Autumn + Winter at Wilson Reserve

Wilson Reserve was quite good to me during the cooler months this year.

It started with a last-minute after-work visit on the second of April - there were Flame Robins! Scanning the ovals and expecting to see the usual Willie Wagtails, Red-rumped Parrots and Australian Magpies I was surprised and very happy to find some Flame Robins on the grass too.

a female... or young male?

I believe there were two females and two males. A first for my 5MR and Wilson Reserve lists, and not one I was necessarily expecting to find locally. But I'm so glad they showed up!

I didn't get any photos of the bright adult males

I went back on the following weekend but couldn't see the robins anywhere. They may have just been passing through while moving about at that time of year. On that visit though I did get a new bird for the 5MR year list with a Grey Shrikethrush.

a Crested Pigeon in the carpark

Later in April an Azure Kingfisher was reported at the reserve which sent a few local birders on the hunt. I'm always happy to see these cute little kingfishers so also tried my luck.

the colours are right but on closer inspection this was not actually an Azure Kingfisher

I had a bit of help when I found two birders (I think a father and son) sitting on the river bank staking out a location. They had seen the kingfisher and before long I also got to see it too when it ventured out from a bushy tree overhanging the water. It didn't remain in view for long though, so no pics! A small group of Gang Gangs also flew over while I was looking for the kingfisher.

the kingfisher was hiding over there somewhere

On another visit in early May I mostly just found the usual suspects.

for example, this Willie Wagtail at the oval

Towards the end of the month though Leigh let me know that he'd seen a Bassian Thrush at the reserve. I'd seen one there once before, way back in 2014. At the time I couldn't believe I was seeing a Bassian Thrush in a suburban park that close to the city. I now know that there are some in the Royal Botanic Gardens in the city. But anyway, a few days later I went to look for the Bassian Thrush.

But first, as usual, I checked out the billabong by the carpark and noticed something a bit strange. A Tawny Frogmouth was sitting on one of the logs in the middle of the water.

weird

I've seen frogmouths in the trees near the billabong before but hadn't seen any there for a while. Did not expect to see one in the actual billabong.

After that I went to check the area where Leigh had seen the Bassian Thrush.

it had been hanging around this flooded area

I had to wait a while but eventually one ventured out onto the grass by the path. It then disappeared again and didn't seem like it was coming back. I went to check around the other side of this flooded stand of trees and discovered that there were actually two Bassian Thrushes! I was able to sit down and watch the pair quietly going about their business for a while.

Bassian Thrush

Later, back at the billabong, I spied another (or quite probably the same from April) Azure Kingfisher at the billabong. Like with the thrushes, a second one soon appeared. They came up right to where I was sitting on the bench for amazing close views.

Azure Kingfisher

Oh and the frogmouth was still there. Unfortunately this is a pretty fuzzy photo but...

a Tawny Frogmouth and Azure Kingfisher combo!

So a pretty successful Autumn and Winter at Wilson Reserve! There were quite a few nice new birds for the 5MR year list, but nice birds in general. We are well into spring now, so I'll have to get back to there and see if the warmer weather has brought any other interesting things!