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.