Alex's Big Year 2020

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Alex Rogers
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199) Far Eastern Curlew - emboldened by my successful "twitch", I saw that Far Eastern Curlews had recently been seen at Towra just over the bridge, so 10 minutes later I was on the mud flats there, and immediately got onto 3 Curlews - a lifer for me :-) I quickly discovered that they are nowhere near as accommodating as the Godwits - they wouldn't let me closer than about 100m - but I got a few ordinary photos (and mud up to my eyebrows) before deciding to stop disturbing them. Such striking birds, wow. 

sue818
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Wow, that news lens & camera are paying off! Love the Godwits and that Curlew in flight. 

Devster
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Nice Alex. Would you say the first photo is of a younger one as he is still quite mottled?

Alex Rogers
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Devster wrote:

Nice Alex. Would you say the first photo is of a younger one as he is still quite mottled?

I don't know them well, Dev, so I couldn't say - but all 3 photos are the same bird (although I did see three individuals on the day) so I think it may be an artifact of the poor light. It certainly looked like a full-sized bird. I've edited the post to correct the name to Far Eastern Curlew, as I believe this is the current common name in use. What I DID discover is that these are the world's largest sandpipers! And I was fortunate to hear this bird calling repeatedly - a lovely, eerie sound. So it has been one of my best new birds this year, as I feel I've got to know it a little bit, not just snapped its photo. 

I found another photo I quite liked of it calling

Alex Rogers
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I was camping down the far outh coast this weekend at Brou Lake - a pretty good spot for birds. The "hero" bird for the weekend was Little Terns - a lifer for me, and they were nesting on the beach there. The local bird groups had put up signage an roped off the nesting section, so I made sure to keep clear of that - but just walking along the lake or beach would be enough for a few of them to come out and make sure you weren't going to interfere with them, so I got a few pictures anyway. Lovely delicate birds, and I watched them fishing over the lake for a long time. A suitable bird for my 200th. 

200) Little Tern

Alex Rogers
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201) Little Egret - hadn't managed to get a decent shot of these guys this year, finally one was close enough and I didn't blow the whites out :-) 

202) Australian King-parrot - another bird that has eluded me - not the best shot, but it will have to do as we are running out of year. 

203) Eastern Whipbird - ah, this bird has frustrated me endlessly this year - heard so often, but seldom seen,and then indistinctly. Check the look of shock on this guys face when he realised he had let me take his photo! Then once that was in the bag, he posed nicely for a couple of minutes before flying off with his mate :-) 

Alex Rogers
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But the shorebirds were the real draw of the area. 

204) Red-necked Stints were another first for me this year. I'm sure I've seen these before, but struggled to identify them - slowly I'm beginning to learn my shorebirds :-) Such tiny birds, and to think they fly all the way here from Siberia! Mind you, faced with Siberian winter, I might do as well. 

205) Grey Plover was a lifer for me - and I was pleased to be able to identify them myself without much difficulty. A striking bird 

206) Curlew Sandpiper - an old acquaintance from last year, but hadn't seen them this year. 

dwatsonbb
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Congrats on the 200. Some more great photos, thanks for sharing.

Dale Huonville, Tasmania

Devster
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Welcome to the 200 club. I love your Grey Plover shots (especially the one in flight), a bird I have not seen. The Curlew Sandpiper would be a lifer for me as well

Alex Rogers
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Thanks Dev and Dale. My target for the year is 250, so I still have a way to go - but Dec is good birding time, and I have a trip or two coming up, so I'm going for it :-) 

One more from my south coast trip that has taken me a while to identify. I stopped at Shoalhaven Heads on the way back, but it was a spring high tide, midday, and howling gale, so worst possible conditions. There were a number of godwits and crested terns out on the end of the sand spit, grimly enduring the blowing sand. I leopard crawled quite close to them, and right in the middle of all the Crested Terns was a much smaller tern. He'd get shoved away by the much bigger Cresteds, then would shuffle back into their shelter again. I never managed to get a clean profile, but got enough of a look to peg him as a White-fronted Tern. That would be a very unusual bird for this time and place - so I checked it on ABI, and have tentative agreement from there. So I'm going to claim it as such - any thoughts from the team? 

207) White-fronted Tern. First shot shows it with Crested Tern for size, 2nd is a tighter crop for detail

Devster
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Well done. Terns are like shorebirds for me. I can name a few of the regulars but thats about it. I've never seen a White-fronted Tern so I am no help. 250 is what I am trying to go for too although I don't have any trips planned yet.

dwatsonbb
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Nope no help here, happy to let it stand, good luck on 250, I am sure you can do it! It's a nice photo given the circumstances.

Dale Huonville, Tasmania

sue818
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Wow, wonderful set of shots... I had not seen your post as off finding shorebirds and guess what... the Tern is still there as I happened to photograph it at Shoalhaven Heads yesterday. It is still in with the Crested Terns. Posted on ABID for confirmation just now.

Love the obliging Eastern Whipbird but the Grey Plover and Curlew Sandiper are also good. I have a pile of pics to post before Christmas but a target of 250 seems a bit too far. It is fun though.

I suggest Lake Wollumboola at Culburra Beach would be a good spot to visit.

Alex Rogers
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Thanks all :-) 

Sue, great that you are down the South Coast getting some birds. How cool that you found that tern too - hopefully you got some better shots, and we can get a definitive answer on what it is. Whatever it was, its new to me so I don't mind if it changes :-) 

I've been meaning to go to Wollumboola for some time - sounds like now would be a good time! I might be able to get down there for a day over Xmas, but not before 

I was walking Eastlakes golf course on Saturday, always a lot of local birds to see. I was particularly hoping to photograph the Fairy Martins there - sometimes around now they are collecting mud for nesting, and you can catch them on the ground. No joy, they were all aerial - so I spent some time trying to catch them on the wing - a quite difficult task. The camera & lens are up to it - I've still got a way to go with my technique! But I can see its possible...

208) Fairy Martin 

TommyGee
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Lovely shots of the Fairy Martin, Alex.

sue818
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Great set of shots, Alex. It is very difficult to catch the Martins and Swallows in flightand is sometimes easier to get set for when they take off.

dwatsonbb
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You have done well with the Fairy Martin.

Dale Huonville, Tasmania

Devster
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Nothing wrong with those Alex. Well Done!

karentwemlow
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Great work, another double-century :-). I have no chance of catching up but am enjoying seeing everyone getting out and about. And wow, what an obliging Eastern Whipbird, how unusual hey?!!

Alex Rogers
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I managed to get a Fairy Martin on a perch out at Homebush Bay, so I'll add that as a bonus - not often you get a close look at them. But the bird of the day for me was the Spotless Crake - there is a little pond there that is quite reliable for Crake, and it didn't disappoint - the Crake had chicks! As always, they are far away and in the shadows, so not great photos - but cool to see anyway. 

209) Spotless Crake (no data sheet)

Bonus Fairy Martin

Alex Rogers
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I had planned a couple of trips to QLD, one to O'Reillys in the Lamington, and one to Kingfisher Lodge in Julatten - treats to myself for a long tough year. It was not to be - my optimism was misplaced, and I had to cancel them both. So as a consolation prize, I got in my 4x4 and drove out West to Lake Cargelligo, a place I've long wanted to visit, and spent 4 days there over New Year by myself in a tent by the Lachlan River. Self-imposed isolation - and it was bliss :-) And the birds were great! So many new birds for me, as I haven't birded inland at all really, and Cargelligo is on the border of true outback and the NSW farmlands, with a good variety of habitats - farmlands, wetlands, mallee, dry eucalyptus scrub - and a correspondingly great set of birds. I took 2500 photos (!) and am sorting through them now - lots of new ones, and a good few lifers - a very successful and enjoyable trip. I'll post them up as I edit them - lets see how close we can get to the leaders... :-) 

Alex Rogers
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I stopped at West Wyaong to stretch my legs - a nice little wetland that the council had created around their water treatment plant. Picked up a lifer - Yellow-Throated Miners (I'll post pictures of those later as I got much better ones the next day) as well as a bird I haven't got a decent photo of this year - the Musk duck. 

210) Musk Duck. This is a female (without the bizarre throat lobe that males have) but that low-in-the-water profile is distinctive. They are normally pretty shy and immediately buzz off to the other side of the dam - but I managed to get a reasonable view of this one. 

sue818
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Lovely shots, Alex. The Oz tent looks like a great success. Sorry about you missing Qld but you have managed some great places in NSW instead. Having been to these places this year, I am eagerly awaiting the results of your visit... fingers crossed for a Major Mitchell and some of the thousands of budgies present. 

Alex Rogers
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Just before I got to Lake Cargelligo, I saw one of the main species I'd come for - budgies! A lifer for me. Actually it was a productive stop - the bush was alive with birds, and I picked up another lifer, the White-browed Woodswallow. I'll post more pics later as I got better ones. Also zebra finch, white-winged trillers, and other birds. I noted some regional differences - the Black-faced Cuckooshrike had a much paler faces, and the Yellow-rumped Thornbill was so colourful I thought they were pardalotes at first! I also got a bird I can't ID - I'll come back to that. Meanwhile: 

211) Budgerigars

212) White-browed Woodswallow

Devster
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So great to see Alex. Love the tent set up. Grats on the lifers. Always rewarding when you get even one of them.

Alex Rogers
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Thanks Dev. It was a good trip for lifers :-) 

30 Dec I had a massive day exploring the region. I started with Cargelligo State Forest, a little sliver of forest wedged into the farmland near the town. It was super busy with small forest birds, and I went crazy trying to identify them all - so many little brown birds! Lots of them were juveniles, females or juvenile females and looked nothing like the birds in my book! A bit of help from ABID and I've learned a lot today while editing them. 

213) Australian Ringneck (Mallee Ringneck subspecies) - this is one I'd particularly hoped to see, and found them on the side of the road - a bit of stalking and he was in the bag :-) I've seen other ringnecks, but this was my first Mallee subspecies. I'm counting it here as its my first Ringneck photo of any type this year, so a new species for my BY list. 

214) Splendid Fairywren - a single male came flying through, gave me a second as he perched in the deep shade, and then flew on - I never saw them again, so my poor EBC will have to do. What a stunning bird - I looked and looked for them again hoping to have a better view. But I was very excited to get another lifer :-) 

215) Chestnut-rumped Thornbill - another lifer. There are a few thornbills with chestnut rumps, but this is the only one with white eyes. Shots aren't great, so I put in a couple to show those features. 

216) Red-capped Robin - there were robins, whistlers, shrikethrush everywhere, males, females, juveniles of both sexes - it was very confusing for a while lol. But eventually I got a flash of a Red-capped male in the distance (no photo unfortunately) and that tipped me off that what I was seeing was Red-capped juveniles and females. Another lifer. 

Alex Rogers
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Next stop was the Ponds - their euphemism for the Wastewater Treatment Plant, and it was certainly the smelliest one of these I've attended. Yuk. Normally they don't smell at all, but this one had toilet-paper in big paper-mache sculptures and it stank. But the birds were good :-) I saw White winged chats, red capped plover, red kneed dotterel, sharp tailed sandpipers, zebra finch, crakes, all sorts of birds - and a couple of new ones for the year, and one lifer. 

217) Black Kite - he was pursued all over the place by a very determined woodswallow - I got a really good look at him, and distinguished him from Whistling Kites by being darker (I've lightened the underside photo so you can see patterns, but he was really dark), very square end to his tail, the way he constantly rotated the tail from side to side in flight, and different call. I'm not 100% certain so if anyone wants to challenge this one, I'm open to it - but I'm good enough to call it for now. 

218) Singing Honeyeater - havent seen these this year, so was happy to find them here. 

219) White-winged Fairywren. Oh dear - sorry about the awful EBC - perhaps my worst all year (blush) - but I'm shamelessly going to claim it, as it is evidently a WWFR and it was a lifer for me :-) A couple of quick glimpses in the distance, so I'm going to have to go back for some proper photos of this stunning bird. 

Devster
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Well done Alex. Some crackers there. I recon you've got a Square-tailed Kite there. Not dark enough or have a fork tail to be a Black Kite

sue818
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Nice Alex. There was no smell from the Lake Cargelligo Waste water ponds when I visited and no visible waste so perhaps it is an excess of people during the holiday period. Derby was the worst that I have experienced and on two occasions.

I have a fondness for the little birds, Thornbill and Fairy-wrens. Pleased you managed to see some lifers, it is always a great feeling.

Cannot agree with Dev about the Kite. I still think Black Kite rather than Square-tailed Kite ... there is too much barring on the undertail for a Square-tailed Kite. I think the tail, fanned out and possibly worn, is misleading as is the bird's colouring in the photo taken from below being backlit. Sometimes in the field gives the truest picture.
 

Alex Rogers
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Thanks Dev & Sue. I'm very weak on birds of prey, so I spent a lot of quality time with Debus' Birds of Prey of Australia and the photos, but ultimately it was watching the bird fly that did it - the way it held its tail flat and rotated it in flight was exactly like the Black Kites I got to know well in Katherine. I discounted Square-tailed Kites - doesn't have the white face, or banded black and white primaries which are distinguishing. As for the forked tail - I think thats really quite misleading for Black Kites - the "fork" is only evident when perched, or in juveniles - adults have a nearly perfect triangular tail in flight, with a very square tip. So I really think the only contender is Whistling Kite, but I'm pretty sure its a Black. 

Sue - I've always loved fairywrens (I have them tattooed on me lol) and have come to appreciate the thornbills too this year. Difficult little blighters to get good photos of, but I'm up for a challenge :-) Jut for you, here is a bonus Yellow-Rumped Thornbill from Cargelligo - startlingly brighter and more colourful than the ones we get here on the coast, I had to check my book to make sure he wasn't a new thornbill for me. 

Alex Rogers
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Next stop for me was Round Hill - about 45 mins outside Cargelligo, it is a nature reserve protecting a mulga forest. It feels like the real outback - red red soil, hot (40 degrees and I was there in the heat of the afternoon) so I wasn't expecting a lot - but it was full of small birds. I took a walk through the bush, and then took some time staking out the waterhole to see the birds coming in to drink. 

I got a startling flash of scarlet, and managed a glimpse of the male Red-capped Robin fleeing into the distance. The females / juveniles were far more confiding - over the afternoon they were all around me, but I caught sight of 3 males, and all fled before I could get a clear shot. But they are stunning birds, so I'll post one anyway 

216 (Repeat) Male Red-capped Robin

72 (Repeat)) Whistling Kite - I'm learning to slow down at fresh roadkill and search the surrounding trees - it paid off big time with this glorious Whistling Kite. He is a juvenile, with fresh colourful feathers. Isn't he a stunner? He was kind enough to hang around while I got up-sun, and after getting bored of posing, he took off with a characteristic whistle - fantastic call as well .

220) Brown-headed Honeyeater - took me a while to ID this very small honeyeater, as the colouring is washed-out and not very distinct - apparently a feature of Brown-headed is that they are dull, and nowhere near as black-and-white as the other melithreptus honeyeaters, which threw me for a bit. They are also small, so it took me a while to realise it was even a honeyeater lol (its much more apparent in the photos). A lifer. 

221) Black Honeyeater - another lifer. Tiny, they were feeding at the top of a gum tree, and they were hard to photograph. I eventually got a shot that works. And then a female came down to a lower bush - quite different, plainer grey. Lovely graceful little honeyeaters, and one of the birds I'd really hoped to see. 

Alex Rogers
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222) Diamond Dove - another lifer, I saw them first at Cargelligo Forest, and several other times, but at Round Hill they were coming in to drink, and I really like this photo. 

223) Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater - yet another new honeyeater for me. I think I've seen them before but only fleeting glimpses and so have never ticked them - at Round Hill they were busy in the gum trees feeding, and then they were kind enough to come in for a splash and cool down in the water. Very distinctive birds, they have an intent stare and move a little like saurians - you can really feel their dinosaur ancestors. 

Alex Rogers
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The drive back from Round Hill to the Cargelligo Weir where I was camped takes you through Chat Alley - an unpreposessing roadside strip of scraggly saltbush between some farmer's fields. But I'd been told you could often find chats there, so I stopped in the heat (still 40 at 6pm!) and walked it to no avail. So I drove on slowly along a dirt road extension, scaring up pipit after pipit - until I scared up something that wasn't a pipit! 

224) Orange Chat - I've wanted to see these for some time, and I wasn't disappointed - glorious birds. This is an immature male, but even so his colouring is fabulous, even backlit like he was. A great first sighting, and vindicated Chat Alley completely :-) No factsheet for this bird. 

225) Zebra Finch - I tried and tried to get a decent photo of these chaps - was hoping for a good shot of a male in full colour - but this is as close as I got. Ah well, a project for next year - I'd love to collect a few more good finch photos, I do like them. These guys can look a little mournful (particularly the girls) with their tear stripes - but they have such a lovely song - I kept thinking of "Happy Birhday to You" played on a Space Invaders arcade game and it made me laugh :-) 

226) Australian Hobby - Some days things just fall into place, and this was one of them. As I was leaving Chat Alley, I saw a Hobby sitting on a fencepost - my first ever. I scared him off as I drove past - but he was obliging enough to settle on another post not too far away, and to stay there until I at least got an ID-quality photo. While the pics aren't great, I had a great look at him, and he was joined by his mate for a bit as they hunted over the stubble. 

Alex Rogers
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And so to the last day of the year. Another full day in the Lake Cargelligo region. 

I started off the day just on the roadside reserve along Curlew Rd - it was full of parrots, apostlebirds, babblers and honeyeaters. 

227) Grey-crowned Babblers - I love these birds, despite their peeved look they are delightful, chasing eachother, squabbling, constantly talking to each other, and always on the move. I took a lot of photos in the pre-dawn light, and very few were usable at all - this EBC is all I got. 

84 (repeat for different immature) Blue-faced Honeyeaters - as the light got better I heard and saw another Honeyeater - had me confused for a while as they were a few juveniles, and looked quite different to the adults I know - I thought at first it was a Black-chinned. A recurring problem with bird ID - the breeding males are easy, but the immatures, juveniles and females make you work! That facial skin will go blue and more extensive as it grows up.  

228) Bluebonnet - this was a special one for me, one of my target birds and a lifer.I'd been warned that they can be shy / difficult to photograph, and I did have to stalk them all over the place, but they were plentiful, and by adopting a strategy of stopping the car whenever I saw them fly up, I managed to get close to one eventually. They are so cool, they bob on their perches when calling, like little toy parrots, and always seem to be in company with a mate who they constantly interact with. I took the time to clean up some sticks in the background of this pic, so it isn't exactly as shot. 

229) Cockatiels were another target - I've seen them before, but its always glorious to see them in the wild :-) 

Alex Rogers
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It takes a while to get anywhere if you keep stopping lol - but that's why I really enjoy travelling solo on bird trips, I have the exquisite luxury of being able to stop at any time, as long as I like. I took a short break at Eabalong on the way back out to Round Hill, a tiny village in the bush, with some good local birds. 

230) Spotted Bowerbird. Don't they have lovely feathers? They were gleaning insects off the little council park fence. No Factsheet for this bird

156 (replacement for EBC) I found a cute Peaceful Dove calling - my previous effort was awful, so please accept this replacement

All the miners and magpie larks were chasing a bird of prey through the trees, but I never got a clear shot at it. 

dwatsonbb
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Great trip there Alex. Too many great shots to have a favourite. Sounds like me, I prefer to go alone, as I am the one in control of my time. I think I need to learn to be more patient, perhaps that's why I miss a few that others get!

Dale Huonville, Tasmania

sue818
sue818's picture

Wow, Alex, what a haul! I am pleased that the area delivered so well for you but you put the effort in and deserve a great return.  Love that you got a Hobby and Bluebonnets but so many other wonderful photos and lifers!

I am itching to get back there in good weather as my drive through Round Hill was after intense rain and the road was horrendous. That new lens /camera set-up is working well.

Agree with you both re solo birding but a woman needs to be a bit more careful so my patient husband is a blessing as long as we have coffee! Sometimes he drops me off and awaits the call and other times we walk together or he sits somewhere and reads a book. it really depends on the area as to my actions.

I have really enjoyed hearing about your trip as it brought back memories.

Alex Rogers
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And then back to Round Hill for the middle of the day. Another hot day, and I was hoping the waterhole would be busy. You can park up next to it and use your car as a hide, very convenient - so I did that for a couple of hours. 

The Robins, whistlers and honeyeaters came in droves. But the real treat of the day was the woodswallows. 

221 (repeat) Black Honeyeater female - just to show you how small these honeyeaters are

231) Masked Woodswallow - a new bird for me. They swept in with their White-browed cousins in a mixed flock of 70+. A great sight, and I was admiring the effortless way they avoided crashing into each other in this swirling flock. Then I saw the photos - ahahaha - the chaos was real, not just apparent. Such gorgeous birds, my photos and the harsh midday light don't really do the subtle downy blue of their backs justice (apparently they have special down feathers in there). (No factsheet available)

Alex Rogers
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Thanks Dale :-) It WAS a great trip. I'm not as patient as I'd like to be - but I ove sitting at a busy waterhole, whether its in Africa for the animals or here for the birds - endless surprises :-) 

Cheers Sue - what a great place it is. We had a big storm come through later on the afternoon of the 31st, and that stopped play and made the roads a bit tricky. Your husband sounds like an absolute gem :-) And yes, I'm loving the D850/500PF combo. My D500/150-600 combo just got back from repairs as well, so I've got all the hardware I could really want - next year is going to be fun :-)

Alex Rogers
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Goats put an end to the serenity at the waterhole so I went for a little walk in the area. It was alive with immature robins, whistlers, honeyeaters - summer really challenges you to step up your ID of small brown birds! But I was particularly after Inland Thornbills - had seen them in the area, but not photographed them, and they were a new bird for me too. Eventually got this poor EBC shot - but I clearly saw the rufous rump, th heavily streaked throat and scalloped head and red-borwn eye is evident, and apparently the Brown (only other similar one) is not present here, just the Inland. 

Goats

232) Inland Thornbill EBC shot. 

Then it simply got too hot, so I packed it in. Driving back amongst the usual cloud of pipits I noticed some bigger and blacker not-pipits - it always pays to check out those pesky pipits! 

233) Brown Songlark - didn't hear them singing, unfortunately. 

And another Black Kite - this one an immature one in heavy moult. I'm no quite there with BIF yet, but getting better, and its nice to be able to get ID shots anyway, I can start working on my birds of prey IDs .

sue818
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Yes, plenty of goats around! Great set of birds and a very clear Black Kite ... check out that barring on the tail which really does not look very forked, does it? So pleased you managed to get the Inland Thornbill and wondered if the Brown Songlark was from Chat Alley as I saw plenty of them there. A very worthwhile trip!

Alex Rogers
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I was on my way in to town to hunt down some Major Mitchells that had been seen there recently, when a huge storm blew in and rain stopped play. So that was it for my year! 

And despite COVID, its been a pretty good year for my birding. I didn't get out of NSW a lot, but I made more of an effort to get out, and eBird tells me that I recorded 247 species in the year - and per above, I've photographed 233 of those! I've seen 64 new / lifer birds this year (thank you Northern Terrirory and Lake Cargelligo) and I've observed 312 Australian birds to date. So still a beginner, but I'm making progress, and loving it. I feel my photography has come on in leaps and bounds this year - having the right gear really helps, but I'm also developing some small level of skill, and really enjoying that. Roll on 2021!

Devster
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Alex what a fantastic trip and that Bluebonnet, Hobby and all those Woodswallows are just remarkable. Congrats on a great Big Year. Imagine what you could have done with no restrictions.

dwatsonbb
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Great finish to a not such a great year. I think we will be somewhat restricted at least for the first part of the year. Good luck with next year, and continuing to build all your tallies.

Dale Huonville, Tasmania

karentwemlow
karentwemlow's picture

What a great Innings for 2020 Alex, and your trips are very inspiring! How gorgeous is that little Red-capped Robin :-)

Alex Rogers
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Thanks all - its been so much fun :-) 

Alex Rogers
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Ah, I've misidentified 226 - they were not Hobby but  Brown Falcons. I'm really going to have to work on my raptor IDs. I've corrected it on my own bird lists and just noting this here for accuracy, my totals will need to go down one. 

sue818
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Still a great tally, Alex and such a home run. 

FYI, the Brown Falcon has classic double teardrop surrounding a pale cheek rather than a hood. When posting so many it is easy to misname one. They also come in a variety of shades which can also make ID tricky, anyway from pale to quite dark. Part of the fun with birding is nailing that ID.

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