Swift Parrots!

So in between the two Swift Parrot surveys, I did actually manage to catch up with some Swifties.

Each winter there's usually a group that turn up and hang out somewhere long enough for birders to go and visit them. This year that spot seemed to Truganina Park in Altona when large flocks of 20-40 birds started being reported there in late June. (This is on the other side of the city, well outside my 5MR.)

I've been birding at the park quite a few times before so knew the area where they'd been reported. As expected, a few other birders were also looking for the parrots when I arrived late in the afternoon on the last day of June.

At first I saw some of them perched high on bare branches over the trees, but the other birders motioned to me that actually there were more in the leafy branches just around me.

They were feeding on lerps I think, very busy in the foliage, when they weren't just perching around or darting about in flight.

It was a pretty overcast day so my photos aren't amazing, especially those against the sky.

But that's ok, I got to see the Swift Parrots again this year. These guys will probably be back in Tasmania by now, or well on their way. They are critically endangered, but hopefully they will have a good breeding season and we will still have them visiting us for many winters to come.

See you next year!