Last weekend was the first time in nearly two months that I'd been birding anywhere other than
my backyard. Outdoor recreation is now allowed again Victoria, so I was able to meet up with my friend Charlotte for a little bit of local birding at Bushy Park Wetlands.
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| this picture doesn't show how many other people were actually out and about as well! |
Just waiting by the entrance of the park for Charlotte, there was already a lot of bird action - it was a bit overwhelming! Some of the birds I hadn't seen for ages, even though they are super common, like the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Grey Shrikethrush and Spotted Pardalotes. Others had visited me in isolation or were around on my exercise walks like the Rainbow Lorikeets, Common Starlings, Little Wattlebird and Eastern Spinebill. But the best was a flock of Little Lorikeets circling around overhead. Luckily Charlotte arrived just in time to see them too - a lorikeet lifer for her!
Of course the only ones I managed to get photos of out of all these were both ferals I'd been seeing at home for the last two months anyway...
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| Spotted Dove |
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| Common Myna |
We actually ignored the sign pointing towards the bird hide and instead started off in the other direction to do a short loop through a more bushy area. But we got stuck by this field for a while because there seemed to be birds everywhere.
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| a little hotspot not far from the entrance |
We first stopped when we heard the calls of Golden-headed Cisticolas. But there were also Superb Fairywrens and White-browed Scrubwren in the grass, along with Red-browed Finches on the taller reeds and plenty of Silvereyes around too. And while trying to deal with all the little bird excitement, some Australian King Parrots flew into that big gum.
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| the cisticolas were hard to get photos of |
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| the Silvereyes weren't much easier |
