On Father's Day my dad and I went to the Western Treatment Plant for the Oriental Pranticole that was reported at one of the lagoons on Thursday. First, we drove to the lagoon just inside Gate 2, where the pranticole had been sighted. We met a few more birders who were also looking for the pranticole. There were a few white-fronted chats, two eastern great egrets, a little pied cormorant and a little egret in the lagoon, but no pranticoles.
After exploring Gate 2, we quickly drove to Beach Road to look for banded lapwings. Part of the road was rather wet, and we saw a white-necked heron, a white-faced heron and two masked lapwings. The drier part of the road was full of birds of prey. 2 black-shouldered kites and 2 brown falcons were perching on trees next to the side of the road.
A black-shouldered kite against the light blue of the Australian skies
A brown falcon
An eastern great egret perching on Gate 2
A little egret feeding in the lagoon.
After dipping on the lapwings and pranticole, we headed home with some nice photos of birds, but none of the bird we were looking for. We'll be back for those lapwings!
