I thought that Adelaide members of the list may be interested to know that a
SPOTLESS CRAKE has been seen on
the Torrens on Sunday and Monday. This is an unusual siting for Adelaide. The
bird was brought to my
attention by David Radnell who saw it on the mudbank under the footbridge on
Sunday afternoon. I went looking
for it yesterday (Monday) after work and only had to wait a few minutes before
it wandered out of the reeds and
onto the mudbank. Apparently on Sunday it was being even more cooperative.
For those of you that don't know the area well and would like to find the bird.
At the northern end of the
University Footbridge (between Frome Rd and King William Rd) there is a mudbank
which is used by a lot of
silver gulls and black ducks amongst other things. Next to the river bank,
there is grass and reeds for the
first few metres. The crake has been seen at the edge of the reeds running out
onto the mudbank. I saw it by
sitting on the river bank overlooking the mudbank and waiting.
This was a tick for me - on the Torrens! It's ironic that after all of my
trips to Bool, Tolderol, Greenfields
and St Kilda I finally find a spotless crake on a rubbish covered mudbank in
the Torrens that the council would
like to get rid of.
Happy crake hunting.
Ian Lundy
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