Evening all (although probably morning by the time it makes it through
the queue),
With the in-laws visiting, my father-in-law and I went for a double trip
by train to Greenfields Wetlands and Parafield Fighter museum, both to
the north of Adelaide. The day's targets were a Banded Stilt for me
(I'm starting to think that they don't exist and are just a cruel joke
played by you lot) and a P-38 Lightning for Brian.
When we got the wetlands, we found the gate propped open and a tai-chi
class in there clogging up the path to the hide, but luckily they were
around the bend in the path, so no harm done (entry is by keyfob from
the neighbouring cafe on deposit of $10). As with many Australian
reserves, there is no cover walking up to the hide (I think Bicentennial
Park in Sydney is one of the few I've seen that buck the trend), but we
didn't seem to scare anything off. Quite soon, we found ourselves
inundated with singing Greenfinches. Australian Reed Warblers, Superb
Fairywrens and Silvereyes all hopped about in the reeds just in front of
the hide, which allowed for some photos. A Hoary-headed Grebe swan
close by and a single Whiskered Tern in breeding plumage flew around in
that fashion that puts me in mind of a toy on a piece of elastic.
Luckily, Brian has some interest in birds and I have some interest in
aircraft and it was interesting to see him IDing aircraft at a distance
in the same way we can do with birds.
Moving around, we found more Whiskered Terns, a metric shedload of New
Holland Honeyeaters and a surprising lack of raptors. The only stilts
were White-headed/Black-winged (delete as taxonomically applicable),
sadly. The undoubted highlight was seeing a larger bird being mobbed by
two Whiskered Terns, which resolved itself into an Australasian Bittern,
flying at a height of ~ 20 m above us. Brian got some idea of the
awesomeness of this from my excited pointing and mostly-incoherent
noises in its general direction, followed by the clicking of a shutter
(and curses as the battery started going and slowing down the AF -
typical...)
http://www.tonykeenebirds.co.uk/random/australasian_bittern_1.jpg (122 kb)
http://www.tonykeenebirds.co.uk/random/australasian_bittern_2.jpg (131 kb)
Not great, but they'll do...
A quick nose at the salt pan from over the road didn't show up any
waders, but the odd sight of a long row of salt pyramids.
Over at the airfield, Brian got his target species and a very unexpected
lifer in the form of a Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation Boomerang - the
first Australian-designed fighter aircraft and one of only three still
flying:
http://www.tonykeenebirds.co.uk/random/CAC_Boomerang_1b.jpg (110 kb)
All the best,
Tony
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