Buangor State Park, Victoria, west of Beaufort

You would think there would be many many photos from a trip that took me from Alice Springs to Melbourne to Canberra to Wollongong to Sydney, Newcastle, Ballina, Burrum Heads, Rockhampton, Longreach, Mt Isa and then back to Alice Springs. Yes there are a few but not nearly as many as I would have thought. Sometimes life gets in the way of a passion and rather than devote my time to birding and photography, the main focus on the trip was to enjoy spending time with others.

But, of course there were a few photo opportunities along the way.

The trip from Alice Springs to Melbourne was fairly meandering once I hit the Victorian border. I had hoped to stay in National Parks, but quickly realised the rain they had had was making birding much harder than normal. Not only did I get the usual neck strain from looking up at and through tall trees, the grasses were so long it was very hard to see the ground dwelling birds. Until I reached Buangor State Park, just west of Beaufort.

Driving in on the dirt road, I noticed the lack of dust covering the trees by the side of the road. Windows down, I could hear both familiar, and not so familiar sounds. I pulled into a picnic area/campground, totally stunned to find I was the only one there. I headed over to the toilet block (one of my main reasons for choosing this spot), and stopped only five steps from the car. A male Flame Robin was sitting on a bollard, right there, right next to me. The an Eastern Yellow Robin, then Superb Fairy-wren, and the varieties just kept coming. The skies were filled with the calls of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos and Long-billed Corellas. Dusky Woodswallows raced around and Crested Shrike-tits. I wasn't sure what to do. Go to the toilet or return to the car to grab the camera. Nature calls, both very different, were having a tug of war inside me. The former won out. I figured if they were there now, they would be there post toilet. Thankfully I was right.

Here are some of the photos from that little adventure:

Flame Robin

Eastern Yellow Robin

Crested Shrike-tit

Dusky Woodswallow

Golden Whistler

Grey Fantail

Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos

Connells Lagoon Conservation Reserve - A BirdLife Central Australia Branch trip

BirdLife Central Australia Branch had their first official "outing" over the weekend, starting with a stall at the Tennant Creek Show on the Friday, then heading up to Connells Lagoon Conservation Reserve. In total there were 7 of us, 5 adults and two kids, my two boys, Banjo and Moses.

After being entertained by the Australian Pratincoles and Wedge-tailed Eagles before we reached the Reserve, the first excitement of the Reserve wasn't a bird at all. One of the other two cars was in front and a very large kangaroo bounded slowly through the bush and then in front of their car. Luckily Pete saw the roo before it headed across the road and managed to avoid it. In all we saw about 10 kangaroos, large reds and a few greys.

Next it was finding a camping spot. We eventually found a dry river bed and set up camp. After a big couple of days, we all stayed together and headed to what we thought was Pictorella Swamp. Alas we couldn't find the swamp, but there were a few birds around including Golden-headed Cisticolas and Red-backed Fairy-wrens. As we headed back to the cars, we saw the Super Moon rising in the east, magically large and orange. We had a fairly early night, the next day was hopefully going to be a great day of birding and surveying.

In the morning, Lisa and Pete headed off to find the real Pictorella Swamp, whilst Chris and Sam headed off towards Avocet Waterhole. The boys and I stayed at the camp and had a kick of the footy, and did a quick 20 minute survey of the camp area. Overall the area is dry, and the birding in the main wasn't spectacular, but it was fun trampling through the bush, not knowing what we might find.

We all convened back at the camp for lunch, although the boys and I headed to where Chris and Sam had been in the hope of spotting the Australian Bustards they had seen earlier. Although we dipped on the Bustards, we did see a Rufous-throated Honeyeater, a lifer for the boys.

In the afternoon, Lisa and Pete headed west, whilst Chris, Sam, the boys and I headed to Pictorella Swamp that Lisa and Pete had found earlier. We managed to see Golden-headed Cisticolas, Variegated Fairy-wrens, Zebra Finches and Budgerigars but couldn't find the Pictorella Mannikens Lisa and Pete had seen that morning. All 7 of us then met at Connells Lagoon in the hope we would see some Flock Bronzewing. This time, we were in luck. The FBs came in small parties up to 20 and then flew off after landing and walking down to the water's edge for a drink. It was difficult to estimate exactly how many as they seemed to be coming for a drink, heading off and then circling back. We could see Swamp Harrier in the distance, as well as Hoary-headed Grebes on the lagoon and some Grey Teal as well.

Later that night I took the boys spot-lighting and we saw a couple of Barn Owls and an Owlet Nightjar.

The next morning was pack up time and heading back towards the Barkly Homestead or Alice Springs. As we were getting the camp cleaned up, we had a visit by 5 or 6 Black-chinned Honeyeaters, the Golden-backed variety which was a nice addition to an ever-growing list.

Connells Lagoon Conservation Reserve would be a great birding destination after the rains and before it dries out too much. Below is a link to the Parks and Wildlife Commission NT webpage:
Connells Lagoon Conservation Reserve fact sheet
If you are intending to head there, make sure you are fully self sufficient as there are no facilities, except the serenity of Barkly Tablelands.

Some Birder shots to start with.

Flock Bronzewings at Connells Lagoon

Black-chinned Honeyeater (Golden-backed)

Grey Fantail

Australian Pratincole

 Super Moon 

Wedge-tailed Eagle

When small birds come close - Splendid Fairy-wren, Grey Fantail and Grey Shrike-thrush photos

I had a wonderful experience of inquisitive birds hopping around my feet, in between my feet and fluttering on branches nearby before heading for the insects buzzing around me. I feel fortunate to be able to have these experiences and then share what the camera captures in these moments.

There were a number of families of Splendid Fairy-wrens, all hopping around the carpark, and some of them came within a couple of metres. Most of the males are either just gaining their attractive colouring, or just losing it, I think it is the former.

Splendid Fairy-wrens

The Grey Fantails were amazing to watch catch, twitch, flick, look, swivel, then zoom into the air, sometimes only a few feet, other times a few metres or further. Each time they seemed to catch their prey, and then thankfully settle back either in the same place or close to it. One of them was looking straight down the barrel of the camera and flew straight at me, a bit of a shock to the system, but at least it couldn't do too much damage, not like a bird of prey coming at me! :-)

Grey Fantail

The Grey Shrike-thrush kept coming back to my position, obviously the food source was surrounding me. There were a number of times where it was actually too close for the lens to both focus and fit the bird in the frame. In the end I forgot about trying to get it all in and just took shots of the head/eye.

Grey Shrike-thrush

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!