Monday 30 September 2013

Fourth week of September - Chestnut Teal

Continuing with the duck theme from last week (not much else going on when the place is flooded), Jaime and I came across this teal. It was swimming with an obvious Grey Teal, but was slightly bulkier, and much darker, especially around the head. Having grown up on the east coast where Grey Teals are the novelty, it is always nice to pick out the familiar Chestnut Teal from the west coast flocks.
Chestnut Teal - you can see a hint of green above the eye (female or immature male?)
Photographed through my phone and binoculars

Friday 20 September 2013

Third week of September - Long-awaited Mallard

I've had a terrible time trying to see a Mallard in Australia that is at all comparable to the wild-type birds I've seen in the northern hemisphere. Usually they are grotesque, pale and fat, and can usually be hand-fed. So, you can imagine my excitement when I saw this drake sitting on the grass at the southern end of Herdsman Lake. I'm ticking this one for my Herdsman Lake list (#110), and my Western Australian list (#366) too!

Mallard drake - a little messy, but note the green head, narrow white collar
uniform dull yellow bill, pale grey body with darker back
Overall, the abundance of ducks is pretty low, and the last of the Freckled Ducks have left, but the Australasian Shovelers, Grey Teal, Pacific BlackBlue-billed and Musk Ducks can still be easily seen.

Saturday 14 September 2013

Second week of September - An early White-winged Triller

My earliest spring White-winged Triller alighted atop a dead swamp paperbark this week. She didn't stay long enough for a photo, but she had beaten last years first triller by 22 days.

Here's a few of the local birds seen during the week:

Nankeen Night-Heron - found in the canopy of swamp paperbarks on the west side of the Wildlife Centre
Sporadic at Herdsman - a pair of Silver Gulls have recently called Maurice Hamer home 
Eastern Great Egrets have exploited the high water, and are often seen on the lake's edges

Saturday 7 September 2013

First week of September - Story of the Barcoo Bantam

Rain is keeping water levels high at Hersdman, so nothing has really changed from last week. The long-staying Freckled Ducks and even longer-staying (over a year now) Black-tailed Native-hens can easily be found mixed with Glossy Ibis and Eurasian Coots along Maurice Hamer.
Freckled Ducks continue (to sleep) at Herdsman Lake
While watching the Freckled Ducks, an elderly man approached, and unexpectedly asked if I knew an ancient name belonging to the native-hens. I didn't, but made an educated guess at Green-and-red-billed Desert Chicken or something along the lines. Without hesitation, he irrupted into the first passage of 'A Bush Christening' by Australian poet Banjo Patterson:

                  "On the outer Barcoo where the churches are few, 

                          And men of religion are scanty, 
                   On a road never cross'd 'cept by folk that are lost, 
                          One Michael Magee had a shanty..."

Turns out, we were both staring at Barcoo Bantams. 
Two of seven Barcoo Bantams at Maurice Hamer Park
Nesting note - the bush birds are starting to hatch young. I've seen Red Wattlebirds and Welcome Swallows delivering items to nests this week.