Technically I'd seen an EYW twice before. Once in 2013 at Bremer Bay in WA which turned out to be a major birding fail that has been haunting me ever since and which I'd rather not talk about. I also had an unsatisfyingly brief glimpse of one flying over our group on a BBO course in Broome. I had been hoping I'd get another chance to see one - properly!
Unfortunately though I saw the post on the Australian Twitchers Facebook group too late on Christmas Eve to make it down to Balnarring that day. Luckily though the bird, which had been initially spotted on the 23rd, seemed to be hanging around with many birders seeing it on the 24th and again on Christmas morning. My mum and I hatched a plan for a Christmas afternoon twitch!
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| Welcome to Balbirooroo! |
Balbirooroo Wetlands is actually one of my favourite birding spots on the Mornington Peninsula. There is some bushland around small wetland, and there are also two dams on the adjoining private property where most of the waterbird action usually is. And this is where the Eastern Yellow Wagtail was hanging out.
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| the Balbirooroo wetland |
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| and the view over the fence |
We arrived at about 4.50pm, followed the short bush track down to the wetlands and at the first break in the vegetation started scanning the muddy banks of the dams. Almost straight away a different-looking bird caught my eye. I quickly set up the scope to check and yes, the wagtail! My mum and I both got good views of the bird preening before it moved off and walked about bobbing its tail - very cute! We felt very lucky to have go onto it so quickly as other birders had waited for a few hours before seeing it.
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| Eastern Yellow Wagtail - phonescoped from a distance! |
