Birding photos from Phillip Island

Phillip Island is about 130 kms from Melbourne. It is probably famous for its motorcycle and car races, as well as the birding rarities of Short-tailed Shearwaters and Fairy Penguins, visible to the naked eye in their natural habitat at dusk, not the best for photography. Fortunately, there are other bird species that are visible during daylight hours.

Having said that, there are some sights that are unusual on the Island. Although common around much of Australia’s coast, I have only seen the behaviour shown in these photos once before, in Western Australia, and unfortunately didn’t post the photos and our laptops and hard-drives were stolen. Of all the photos of birds I wanted returned, the photo of an Australian Pelican with its bill widened and stretched across its neck/belly would be one. The pelicans gave me a similar showing today:

Australian Pelican

Grey Fantails are common through a lot of the territory I cover in a year, but they are never boring to listen to or watch. This one was at Silverleaves, a place we stay each year on Phillip Island.

Grey Fantail:

Australian Shelduck

Black-tailed Native-hen 

Cape Barren Geese 

Chestnut Teal 

Eastern Spinebill 

A lone Pink-eared Duck in amongst a lot of Eurasian Coot 

Enjoy your Bird-watching!