Afternoon all,
Following an email from birding colleagues yesterday about seeing
Buff-banded Rails and 4 Musk Lorikeets at the pond in Watson where the
Apostlebird was recorded several years ago, my wife and I went over at
about 10:30 this morning to see if we could see either species for our
year lists. We had no luck with the rail but did, after much searching,
find the 4 lorikeets. They were (almost) quietly sitting in the topmost
branches of the largest Eucalypt growing in the yard of the Watson
Potters but accessible from a rough track between the Potters yard and
the pond. It was interesting to note that two of the birds indulged in
what was either courtship feeding or juveniles being fed - it was a bit
hard to see the colour of two of the birds beaks. There may be other
lorikeets in the same tree as I saw at least two very small parrots fly
into the same tree but they did not call and I couldn't find them.
Disappointingly there is also a large female (on call) domestic duck of
Mallard ancestry on the pond and I have seen two there in the past. Also
disappointing was the young lady with her small dog off leash who was
waiting for my wife and I to leave the area so that she could use her
ball throwing "stick" to put a ball into the water for the dog to fetch
- no concern at all for the wildlife present!!. We thwarted her efforts
by sitting down near her and watching the juvenile coots feeding. She
finally gave up and went on her way.
However a gripe about the pond. Looking at the area where there is a
large pipe that enters the pond opposite the houses (I assume that is
for rainwater run off) there were quite a number of discarded surgical
masks in the water. I cannot believe how ignorant, stupid, useless and
moronic people can be to just drop these masks where they end up in the
environment. On Australia Day my wife and I had our covid booster shot
at the AIS and the car park there was also littered with masks.
Mark
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