A mate and I are competing in the Victorian Twitchathon next Sunday and took a trip down to the WTP for a little pre-Twitch recce. We found about 100 species, including the species below. Thanks for viewing.
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Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (juv).
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Red-kneed Dotterel.
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Superb Fairy-wren.
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Black-shouldered Kite (juv).
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Skylark.
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Pied Oystercatcher.
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Cheers,
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George
What the #$%@^! ?
Cheers,
George
Melbourne, VIC
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (juv).
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Red-kneed Dotterel.
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Superb Fairy-wren.
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Black-shouldered Kite (juv).
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Skylark.
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Pied Oystercatcher.
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Hopefully successful this time.
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Cheers,
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George
Cheers,
George
Melbourne, VIC
Great set George, good luck for Sunday
Ed Townsville NQ
Excellent series of shots George. I particularly love the skylark on the barbed wire and the sandpiper.
Well done. Excuse my ignorance, but I gather a twitchathon means you need to note as many species as possible?
Cheers
Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Beautiful clean photographs George. Well done. The Dotterel in particular looks a bit over sharpened, is that a result of cutting back the image size for posting? I have had trouble with the quality of some of mine when I resize.
See Yez
Trev
Lovely series George, favourites are BSK and Skylark, does the Skylark have a crest or was it just windy...guess I should look it up in my book...just being lazy...
Is the western treatment plant near weribee somewhere? and does it smell bad?!Looks like a great place for species.
Same as Birdie... what is a twitchathon? and how come I haven't heard about it?!
Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best
Firstly, thanks all for your kind comments.
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ed Thanks mate. We're trying to beat our best total of 142.
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birdie and Hev the Twitchathon is run by Birds Australia and runs over either eight or 24 hours. The general idea is to see or hear as many birds in the alloted time. Check their website for further details.
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Trev I see what you mean. The jpeg, prior to saving for web, looks fine and I didn't apply any more than that aaplied to the other images. My preference is to use minimum sharpening and try for originally sharp images. Thanks for pointing it out.
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Cheers,
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George
Cheers,
George
Melbourne, VIC
Lovely set George - I love the Skylark shot. The fence justs sets it off, and lovely colours.
I agree, the Skylark looks stunning, and isn't that oystercatcher a funny bird. Looks pretty comical to me :)
Also, has the pied Oystercatcher got some metal bands on its legs? Or is it just the coulour of it's legs.
Amateur
Bands they are. Here's a closer look.
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Cheers,
George
Melbourne, VIC
And they are for tracking th bird's movement? And who would put them on there, some conservationists or scientists?
Regards, Amateur
Gidday George, what a top set of shots, I love the Skylark shot mate.
George I think your drain is better than mine by the looks of it....lol.
Good luck for Sunday mate,please keep us posted.
HI George
Very Very good mate top shots Love the B.S.kite keep it up mate
the Western treatment plant is listed as 'one of the top ten places in Australia for birdwatching' so it is now officially on my list of places to go birding.
re the twitchathon...since asking the question I have started reading a book called 'the big twitch' mentioned by someone on this forum,it is so laugh out loud funny!His book is about a year long twitchathon he completes, scary thing is I can see lots of similarities ti myself and the 'birdy-nerdys' he describes....
Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best
Does any one else see all the strange symbols in above post that appears to be from George but shows amateur's gravatar in it?
Weird
Sunshine Coast Queensland
oh, they are gone now, must have been a download glitch ... Optus strikes again!
Sunshine Coast Queensland
George P, you are a very talented photographer ...and very patient to, by the look of the shots. Excellent work!
Hi George, I have finally managed to persuade my partner to take me on a date to the Western treatment plant AKA werribee sewage farm! is it open every day? do you have to pay/arrange to be allowed in? If so is there a phone number you have?
He asked me if I was making a picnic to take ... I said I thought best to go to a cafe:)
Thanks for the help.
Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best
G'day Hev,
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I'm pretty sure it's open all days except Christmas but you'll need a key (all gates into and within the place are locked) that Melbourne Water will issue. In addition, you'll need to notify MW in advance of your visit. More details on the MW website. Have fun on your first date to the WTP :-)
Cheers,
George
Melbourne, VIC
Thanks George, I checked out the website but couldn't find info about keys/visiting so I just e mailed with an enquiry.
Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best
What fantastic shots. My favourite is the wren:)
[link]http://www.petdirectory.com.au/?page=birds[/link]
Nice lot of pictures George, Someone is supposed to be taking me to the western treatment plant soon. They said once and haven't talked about it again, I live in Geelong.
Cheers
John
Heva1, I borrowed The Big Twitch last week as well and am finding it a great read, reccomend it to anyone. So anyone know about the metal bands on the oystercatchers legs?
Nice few shots Goerge, I live in Geelong and someone hear has said they will take me to the Western Treatment Plant but they've only said it the once and I am looking forward to it.
Cheers
John
Hi John, for your info.
I checked out thier website (western treatment plant) and you have to complete an application form for a birding 'permit' which you can download from the net. Then pay $20. The permit lasts 2 years. Then you have to pay a $50 key deposit which you get back when your permit runs out and you return the key.
Each time you go you have to ring in advance and let them know you and give licence plate number.
If your buddy is already a permit holder then you are laughing, if I had a friend offer to take me they wouldn't be able to get away with NOT taking me! haha!
Let us know what it's like when you go.
I'm trying Lysterfield lake before I get a WTP permit, which is in my area and free to get in:)
Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best
hey Amateur, yes 'The Big Twitch' makes me lol. Do you find similarities to yourself and him when he first got interested in birds? It's great that you are starting young... by the time you get to my age you will have a great long list of birds you've seen, I was a late starter!
Which bird book did you decide to get in the end? Good idea to have a 'pocket size' one. I use slaters which is good but I often wish I had it with me when out and see a bird I can't ID, I find by the time I get back I can't remember exactly what a bird was like.
Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best
Yeah, I ended up getting a Simpson and Day for Christmas, with it though. I can realte to his schoolyard story of going to the fence to look at biurds, I do that alot when supposed to be playing cricket at lunch and even find myself wondering what bird is making that strange call in any subjects. Luckily I go to a selective highschool so I think people are much more tolerant of strange habits such as bird watching. Yes, it is a great read and laugh, slowly working my way through it, some great funny stories in there :). Yes, I was considering getting a pocket one which I can keep in my pocket when I go bushwalking or marshing in SA so I have it quickly on hand. I expect to see alot of species I don't know, so the ID page is gonna be full with my queries ;)
Hi Amateur when are you going marshing in SA? that sounds like fun, do you print a list of bird species off for areas that you visit so that you can tick the ones you spot?
Hope your cricket playing doesn't suffer too much 'cos of your birdspotting!
Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best
Well, I'm hoping to go marhsing in SA somewhere near the Murray perhaps? I'm not sure the family will be to keen on that one though ;). I don't print off a list, I just write down what I see if I can ID it, I tried using a list once before, I would spot the bird and then 1/2 hour later I would finally tick it off it after scouring throught the list. And mate, don't my friends get annoyed when I leave to go and find what bird is making an interesting call.
Hey Amateur
That "going off in search of an interesting noise" is kind of addictive isn't it? My daughter just rolls her eyes and says oh MUM!!!! I just can't ignore the sounds any more. HA HA they'll just have to put up with me I guess.
Cheers
Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Lol, yes it is addictive. I honestly can't believe the start of this year, already 3 unidentified birds, and there will a ton more when I come back from SA. We leave tomorrow and should be back in a couple of weeks, so I'll be gone for a while. Lol, and Lyn, just leave you phone number and address and we'll drop in for a couple of nights.
Just Kiddin ;)
Cya's in 2 weeks
hey Amateur, you have a great holiday. We'll be expecting lots of pics and ticks on your bird list tho.... no pressure;) have fun!
Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best