Back to Birding!

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.

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...

Spotted Dove

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.

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.

the cisticolas were hard to get photos of

the Silvereyes weren't much easier

Heading uphill into the trees, a pair of Laughing Kookaburras we'd heard calling flew in. There were also quite a few New Holland Honeyeaters and a pair Eastern Yellow Robins. As well as a guy jogging past with shirt off but mask on. The new normal.

there were also more fairywrens and scrubwrens along this nice shady section

Heading back down to where we'd started someone was engaged in renovations, extractions, or perhaps just wilful destruction in the big gum tree by the gate.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

no tree is safe

We continued down the path that runs between the houses and paddocks toward the bird hide. Common Mynas and a flock of Common Starlings were feeding in the first paddock.

lots of this

and some of this - showing off their fresh Autumn plumage

We were hoping for a Flame Robin but despite checking the fence lines and scanning the paddocks we didn't find any.

there was an Australian Magpie out there though

and here's one a bit closer

The bird hide is closed due to Coronavirus but luckily this isn't one of those hides really necessary to see birds. From the banks nearby we had nice views of the usual suburban wetland suspects - Dusky Moorhens, an Australasian Swamphen, Eurasian Coots, Pacific Black Ducks and Chestnut Teals with a bonus Little Pied Cormorant

view of the wetlands from the path

closed!

easy viewing from the bank

Eurasian Coot

Pacific Black Duck

male Chestnut Teal 

We followed the path down to High Street Road, adding a White-faced Heron, a Magpie-Lark and a group of Australian Woods Ducks to our list, before turning around to head back. And we hope to find some of those Little Lorikeets on the way - we had heard them again on our walk, along with a whole lot of other lorikeets, in trees by the primary school on the other side of the houses. 

one of those gums in particular was covered in flowers

Thanks to Noisy Miners harassing the lorikeets, we had only managed brief looks earlier before they were chased away. This time though, with a bit of patience, we got some nice views of all three lorikeet species in that one tree: Little, Rainbow and Musk.

Noisy Miner, later also seen ganging up on a Crested Pigeon

The Little Lorikeets are so small and creep around so stealthly from one nectar treat to the next that unfortunately photos were not so easy. I seemed to end up with a lot that show very well their all-green bodies and pretty food source:

But I did also manage to get a little evidence of their cute red faces, in the brief moments they were not buried in the flowers.

Also I'm not quite sure what was happening here but it is too cute!!

Little Lorikeet tummy!!

Seeing these little guys on my first birding venture out of isolation was so great!  And overall it was a nice, birdy morning with just over 50 species all up. It was so nice to be out and about again, if only locally and at a distance from others.

I hope you are staying well and have some nice birds too wherever you are. Take care! ♡