I lost count, I would like to present a review of the multiplication game 'Rags to Riches'.

POSITIVES
This game is quite educational and good for smart Grade 4s who have a large supply of pencils and scrap paper, to work out the sums.

NEGATIVES
This game may be a bit hard for the average person in Grade 4/3. Some of the problems have more than two examples of the correct answer and if you click on one of them, it considers it 'incorrect'. In these instances, you MUST use the hint. I think that this is a bit unfair for the people who play it. It should also have a warning stating- 'get some pencils and paper so that you can work out the 2-digit multiplied by 2-digit and harder sums'. If I had known this from the start, I'm sure it would have made it much easier. Also, it should state that 'you can take as much time as you want'- not knowing this also contributed to me loosing so much rounds.

RATING- 4.2 out of 5

THE BIRDS OF WOODLANDS PARK

Today I collected water samples for my science fair project. One of the places where I collected water samples from was called Woodlands Park. I realised that this place could hold some interesting waterbirds, so I brought my camera along. Here are the results!

A pacific black duck (left) with a male Australian wood duck (right)

Two related birds- a non-purebred ('manky') mallard (left) with a Pacific black duck.

A male feral pigeon displaying. The display is when the feral pigeon puffs out its neck. This pigeon followed a female around for some time, but the female wasn't interested and rejected the hopeful male.

A little pied cormorant

Enjoy these images and let's hope that one day you can find your own of each of these birds (except the feral pigeon).

BIRDING PA KIRCHNER RESERVE

Today my dad and I re-visited the reserve I bike-rode in the other day (see 'BIRDING A REGIONAL PARK BY BIKE), but walked instead of rode our bikes.

We started walking from the front of my house. In the area around Madeline Court (the road on which my house is) I saw two common starlings (an introduced pest from Europe), a few common mynas and a house sparrow. From there I walked onto Monte Carlo Drive, where a few rainbow lorikeets, a few common mynas and a white-plumed honeyeater were seen.

Along Buckley Street, I managed to spot two New Holland honeyeaters, lots of common mynas, a few starlings, a few spotted doves, two crested pigeons, a few white-plumed honeyeaters and a single song thrush. In the area along Buckley Street with the eucalypts, I managed to spot a white-plumed honeyeater, two red wattlebirds, two red-rumped parrots and a bird that I have only seen in the Avondale Heights Area once before- the crimson rosella.

The cheapest way to get your antenna fixed- dove-patrol!

A red wattlebird doing a stunt

A male red-rumped parrot- adore the colours

A crimson rosella- look for the red blob in the eucalyptus

After enjoying the birds along Buckley Street, we crossed the road and went down a very steep hill. We turned left and walked along Steele Creek, where we saw the 'mynas attack on the graffitied tank!!!' We crossed another road and made it to PA Kirchner Reserve. There were trillions of white-plumed honeyeaters, a few Willie wagtails, some little wattlebirds, a few red wattlebirds and some house sparrows.

A white-plumed honeyeater

A little wattlebird. This bird can be distinguished from the larger red wattlebird by its darker grey-black plumage with more prominent white streaking and, most distinguishably, its chestnut wing-patches which are only visible when it is flying.

Willie wagtail

After seeing these birds, we headed home with a lot of images.

Microscopic Madness

Today I tested my digital microscope with a webcam. I took a few photos of the "Cucurbita Stem" slide that came with the microscope. Most didn't really come out really well. Here's one of the best ones.

Forgive the bad quality, but at least it shows you what a 'Cucurbita stem' looks like under a microscope.

BIRDING A REGIONAL PARK BY BIKE

Today my dad and I went on a bike ride to a regional park which we had never entered before. While riding, I birded as well.
The park mostly consisted of plants and a walking path, as well as Steele Creek. On both sides were several houses. On a quick bike ride I was able to see little pied cormorant, white-faced heron, Willie wagtail, common myna and magpie-lark in this park.
I believe that we must re-visit this place. Don't ask me its name- I've forgotten- K-somethinggy Reserve?

GARDEN BIRDS- A MORE DETAILED POST

It's been a while since I last posted about the garden birds of my house, so here comes some more about the birds around my residence.
Picture the scene. It is a dull, cloudy day in Melbourne. It looks like it will rain any second. However, birds still visit my feeder and garden- maybe the variety of species is lacked, but in individuals, there are a lot of birds.

The first bird I see while watching the birds of my garden is the house sparrow (see the previous post about my 'Top Three Garden Birds'). House sparrows visit the feeder and trees around the feeder in hundreds of birds. On the ground are a few spotted doves (see the 'Top Three' garden birds post). Joining the sparrows at the feeder is a species of bird that I probably wouldn't have here if the feeder wasn't here- the rainbow lorikeet.

A lorikeet at the feeder, along with a house sparrow

Yes, I know that these birds are abundant in Melbourne, but I still take the time to watch their beautiful plumage. Up to 2 birds can be at the feeder during the 1 time. Hopefully, even better birds will start visiting as well.

As I continue looking at the birds, a common myna, an introduced pest in Australia, swoops in and lands on a tree and one of the shyer residents of the garden, a blackbird, flies into the shadows. These are some of the more uncommon visitors to our garden.

A myna in a tree

A blackbird perching on the trampoline. This is a male- the females are dull-coloured, a light shade of grey-brown.

Hiding among the many house sparrows is a solitary Eurasian tree sparrow. It can be distinguished from the house sparrows by its sandy brown cap and white neck-collar.

A Eurasian tree sparrow (left) with a male blackbird (right)

Unlike the house sparrow, the tree sparrow is not sexually dimorphic. A small population used to inhabit an area near my house, but construction has destroyed their home.

The tree sparrow, house sparrow, spotted dove and myna are all introduced, while the rainbow lorikeet is native.

With some good images, I walk back to my room after a good session of birding for the garden.

SCIENTIFIC STUFF

For the upcoming Victorian Science Talents Search competition, I decided to photograph flames with different substances in them.
Our first attempt at this we did tonight. We dissolved Epson Salts, zinc and similar in water, then dabbed cotton balls in the water and set fire to the cotton balls. We discovered that this didn't work, so we decided to dry the cotton balls out and try it again the next day.

The reason that I did this blog post is because in the chemistry set we got (to burn the chemicals that came with it) there was a tube of copper sulphate- a beautiful light blue substance that is toxic. I decided to show you some images of dissolved copper sulphate and copper sulphate un-dissolved taken by yours truly. WARNING: If you see this stuff, don't consume it or touch it.

This is the copper sulphate in a cup (non-dissolved)

A tube of the copper sulphate (non-dissolved) , with two cotton balls soaked in dissolved copper sulphate and some drops of dissolved copper sulphate, all on the plate.

P.S: Yes, I know this blog is called Young Birder's Notes, but I can fit something else in as well, can't I?