Camera, binos, food, drink - time to go. Picked up Pete about 1 pm and we headed off to Werribee. Dreams of a nice warm day with a light breeze were quickly dashed upon arrival as the wind rushing through the windows when we slowed for the first birds blew Pete's cap off. We decided to head down to Gate 4 and come back to Gates 1 and 2 later.
There were a few target species for me, mainly the ducks that don't visit Alice Springs - Musk and Blue-billed, as well as Freckled which we occasionally get in Central Australia. Pete had brought his scope, and our first stop inside the gate using the scope confirmed suspicions of Freckled Ducks sitting on an small boulder island. Tick, we were away. The wind made it difficult to use the scope but we did manage to I.D. a few others with the scope including the Bar-tailed Godwits which were too far away for binoculars or cameras to correctly I.D. One of the highlights was watching a male Musk Duck display and whistle for a nearby female. The bird hide was at least open, but the nearby seaweed aroma made birding for too long at once a bit of a challenge.
In all for the day were 70+ species, and probably a few more if we had been better with our wader I.D.
Here are a few of the better photos, as the wind made even photography quite hard for most of the time.
There were a few target species for me, mainly the ducks that don't visit Alice Springs - Musk and Blue-billed, as well as Freckled which we occasionally get in Central Australia. Pete had brought his scope, and our first stop inside the gate using the scope confirmed suspicions of Freckled Ducks sitting on an small boulder island. Tick, we were away. The wind made it difficult to use the scope but we did manage to I.D. a few others with the scope including the Bar-tailed Godwits which were too far away for binoculars or cameras to correctly I.D. One of the highlights was watching a male Musk Duck display and whistle for a nearby female. The bird hide was at least open, but the nearby seaweed aroma made birding for too long at once a bit of a challenge.
In all for the day were 70+ species, and probably a few more if we had been better with our wader I.D.
Here are a few of the better photos, as the wind made even photography quite hard for most of the time.
Musk Duck - weird sound, weird head, weird tail, just weird really!
Blue-billed Duck
Freckled Duck
Cape Barren Goose was a nice surprise
Pete on the hunt for a Whiskered Tern in flight shot
You Yangs
Straw-necked Ibis in their hundreds at sunset
A beautiful sunset to finish the day
A great overview of a great day! Thanks for hosting me. Nice capture of the Blue-billeds in particular given what we were presented with
ReplyDelete