Western Treatment Plant (Werribee)

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Owen1
Owen1's picture
Western Treatment Plant (Werribee)

I got a new Pentax K-r with 12.4 megapixels and I tested it out at the WTP and it was great.
We saw heaps of birds all over the place and I was lucky enough to get a good shot of a Brown Quail at the far eastern part. We saw a group of 4 Red-necked Stints at the Borrow Pits so maybe the waders are arriving.
I also sat there and let the avocets and stilts come near me and it actually worked!
The air was filled with swallows and martins.
Some shots are cropped to allow easier viewing but not enhanced in any way.


Zebra Finch pair near the ford


Golden-headed Cisticola


Obliging Welcome Swallow


Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo


Brown Quail


Red-capped Plovers at the Borrow pits


Red-necked Avocet


Black-winged Stilt


Brown Falcon takeoff


Fairy Martins


Tree Martin


Black-fronted Dotterel on the ford at Little River
Thanks for looking and enjoy!

cooee
cooee's picture

Looks like you had another great birding experience at the Western Treatment Plant. Great photos, love the brown quail and the martins

Owen1
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Thanks cooee. i just had a hard look at my field guide and it looks most like a Brown Quail. I was lucky both species of Martins sat still on the fence.

Cheers, Owen.

Qyn
Qyn's picture

Great series of photos again, Owen - good advertisement for the new camera as well. You are giving your Dad definite competition in the photo-taking stakes.

My favourite is the Golden-headed Cisticola.

Alison
~~~~~~
"the earth is not only for humans, but for all animals and living things."

Owen1
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Thanks qynn. The Cisticolas are surprsingly tame and would sometimes land on grasses right next to the car. Most birds don't seem to mind cars but on foot they are shy.

Cheers, Owen.

smeedingo2
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HI
What a lovely lot of birds

Araminta
Araminta's picture

What a day you must have had!?! New camera, fantastic birds, great shots, what else could you dream of? I can't recall ever having seen a fairy Martin, or a tree Martin. (But that doesn't mean anything,I need new glasses!LOL) Love your photos!

M-L

Owen1
Owen1's picture

thanks. M-L there's one easy way to tell martins for swallows. Martins have bright white rumps and no forked tail and swallos have dark rumps and deeply forked tails.
Other than that they can be hard to tell apart because of their similar habits.

Cheers, Owen.

Araminta
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Thanks Owen,my brain wasn't working for a minute then. (I have just looked at 300 photos I took today, does that exlpain it?)M-L

M-L

GeorgeP
GeorgeP's picture

What a fantastic set of shots, Owen! Sounds like it was a very productive day for you. Congrats on the purchase of the new camera.

Cheers,

George
Melbourne, VIC

hollylister78
hollylister78's picture

Owen I love your Zebra finches! And the little Cisticola is lovely (-:

cathshane

Hey Owen, looks like you had another great day out.

Owen1
Owen1's picture

Thanks everyone. We have never been to the plant during spring time so I'm looking forward to what it might hold.

Cheers, Owen.

Meave
Meave's picture

We have tried so hard to get some quail pics - the only ones we managed we think are brown quail, but scurrying off into the grass so fast we can't be sure! Your pics are lovely, so very clear and the colours are great. I do appreciate your sharing these superb photos.

Meave

Owen1
Owen1's picture

Thanks Meave. He somehow thought he had a good chance of blending into the background so he froze and was quite obvious. We first saw him fly from the grass beside the car and he actually landed not far away.

Cheers, Owen.

Birdgirl2009
Birdgirl2009's picture

Congrats on the new camera. I'm sure you'll give it a good workout! What a great variety of birds. You've done well to get so many small ones. I find they move between the time I focus and the time I click

Woko
Woko's picture

Great stuff again, Owen. You don't happen to know how to distinguish between fairy martins & tree martins in flight do you?

crazeegeoff
crazeegeoff's picture

WOW, what a series of beautiful photos!
Thanks for showing them, they really rock!

Owen1
Owen1's picture

Thanks lots guys. Birdgirl the camera can refocus several times a second and that can help if a small bird moves to get it straight back into focus again.
woko it is so hard to tell between the two Martin species.
The only way I can tell is that Fairy Martins have a light buff head while the Tree Martins have a dark blue head. We were lucky that the Martins at werribee flew very close to the car and I could easily see the colour on their head. If I am out in the bush I find it very hard to see the difference.
My best advice for you is to try and follow one with your binos.

Cheers, Owen.

Woko
Woko's picture

It certainly is hard to distinguish between the 2 species, Owen. I had wondered if there was any difference in flight behaviour. On one occasion when I saw quite a few martins flying around I thought that some were flying more directly, others slightly more jerkily than others. Perhaps, again, it was my imagination running riot.

sparrow
sparrow's picture

Nice set of pic's, you did well with the new kit.
Love the zebs ! they really are such a pretty little bird.

Owen1
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Thanks. woko I have seen flocks with both Martins and I couldn't see a difference in flight.

Cheers, Owen.

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