More suburban goodness

Black-fronted Dotterel chick, Mildura

Had a great time on a morning walk this morning - all sorts of waterbirds; including the little fluff ball above - one of two.

...Yellow-billed Spoonbill feeding, and another glimpse of the Buff-banded Rail.

There also seems to be a continual stream of Dusky Moorhen babies. I'm wondering if there is something in the water…      maybe they just like big families.

Boxing Day beauty

Eastern Great Egret, Walnut Ave, Mildura

How to ID - link to another blogger's diagram of Eastern Great Egret. Must admit I struggle sometimes with Egrets.

Had a lovely walk around the wetland yesterday, all the birds came out - I'm growing particularly fond of the Spotted Crakes! The Egrets are quite wary and don't feed when I'm close enough to get a good photo.

So far so good - click on photos to enlarge

 

 

Australasian Grebe, Walnut Ave, Mildura

I love knowing nests have successfully hatched!

When we borrowed the club scope a couple of weeks ago we got a close up of one of the adults sitting on the nest, and this morning I saw a baby cruising around the wetland not far from the nest site.

In the first photo, the adult is diving down to get another fish. I love the cute little fluffy wings in the second photo.

Scariest bird ever

South Polar Skua, Casey Station
I'm way to busy with Xmas prep so I'm posting an old photo from my trip to Casey 2004-05.

This was one of the skuas that was nesting in the Adelie Penguin colony.

They are very scary, I was lined up by them several times whilst trying to survey the penguins. I often resorted to pulling my backpack over my head and assuming the foetal position!

Wild Bird Wednesday

The nursery

Willie Wagtail, Mildura
This little guy has been learning the ways of life from Mum and Dad in the backyard. Has consumed much of our attention when we are sitting outside! Very cute.

Wild Bird Wednesday

What are you looking at

Great Cormorant & Little Black Cormorants, Walnut Ave, Mildura

This is a funny shot showing the avian ability to turn their head 360 degrees! It's also good seeing the species next to each other - they seem to have the same size feet...

Suburbia

Buff-banded Rail, Walnut Ave, Mildura
This is the first time I've seen this species, it was skulking along at the wetland. The most obvious features to distinguish it quickly from the hens and crakes were the shape and strip across the head.

I'm loving finding new species in suburbia. Yay for artificial wetlands!

In the same area early on Sunday morning all the Black-fronted Dotterels at the wetland were wandering around on the road. I've never seen them do that before, there was one doing it by itself on the west wetland and two on a different road on the east side.

Wild Bird Wednesday

Salt

Silver Gull, Blackmans Bay Beach, Tasmania
I think I like taking photos with water as much as trying to get a nice photo of a bird!
Most of my last trip to Tassie was spent being a bridesmaid (lots of fun) but I did get a chance to wander Blackmans Bay and get a dose of sea air and sand.