Some great shots there! Well done on the quail - some good persistence to get that shot! I've seen a good few this year, all giving me heart attacks by exploding from under my feet, and havent got remotely close to photographing one lol
I hear you about the quail Alex, usually they are seen briefly and are gone! I still can't believe our luck with this quiet bird!
Thanks everyone for your lovely comments!
I've got one addition today from Begola Wetlands in Ocean Grove, on the Bellarine Peninsula - my one reliable site for Latham Snipe!! Since we are here for Christmas with family I thought I'd take a shot again as I saw Latham's Snipe here last year. Same as last year, I only had to turn up at the lake for the snipe to flush! Unlike last year I missed the lovely flights shots (so far, I plan on going back) and had to hunt through the grass and shoot across the lake for these photos. So they aren't great.
But it's a 165) Latham's Snipe!!!! 2 in fact, and I'm pretty sure I saw 3. So it was a great day!
Back to Begola wetlands today to take another crack at the Latham's Snipe and I accidentally found
166) Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater!
I love these birds because they have so much going on from their pink beaks to their creaky calls to their blue eye to their interesting patterns! I can't believe I haven't seen one all year! I would've liked better shots but this portrait shot will do.
Since I went for Snipe pictures I'll add a few - they were challenging again but that's half the fun! Because it was very windy and the wind was coming towards me, the birds were taking off and landing away from me so I got lots of shots of their backs!
Great work, Danika. I love the Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters for all the reasons you mentioned... I imagine they are wearing lipstick to set off the blue eyes. Wonderful work getting the Snipe as well.
Thanks everyone! It was a challenge getting shots of the Latham's snipe, I put 3 days into the effort in the end but it was lots of fun. What else are you going to do around the holidays by the beach when the weather won't turn up??
By the by, I bumped into a local man while I was Snipe watching one day, just as 4 Snipe flushed at once from a small marsh. I was super excited!! He asked me if I had seen anything interesting so I told him about the Snipe. In a bored voice he said, oh yeah, we counted 80 Snipe at the last 3 yearly count!! WHAT?? It's a small reserve, I have no idea how they found so many. My best count was 8!
So to top this year off with a bang, I spent the last 2 days at the epic Western Treatment Plant!! I have sunburnt hands from holding up my binos and camera, sunburnt face, wind dried eyes, a car full of dust inside and out and a PILE of memories as well as some lifers and a list of new birds!
I got my permit just before the plant closed to permit holders due to the pandemic! So I've been hanging out all this time, along with other permit holders to find out when it would reopen! The big day was November 29th but I haven't yet had a chance to make it down there when I wasn't working or something else was on for part of the day. So this was my first solo trip!
If you haven't been and want to go and don't have a permit, hit me up any time, always happy to take a trip down there!
So here we go to finish off the year!! I'll add them one by one so I can tell you a bit about them, because they are mostly ones I rarely see or haven't seen in a long time, or don't occur locally.
167) Purple-crowned Lorikeet - these were in the conservation woodlot sections along Point Wilson Road, just off the freeway. Yesterday I would have said I saw about 8 birds, today I easily counted 30 odd birds including a couple of nest hollows which was thrilling! These were my bogey bird from Serendip Sanctuary earlier in the year so I'm really pleased to have seen them so well!
168) 1st bird within the Western Treatment Plant (WTP) for the list was the White-fronted Chat - saw SOO many of these, pairs of them everywhere!! And I have only seen one other single bird for the whole year, at a huge distance. I was saving a dodgy photo in case I'd need it but that's scrap now. Very cute and fun to watch!
I'm not good at songbirds!! This one is a lifer, if I've identified it correctly! I had a lot of trouble in the field, not the least because the heat haze was messing with my focus and I couldn't get a clean look through my camera to zoom in.
169) I believe after much deliberation that this is a Horsfield's Bushlark according to the Australian Bird Guide, or Australasian Bushlark according to Ebird! Definitely a lifer which is awesome!!
It sings beautifully, but rarely have I seen it before I flushed it!! Most frustrating! Beautiful patterning and a gorgeous little birdie. Over the 2 days once I got used to IDing it I saw it many times but I still am not sure that I can recognise it by song.
WTP is famous for its raptors. Across 2 days I saw Whistling, Black and Black-shouldered Kite, Black and Brown Falcon, Swamp Harrier, Kestrel, Wedge-tailed Eagles, Sea Eagle and possibly others I've forgotten at this moment!! There are so many other birds that there's also dinner to be had, plus there are many rabbits right now, and I watched 4 Black Kites circling over the harvesters as they worked, maybe hoping for mice.
170) Black Falcon - I haven't seen one of these in forever! It flew over head and I got a poor flight shot, then it joined a pair of Swamp Harriers and after a brief tussle it landed on a fence post and graciously allowed me to drive past and get a shot. A lot of photographt at WTP is done from the car I found!!
171) Getting into some shorebirds, we have the Common Greenshank. Its been so long since I've seen one that I'd forgotten all about them and was wracking my brain trying to come up with some other kind of sandpiper! Oops! Beautiful graceful creature.
172) And some BIG birds!! I've been hanging out to see the Brolga as lots of people have been posting pics of different Facebook groups...I didn't see the baby sadly but its just more reason to go back!
173) And some TINY birds! All year since I captured the Tree Martins I've been trying to complete my set with the Fairy Martins and haven't been able to find them anywhere! Of course we've mostly been in lockdown since April so there's that. But still, I was so happy to find these little guys flitting around, and they are everywhere around WTP!! I even found an old abandoned Telstra exchange house and they have made their nests around every spare inch of overhang! It's like a cloud of Martins coming and going. Interestingly some House Sparrows seem to hide out in some empty nests or between nests...not sure if they are trying to trick the Martins into giving them food or just borrowing house space??
174) Another songbird, another I don't know what I'm doing moment!! I actually thought up until going through my photos that this was another Horsfield's Bushlark, but I realise the beak is all wrong for that, so I've consulted my tomes and I believe I have a Brown Songlark! Any expert opinions welcomed! It should be clear enough with such a clear photo, one would think, but I'm all at sea with these birds! I still can't believe that it just sat there; I half believe that it had no legs, I certainly saw no evidence of them :)
This is a lifer, albeit an after the fact, not so sure it really is a lifer, lifer!!
What a great set. Looks like your wait has paid off. I particularly love the Purple-crowned Lorikeets as I have never seen them before. Definitely a Horsefield's Bushlark. They look like a big sparrow until they call that is.
175) Continuing my inexpert foray into songbirds with the Eurasian Skylark which at least I have the advantage of having heard and seen at a distance before, but it was a considerable challenge getting any sort of photograph because they flushed before I saw them and they are always on the move, and when they fly they go higher and higher until they literally disappear from vision! I don't know where they go but I can hear them up there above an invisible ceiling!! So bear with this best of a bad lot shot please...
176) Back to shorebirds, here is a beautiful specimen called the Marsh Sandpiper - how stunning! I'd heard via Facebook that people had seen this bird as well as the Wood Sandpiper at WTP so I was keen to see them both. I wasn't as lucky with the Wood Sandpiper, but I practically tripped over this one on my first day. I love it when twitching is easy!!
177) As I drove out of the last gate of WTP on day 1 this Brown Falcon was just sitting on a bush across the road surveying the scene. Not sure what its plans were, and the shot isn't as good as it should have been since we were both stationary but I'll claim distance and heat haze. A lovely bird! It completes my falcon set
178) Whiskered Tern - I tried so hard to get a good flight shot of one of these little beasties!! They are always flitting and their flight pattern is so unpredictable! It's a lot of fun/frustration but satisfying in the end. There are HUNDREDS of these across all of WTP, across all of the ponds and the beach and roosting and feeding, so busy! Right now in breeding plumage they are one of the more distinctive terns, thankfully! There are plenty more mysterious ones that I'm still figuring out!!
178) Whiskered Tern - I tried so hard to get a good flight shot of one of these little beasties!! They are always flitting and their flight pattern is so unpredictable! It's a lot of fun/frustration but satisfying in the end. There are HUNDREDS of these across all of WTP, across all of the ponds and the beach and roosting and feeding, so busy! Right now in breeding plumage they are one of the more distinctive terns, thankfully! There are plenty more mysterious ones that I'm still figuring out!!
179) White-bellied Sea Eagle - I'd seen another WTP bird watcher post photos of this incredible bird recently so I was hoping to see one but hadn't the day before and just as I was doing my final run along the beach I saw this beauty. It caught me by surprise so I missed the front on shots sadly, what a stunner! It was carrying a large prey and being seen off the premises by a flock of silver gulls and terns that were anxious that it leave the area! I jumped out of the car ASAP and got as many rear shots as I could hoping for at least one that showed the head for the ID. This is the best I could manage. Still not sure of the prey, maybe a puffer fish? Something spiky and round. A beautiful bird, so large and graceful, yet powerful.
180) White-winged Black Tern - another of the many tern species at WTP. This one was less common, and a bit harder to identify as to me it looked a bit similar to some other terns, so I did run it by the ABID group on Facebook who confirmed my ID. Very excited with this lifer!
181) Getting close to the end of my fabulous two days now but a few more to come...next up is the Banded Stilt, a funny lifer!!
I left the Austin Rd bird hide on the first day and as I reached the car park I saw another lady getting out of her car. She asked me if I'd seen any Banded Stilts because someone had told her that they were in front of the bird hide. I told her there were a bunch of stilts but that they were all Pied Stilt (or White-headed or whatever the current name is) and that I hadn't seen any Banded Stilts.
This happens a lot around WTP, people come specifically for a species that turns up for a period of time only. Currently there's a Marsh and Wood Sandpiper, the Brolga baby, the Stubble Quail...and the returning shorebirds.
Anyway, you can see where this is going...
I got home and reviewed my photos and every single one of those Pied Stilts was a Banded Stilt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Embarrassing much???? I even had an amazing flock flyover photo past the hide that I thought at the time was a flock of Whiskered Tern because they are always flying around in flocks...basically I didn't look at them properly at all, just assumed what they were and nearly missed a lifer sighting!! Lesson learnt! Don't get too tired and think you've seen everything there is too see!
182) Another of my target birds heading down to the WTP was the Red-necked Avocet, and I found it in a blurry photo of a flock flyby of Banded Stilt when I got home after the first day so went back and targeted them properly on the second day, having a better idea where to find them. My photos weren't brilliant, by the time I found them it was getting very windy on their pond and they were getting buffeted around but a couple of shots worked out.
183) Then just because 2 whole days at the WTP weren't quite enough, I made a little stop on the way home at a place my Birdlife Photography group showed me once called Skeleton Creek boardwalk in Point Cook, because earlier in the year I found the Common Sandpiper there. It's a busy thoroughfare but somehow you can get lucky with the species that are found there.
This time it was an Australian Spotted Crake, something I've only seen at the WTP before but not this time. I had found watching it forage along the bank of the creek and it seemed totally unaware of me which was cool.
P.S. I got SOOO many improvement shots during this trip but I will not keep adding birds ad nauseum when I've just added 20 odd to my actual list, bring on 2022 for a new list and new challenges :)
Fabulous lot of birds, Danika. I've been waiting for the White-winged Black-tern when I saw it on ABID... the tip I was given is look for a Tern wearing headphones. Love those Banded Stilts as well. Very productive birding with some interesting birds, you have had a wonderful time.
184) Ok, bear with me for this one - I've been hanging onto it all year since February hoping to make a trip to the gannet colony in Portland, but I should have gone in February!! If I'd had foresight, I would have. But that's over now. Instead I have this grab shot from Cheetham wetlands on the bay which isn't my best work, but it will have to count for this year.
Fantastic Danika, you have massed a great tally, well done. Must be glad some freedom of movement have finally come to you.
Western Tratment Plant was on my wish list of places to visit. Unfortunately our family situation has changed, so I am unlikely to get to Mainland Australia anytime soon.
Thanks guys, it was a great trip, well worth it if you ever can.
I realise going back over my year that I have already put in Brown Falcon earlier but forgot to put it in my own spreadsheet, so my tally should only be 183 - thanks :)
185) So I THINK that this will be my last addition to my 2021 list...I was waiting on confirmation of ID for one last tern and I just got it tonight thanks to the Facebook Seabirds and Pelagics group after I failed to get a reply from the ABID group yesterday and today. There are some real experts out there and I'm so grateful that they freely share their knowledge!
This is one more from my WTP trip - just to add to Whiskered, Crested, and White-winged Black Tern - I can now confirm Common Tern as well!! I can't confirm that the ID points are set in my head for the future but I'm trying to gel them so that next time I can do my own ID work!! So bouncing back to 184!
The left and middle terns in the photo are Common Tern, and the right tern is a Crested Tern (or Greater Crested Tern if you live further north).
Danika, you might have been posting as I did... this Common Tern is actually 185 as you did not double-up on Brown Falcon... just forgot to count it as 100.
Hi Sue, thanks for checking this. I found a post from earlier, #53, that suggested I counted Brown Falcon then, after initially thinking it was Brown Goshawk...
"53) I had myself convinced this was a Collared Sparrowhawk, but I'm going back to Brown Goshawk. However if anyone else wants to zoom in and through their 2 cents into the argument I'd love that. I was going off the bulge in the lower ridge of the wing but it doesn't show at all angles. EDIT: when cropping I've looked closer at the face and now I'm convinced its a Brown Falcon juvenile, confirmed per ABG. I've changed the fact sheet to match".
So I think I counted it at 53 in my post but forgot t change my spreadsheet from Brown Goshawk, then didn't count it at 100, then put it in this week!!!! I'm really trying to make sure its in there, aren't I??
In any case, I don't believe I have a Brown Goshawk in my list...although that reminds me that I do have a Brown Goshawk photo from November, but I didn't put it up because when I checked my spreadsheet at the time it said I already had a Brown Goshawk...oh dear I've really minced this! How about I say
Thanks so much Sue, you're a genius!! Very much appreciate all your help and hard work keeping the numbers in order. I'll amend those posts. Yes I'm excited to see what 2022 will bring, especially if I can cross some borders!! :) bring it on! Good luck to everyone!
Congrats on you tally Danika, I noted your posts on the Seabird and Pelagics page, but have no confidence in my ability to ID, as I am also a relative newcomer to both shore and seabirds. Great work, well done.
Great birds Danika! Like you, I've been waiting on WTP to reopen... I got my key in late June and it's been no use to me since then! I still haven't been able to get there but I will be heading there soon enough for a solo poke around and I can't wait :)
Who can't love a robin? Beautiful.
Love the Shelducks as we don't see them up this way. Thr Robins are super cute
Some great shots there! Well done on the quail - some good persistence to get that shot! I've seen a good few this year, all giving me heart attacks by exploding from under my feet, and havent got remotely close to photographing one lol
I hear you about the quail Alex, usually they are seen briefly and are gone! I still can't believe our luck with this quiet bird!
Thanks everyone for your lovely comments!
I've got one addition today from Begola Wetlands in Ocean Grove, on the Bellarine Peninsula - my one reliable site for Latham Snipe!! Since we are here for Christmas with family I thought I'd take a shot again as I saw Latham's Snipe here last year. Same as last year, I only had to turn up at the lake for the snipe to flush! Unlike last year I missed the lovely flights shots (so far, I plan on going back) and had to hunt through the grass and shoot across the lake for these photos. So they aren't great.
But it's a 165) Latham's Snipe!!!! 2 in fact, and I'm pretty sure I saw 3. So it was a great day!
Back to Begola wetlands today to take another crack at the Latham's Snipe and I accidentally found
166) Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater!
I love these birds because they have so much going on from their pink beaks to their creaky calls to their blue eye to their interesting patterns! I can't believe I haven't seen one all year! I would've liked better shots but this portrait shot will do.
Since I went for Snipe pictures I'll add a few - they were challenging again but that's half the fun! Because it was very windy and the wind was coming towards me, the birds were taking off and landing away from me so I got lots of shots of their backs!
Great work, love the Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, that a beautiful shot.
Have only had 1 sighting of a Latham's Snipe, and had trouble getting a decent shot.
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
Nicely done, Danika. Both unknown/unseen birds for me. :)
Great work, Danika. I love the Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters for all the reasons you mentioned... I imagine they are wearing lipstick to set off the blue eyes. Wonderful work getting the Snipe as well.
Thanks everyone! It was a challenge getting shots of the Latham's snipe, I put 3 days into the effort in the end but it was lots of fun. What else are you going to do around the holidays by the beach when the weather won't turn up??
By the by, I bumped into a local man while I was Snipe watching one day, just as 4 Snipe flushed at once from a small marsh. I was super excited!! He asked me if I had seen anything interesting so I told him about the Snipe. In a bored voice he said, oh yeah, we counted 80 Snipe at the last 3 yearly count!! WHAT?? It's a small reserve, I have no idea how they found so many. My best count was 8!
So to top this year off with a bang, I spent the last 2 days at the epic Western Treatment Plant!! I have sunburnt hands from holding up my binos and camera, sunburnt face, wind dried eyes, a car full of dust inside and out and a PILE of memories as well as some lifers and a list of new birds!
I got my permit just before the plant closed to permit holders due to the pandemic! So I've been hanging out all this time, along with other permit holders to find out when it would reopen! The big day was November 29th but I haven't yet had a chance to make it down there when I wasn't working or something else was on for part of the day. So this was my first solo trip!
If you haven't been and want to go and don't have a permit, hit me up any time, always happy to take a trip down there!
So here we go to finish off the year!! I'll add them one by one so I can tell you a bit about them, because they are mostly ones I rarely see or haven't seen in a long time, or don't occur locally.
167) Purple-crowned Lorikeet - these were in the conservation woodlot sections along Point Wilson Road, just off the freeway. Yesterday I would have said I saw about 8 birds, today I easily counted 30 odd birds including a couple of nest hollows which was thrilling! These were my bogey bird from Serendip Sanctuary earlier in the year so I'm really pleased to have seen them so well!
168) 1st bird within the Western Treatment Plant (WTP) for the list was the White-fronted Chat - saw SOO many of these, pairs of them everywhere!! And I have only seen one other single bird for the whole year, at a huge distance. I was saving a dodgy photo in case I'd need it but that's scrap now. Very cute and fun to watch!
I'm not good at songbirds!! This one is a lifer, if I've identified it correctly! I had a lot of trouble in the field, not the least because the heat haze was messing with my focus and I couldn't get a clean look through my camera to zoom in.
169) I believe after much deliberation that this is a Horsfield's Bushlark according to the Australian Bird Guide, or Australasian Bushlark according to Ebird! Definitely a lifer which is awesome!!
It sings beautifully, but rarely have I seen it before I flushed it!! Most frustrating! Beautiful patterning and a gorgeous little birdie. Over the 2 days once I got used to IDing it I saw it many times but I still am not sure that I can recognise it by song.
WTP is famous for its raptors. Across 2 days I saw Whistling, Black and Black-shouldered Kite, Black and Brown Falcon, Swamp Harrier, Kestrel, Wedge-tailed Eagles, Sea Eagle and possibly others I've forgotten at this moment!! There are so many other birds that there's also dinner to be had, plus there are many rabbits right now, and I watched 4 Black Kites circling over the harvesters as they worked, maybe hoping for mice.
170) Black Falcon - I haven't seen one of these in forever! It flew over head and I got a poor flight shot, then it joined a pair of Swamp Harriers and after a brief tussle it landed on a fence post and graciously allowed me to drive past and get a shot. A lot of photographt at WTP is done from the car I found!!
171) Getting into some shorebirds, we have the Common Greenshank. Its been so long since I've seen one that I'd forgotten all about them and was wracking my brain trying to come up with some other kind of sandpiper! Oops! Beautiful graceful creature.
172) And some BIG birds!! I've been hanging out to see the Brolga as lots of people have been posting pics of different Facebook groups...I didn't see the baby sadly but its just more reason to go back!
Wow what a great range of birds. Never seen a Bushlark before, but from what I read it certainly looks right.
Thanks for sharing
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
173) And some TINY birds! All year since I captured the Tree Martins I've been trying to complete my set with the Fairy Martins and haven't been able to find them anywhere! Of course we've mostly been in lockdown since April so there's that. But still, I was so happy to find these little guys flitting around, and they are everywhere around WTP!! I even found an old abandoned Telstra exchange house and they have made their nests around every spare inch of overhang! It's like a cloud of Martins coming and going. Interestingly some House Sparrows seem to hide out in some empty nests or between nests...not sure if they are trying to trick the Martins into giving them food or just borrowing house space??
174) Another songbird, another I don't know what I'm doing moment!! I actually thought up until going through my photos that this was another Horsfield's Bushlark, but I realise the beak is all wrong for that, so I've consulted my tomes and I believe I have a Brown Songlark! Any expert opinions welcomed! It should be clear enough with such a clear photo, one would think, but I'm all at sea with these birds! I still can't believe that it just sat there; I half believe that it had no legs, I certainly saw no evidence of them :)
This is a lifer, albeit an after the fact, not so sure it really is a lifer, lifer!!
What a great set. Looks like your wait has paid off. I particularly love the Purple-crowned Lorikeets as I have never seen them before. Definitely a Horsefield's Bushlark. They look like a big sparrow until they call that is.
175) Continuing my inexpert foray into songbirds with the Eurasian Skylark which at least I have the advantage of having heard and seen at a distance before, but it was a considerable challenge getting any sort of photograph because they flushed before I saw them and they are always on the move, and when they fly they go higher and higher until they literally disappear from vision! I don't know where they go but I can hear them up there above an invisible ceiling!! So bear with this best of a bad lot shot please...
176) Back to shorebirds, here is a beautiful specimen called the Marsh Sandpiper - how stunning! I'd heard via Facebook that people had seen this bird as well as the Wood Sandpiper at WTP so I was keen to see them both. I wasn't as lucky with the Wood Sandpiper, but I practically tripped over this one on my first day. I love it when twitching is easy!!
177) As I drove out of the last gate of WTP on day 1 this Brown Falcon was just sitting on a bush across the road surveying the scene. Not sure what its plans were, and the shot isn't as good as it should have been since we were both stationary but I'll claim distance and heat haze. A lovely bird! It completes my falcon set
Wow, Danika, what a rewarding time. Some wonderful birds and shots and I believe that all those IDs are correct.
178) Whiskered Tern - I tried so hard to get a good flight shot of one of these little beasties!! They are always flitting and their flight pattern is so unpredictable! It's a lot of fun/frustration but satisfying in the end. There are HUNDREDS of these across all of WTP, across all of the ponds and the beach and roosting and feeding, so busy! Right now in breeding plumage they are one of the more distinctive terns, thankfully! There are plenty more mysterious ones that I'm still figuring out!!
178) Whiskered Tern - I tried so hard to get a good flight shot of one of these little beasties!! They are always flitting and their flight pattern is so unpredictable! It's a lot of fun/frustration but satisfying in the end. There are HUNDREDS of these across all of WTP, across all of the ponds and the beach and roosting and feeding, so busy! Right now in breeding plumage they are one of the more distinctive terns, thankfully! There are plenty more mysterious ones that I'm still figuring out!!
179) White-bellied Sea Eagle - I'd seen another WTP bird watcher post photos of this incredible bird recently so I was hoping to see one but hadn't the day before and just as I was doing my final run along the beach I saw this beauty. It caught me by surprise so I missed the front on shots sadly, what a stunner! It was carrying a large prey and being seen off the premises by a flock of silver gulls and terns that were anxious that it leave the area! I jumped out of the car ASAP and got as many rear shots as I could hoping for at least one that showed the head for the ID. This is the best I could manage. Still not sure of the prey, maybe a puffer fish? Something spiky and round. A beautiful bird, so large and graceful, yet powerful.
180) White-winged Black Tern - another of the many tern species at WTP. This one was less common, and a bit harder to identify as to me it looked a bit similar to some other terns, so I did run it by the ABID group on Facebook who confirmed my ID. Very excited with this lifer!
Fantastic Danika, some great birds in flight shots there.
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
Thanks to everyone for your nice comments :) I really appreciate them!!
Apologies Danika, I put Karen in my last post, have edited. Today is not my day!
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
Lovely pics, I especially like the Pink Robin, it's one of my favourites :-)
All good Dale, easy to do :)
181) Getting close to the end of my fabulous two days now but a few more to come...next up is the Banded Stilt, a funny lifer!!
I left the Austin Rd bird hide on the first day and as I reached the car park I saw another lady getting out of her car. She asked me if I'd seen any Banded Stilts because someone had told her that they were in front of the bird hide. I told her there were a bunch of stilts but that they were all Pied Stilt (or White-headed or whatever the current name is) and that I hadn't seen any Banded Stilts.
This happens a lot around WTP, people come specifically for a species that turns up for a period of time only. Currently there's a Marsh and Wood Sandpiper, the Brolga baby, the Stubble Quail...and the returning shorebirds.
Anyway, you can see where this is going...
I got home and reviewed my photos and every single one of those Pied Stilts was a Banded Stilt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Embarrassing much???? I even had an amazing flock flyover photo past the hide that I thought at the time was a flock of Whiskered Tern because they are always flying around in flocks...basically I didn't look at them properly at all, just assumed what they were and nearly missed a lifer sighting!! Lesson learnt! Don't get too tired and think you've seen everything there is too see!
182) Another of my target birds heading down to the WTP was the Red-necked Avocet, and I found it in a blurry photo of a flock flyby of Banded Stilt when I got home after the first day so went back and targeted them properly on the second day, having a better idea where to find them. My photos weren't brilliant, by the time I found them it was getting very windy on their pond and they were getting buffeted around but a couple of shots worked out.
183) Then just because 2 whole days at the WTP weren't quite enough, I made a little stop on the way home at a place my Birdlife Photography group showed me once called Skeleton Creek boardwalk in Point Cook, because earlier in the year I found the Common Sandpiper there. It's a busy thoroughfare but somehow you can get lucky with the species that are found there.
This time it was an Australian Spotted Crake, something I've only seen at the WTP before but not this time. I had found watching it forage along the bank of the creek and it seemed totally unaware of me which was cool.
P.S. I got SOOO many improvement shots during this trip but I will not keep adding birds ad nauseum when I've just added 20 odd to my actual list, bring on 2022 for a new list and new challenges :)
Fabulous lot of birds, Danika. I've been waiting for the White-winged Black-tern when I saw it on ABID... the tip I was given is look for a Tern wearing headphones. Love those Banded Stilts as well. Very productive birding with some interesting birds, you have had a wonderful time.
184) Ok, bear with me for this one - I've been hanging onto it all year since February hoping to make a trip to the gannet colony in Portland, but I should have gone in February!! If I'd had foresight, I would have. But that's over now. Instead I have this grab shot from Cheetham wetlands on the bay which isn't my best work, but it will have to count for this year.
Wow Danika, what a great trip to WTP, with some great photos and amazing new birds - must have been very exciting :-)
Fantastic Danika, you have massed a great tally, well done. Must be glad some freedom of movement have finally come to you.
Western Tratment Plant was on my wish list of places to visit. Unfortunately our family situation has changed, so I am unlikely to get to Mainland Australia anytime soon.
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
Thanks guys, it was a great trip, well worth it if you ever can.
I realise going back over my year that I have already put in Brown Falcon earlier but forgot to put it in my own spreadsheet, so my tally should only be 183 - thanks :)
There is only one Brown Falcon entry for you, Danika. Final number looks correct as the spreadsheet checks for double-ups.
Just looked back & you saw Brown Falcons at about 100 but did not count them in your total! I think that explains it. 184 is correct... well done!
185) So I THINK that this will be my last addition to my 2021 list...I was waiting on confirmation of ID for one last tern and I just got it tonight thanks to the Facebook Seabirds and Pelagics group after I failed to get a reply from the ABID group yesterday and today. There are some real experts out there and I'm so grateful that they freely share their knowledge!
This is one more from my WTP trip - just to add to Whiskered, Crested, and White-winged Black Tern - I can now confirm Common Tern as well!! I can't confirm that the ID points are set in my head for the future but I'm trying to gel them so that next time I can do my own ID work!! So bouncing back to 184!
The left and middle terns in the photo are Common Tern, and the right tern is a Crested Tern (or Greater Crested Tern if you live further north).
Danika, you might have been posting as I did... this Common Tern is actually 185 as you did not double-up on Brown Falcon... just forgot to count it as 100.
Hi Sue, thanks for checking this. I found a post from earlier, #53, that suggested I counted Brown Falcon then, after initially thinking it was Brown Goshawk...
"53) I had myself convinced this was a Collared Sparrowhawk, but I'm going back to Brown Goshawk. However if anyone else wants to zoom in and through their 2 cents into the argument I'd love that. I was going off the bulge in the lower ridge of the wing but it doesn't show at all angles. EDIT: when cropping I've looked closer at the face and now I'm convinced its a Brown Falcon juvenile, confirmed per ABG. I've changed the fact sheet to match".
So I think I counted it at 53 in my post but forgot t change my spreadsheet from Brown Goshawk, then didn't count it at 100, then put it in this week!!!! I'm really trying to make sure its in there, aren't I??
In any case, I don't believe I have a Brown Goshawk in my list...although that reminds me that I do have a Brown Goshawk photo from November, but I didn't put it up because when I checked my spreadsheet at the time it said I already had a Brown Goshawk...oh dear I've really minced this! How about I say
177) Brown Goshawk, and we call it quits??
Oh my, I'll see what I can do tomorrow. Definitely will tally correctly in the end.
Hi Danika, I have amended the list as follows:
Could you kindly edit the following posts?
I hope that is not too onerous as it is the easiest method to make it all tally up.
That should clarify list and entries and leave you with a great tally of 185! Will be interesting to see how you do without lockdowns!
Thanks so much Sue, you're a genius!! Very much appreciate all your help and hard work keeping the numbers in order. I'll amend those posts. Yes I'm excited to see what 2022 will bring, especially if I can cross some borders!! :) bring it on! Good luck to everyone!
Congrats on you tally Danika, I noted your posts on the Seabird and Pelagics page, but have no confidence in my ability to ID, as I am also a relative newcomer to both shore and seabirds. Great work, well done.
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
Wow you have been busy! Looks like an amazing time!
What a great 'big year' you have had, well done :-).
Great birds Danika! Like you, I've been waiting on WTP to reopen... I got my key in late June and it's been no use to me since then! I still haven't been able to get there but I will be heading there soon enough for a solo poke around and I can't wait :)
Congrats on a great total for the year.
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