Hi all,
Werribee is full of Spring this week. Lots of Stints and Sharpies are back
in all shades and shapes of plumage. Looking at the Red-necked Stints you
can see that it has been a tough migration for them. All their feathers,
not just the wing feathers, show lots of wear with tattered edges
everywhere from crown to tip of tail. There is lots of variation in plumage
colours too. Some have some breeding colour left, some not and some are
just a real mystery. I was tempted to try morphing them into mega-rarities
but thought better of it (smile). There was a Bar-tailed Godwit on the
rocks inside the Beach Rd gate and plenty of Curlew Sandpiper with lots of
colour.
Away from the ponds the Eurasian Skylarks sang the joy of spring, getting
ever higher into the blue sky until I could no longer see them, just hear
the disembodied song drifting back down. The Brown Songlarks on 29 Mile Rd
didn’t fly as high but their voice was just as sweet and the lifted tail
and dangling feet added their own gangling charm to the afternoon.
The “phalarope pond”, conservation ponds and borrow pits are all full of
water so there were no little waders out there but there are huge flocks of
teal on some ponds and nicely coloured Whiskered Terns are hawking in large
flocks over the South Rd ponds. Walsh’s Lagoon has lots of Avocet and a few
Banded Stilts.
The Brolga are still down at the end of 29 Mile Rd as are the Pallid
Cuckoos. A pair of Cape Barren Geese were courting beside the road past
Lake Borrie and the male Superb Fairy-wrens look stunning in the sun.
The Oriental Pratincole was in the Western Lagoon in the morning, as usual,
but took off and spent lots of time “hawking” over the “Q” section pond,
and I did not see where it went from there. Along the track that goes to
the Murtcain outlet there are big flocks of Gold and Green Finch and the
Zebra Finch are everywhere, so obviously the breeding over the last season
or so has been very successful.
There was also something happening with Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes in the
afternoon. The trees along Point Wilson Rd were full of them and as I
headed back up the freeway, as far as the Werribee Zoo, they were flying
over the road in twos and threes.
I had such a good time I am going again tomorrow, and again on Sunday
(smile).
cheers and good spring birding everyone
Jenny
http://jenniferspryausbirding.blogspot.com.au/
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
|
