my first trip to Western treatment Plant.Vic

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heva1
heva1's picture
my first trip to Western treatment Plant.Vic

Hi all, made my first trip to the western treatment plant today. A huge place, spent 5 hours there, and I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't smell! Even had a picnic there!
Great variety of birds to be seen.
Black Shouldered kite with ?black kite in the background.

Cattle Egret?
Australian Shelduck and Black Swans
Silver gull
juvenile
Fairy terns (I think)

Black kite?
yellow-Rumped thornbill
zebra finches
Pelicans

cathshane

Hey Hev, great shots,is the western treatment plant the one at werribee?
Regards

heva1
heva1's picture

Hi Cath and Shane, yes in Weribee, you have to do an induction/safety session and pay a deposit for a key. Here is the website for more details, I will definately be going again tho may have to drag sis-in-law instead of partner next time (he did get to read a lot of his book though!) www.melbournewater.com.au

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

Tassie

Gidday Hev, looks like you had a good day. Nice series of shots you have there, It was interesting to see the Zeb finches down there and even more interesting to see the hen is a pied.

heva1
heva1's picture

Hi Tassie...what do you mean 'the hen is a pied?'

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

Tassie

Hey Hev if you don't mind I have posted a shot of a pair of wild Zebs I took up here in CQ, check out the difference.

Tassie

Hev what I mean is it could be an avairy escapee.In captive populations you get Pieds.Whites,Black fronts,Fawns,just to name a few.
Basically they are all variants from their natural wild colour and given the location of yours it is highly likely they are escapees.
The pair I have posted for you to compare are the "Natural" wild colour, I photographed them out near Middlemount in CQ.
Just like all wild Budgies are green these guys are grey.
Anything else is not their natural wild colour.
Hope this helps.

heva1
heva1's picture

hmm I see what you mean... it's not just a juvenile or a female though is it (in my pic?)

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

Tassie

Hey Hev, all the adult birds have a red beak as do both of yours,Juvs are black.
The pied is definately an adult hen bird and the one behind is an adult Cock bird.

birdie
birdie's picture

Hey Hev these shots are good............. much better than on FB. Just goes to show how much compressing they do.

Looks like a great day out

See ya

birdie

Sunshine Coast Queensland

GeorgeP
GeorgeP's picture

Nice series, hev. Hope to get the BSK when I'm there next Sunday. FYI the Zebra Finches appear on the official WTP birdlist, however the pair you have captured could well be escaped birds. I can't separate them.

Cheers,

George
Melbourne, VIC

heva1
heva1's picture

Hi georgeP, ...and they would survive in the wild? there was a group of maybe ten or so, seemed quite happy flitting about noisily.
Birdie...that's why you need to post here as well as FB!! :)

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

Tassie

Hi Hev,their distribution states that they are found in "Dry Grasslands" their distribution maps don't show them as being that far down.
The cut off point is more in line with Sydney, however anything is possible in the bird world.
George said they are on the list so they evidently have been there for a while.
After a good hard second look at yours, I cannot make out what the one behind is, what I can tell you with absolute certainity is the one in front is a pied hen and that is not a natural factor in the wild.
Not a good thing to have in wild populations.
A bit of trivia for you....the Zebra is able to retain its urine in its body as fluid until such time it finds a drink.
They are evidently doing well there although I have always come across them in more arid regions.
Thanks for sharing Hev, I would not have expected to see Zebs in Werribee, goes to show you learn something everyday.

cathshane

HI Hev,thanks for the info,we will go and check it out after we get back from our camping trip to Kevington(hopefully we will have some nice pics!)
Regards

birdie
birdie's picture

Hev, point taken about the posting... I just get lazy with all the stuffing about with Flickr etc these days
Tassie..... yes and I learned the fascinating physiology of the zeb finches urinary system !!! LOL
You are just full of these little snippets aren't you?

Where did you learn all this stuff?
Don't tell me... you were also a science teacher in an earlier life?

Keep it coming Tassie... it's all good stuff

Birdie

Sunshine Coast Queensland

Birdgirl2009
Birdgirl2009's picture

Love the black-Shouldered kite - it is a really beautiful bird. You've inspired me to go and look for one today - we have them around here - I often see them when I am driving the family somewhere without my camera LOL That just reminded me - I was hanging the washing out a few weeks ago and I looked up and 2 were flying above me. I ran in to get my camera but of course they were gone when I came back out

Windhover
Windhover's picture

Heather
Send me that Egret shot as a large, fine jpeg (convert straight from RAW) via e-mail. It looks like a Little Egret to me. Black legs....etc... I could see better in a larger file....

heva1
heva1's picture

hi Akos do you mean as a Tiff? No problem.
Birdgirl...did you get your BSK shots, they are such beautiful birds, so elegant and graceful. That one was very patient with me stalking it, not like me when I was poised to take a shot and a guy got out of his car to see what I was looking at and then proceeded to answer a call on his mobile and talk and walk closer and closer until the BSK flew off....grrrrrrr :)

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

heva1
heva1's picture

hmmm think I just answered my own question there... my computer wont send to you as a tiff.

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best

Windhover
Windhover's picture

Heather
Got the jpeg, thanks.
Definitely a Little Egret, Egretta garzetta. Well done! :)

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