A walk in the park

It was a very sunny, clear day, so my sister, my mother and I all decided to go on a long walk around the suburb I live in, Avondale Heights. Thinking that we might see some birds to blog about, I decided that I would take my camera. We were all ready, so off we went.
As we headed along the walk, we walked down Buckley Street. In the eucalyptus trees along the sides of the path were little wattlebirds, red wattlebirds, New Holland honeyeaters, white-plumed honeyeaters, mynas and blackbirds. We came to a steep hill which we go down every day on our way to school. We crossed the road to get to the footpath going down the hill. In the eucalyptus trees beside the top of the hill were many New Holland honeyeaters. We went down the hill, spotting a black-faced cuckoo shrike in the eucalyptus trees as we went. Unfortunately, the cuckoo-shrike quickly flew off and I could not get a photo of it. We started to climb the hill until we reached a tunnel that goes under Buckley Street. We walked through this tunnel and came out to the second part of our walk, the Steele Creek Track.
So we walked along this track. On both sides of the track was grassland, dotted with many eucalyptus trees. In the trees were many willie wagtails, and in the sky tree martins and welcome swallows swooped and soared. It was a beautiful day, as red wattlebirds fed in the trees, their cackling and coughing calls filling the air.

White-plumed honeyeaters are very common in Avondale Heights and even visit my garden.

Willie wagtails are also very common in Avondale Heights

Then we reached a bridge over Steele Creek, and the best bird of the day showed itself.

AN EASTERN GREAT EGRET!

We watched the egret for a while, then kept on walking. I wanted to try and get a better view of the egret, so I followed a path that would take me near the egret's position. In the bushes and reeds around the track, I could see many white-plumed honeyeaters and superb fairy-wrens. As I got close, I was disappointed. A thicket of reeds was blocking my view of the egret. I walked back and continued on the track. We headed down a steep hill until we reached the Maribrynong River. The track continued to follow the river. In the bush I saw common starlings, rainbow lorikeets, house sparrows and superb fairy-wrens. In the river were most of the common waterbirds in the area, namely chestnut teals, dusky moorhens, little pied cormorants, little black cormorants, hoary-headed grebes and Eurasian coots. We reached a picnic table and ate some snacks we had brought with us. In the grass around us were red-rumped parrots and a single white-faced heron.

Red-rumped parrots are very common in the Maribrynong parklands. The male is on the left-hand side and the female on the right

White-faced herons are not that common in the suburb. They can sometimes be seen along the river and on grasslands and lawns. 

We continued our walk, listening to the maddened screeches of many sulphur-crested cockatoos. We quickly ran up a few hills and we were home.

Sulphur-crested cockatoos are fairly common in the parklands.