Kit & Herman Year 2

[PeterHG]

25 minutes ago, Kitsafari said:

one of the dullest

If that is one of the dullest, you're not doing badly on the woodpecker front over there! Good additions again.

[Kitsafari]

@PeterHG 

we are so spoiled!

[michael-ibk]

Love that Weaver nest! You were busy before your departure. 

[Alex Rogers]

Some lovely shots, the reflected term was quite a catch. Interesting duck story. 

[Kitsafari]

@Alex Rogers sadly, all the chicks didn't make it.

 

Right, time to brush off the dust and memory cobwebs, and re-start the BY engine again. 

 

In June, Herman and I took a 5-day trip to Perth/Fremantle from June 21-25 for Herman to visit relatives, but we took the opportunity to do a few days of birding. Unfortunately, rains dampened our prospects and the count wasn't as high as we had expected. Even our birding guide was surprised at the non-appearance of the usual birds. Even the most common galah was conspicuously absent throughout our entire trip. But all the birds were new to us in our disguise as birder wannabes, and there were a handful of species which I was delighted to see. 

Our favourite spot was Herdsman Lake, north of the central city of Perth, which was very productive with lots of ducks and teals. it was easy to move around. A birding guide brought us to Victoria Dam with a lot of forest/wooded species but not all came out. We also visited another wooded area where we had some luck with flycatchers and robins. 

 

325/WA1 : Australian Magpie, Herdsman Lake/Fremantle City

 

The magpie is considered as a wonderful songbird, but I remember I was told that they love shiny things and would steal any shiny bits on your body. Thank goodness, it has never happened to me. 

 

 

immature: 

Edited September 1, 2019 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

326/WA2: Australian Pelican, Herdsman Lake

 

We were pretty bummed that we never saw the pelicans, although I recall seeing so many of them during our last visit 10 years ago. The Australian pelican is said to have the longest bill of any birds and although its primary food source is fish, it is not above eating other smaller birds or chicks as well.

This was the only pelican we saw  - in the sky!

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

327/WA3: Australian Raven

 

This is a big bird, and a noisy one too. It looks similar to the Australian crow, but its throat hackles are its distinctive feature. It is not liked at all in eastern Australia as farmers often blame them for killing lambs but it's more likely that the lambs died and the ravens feed on the carcasses. 

 

[Kitsafari]

328/WA4: Australian Shelduck, Herdsman Lake

 

Also known as the chestnut-breasted shelduck  or mountain duck, the shelduck is pretty and a big bird. The bird breeds mainly in the southern parts of Australia, including Tasmania but migrates to the northern regions during winter. On Rottnest Island, off Perth, the shelducks breed on rock crevices  in the sea cliffs. when it is time to leave the nests, the adult calls the young which then plunge into the sea from the cliffs, after which the family makes their way to the nearest salt lakes on the island. How cool is that! The female has a white ring around its eyes which is absent in the male. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

329/WA5: Australasian Shoveler, Herdsman Lake

 

Another pretty bird, the Australasian shoveler occurs in southwestern and southeastern Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. the male is a handsome bird with a blue-grey head and a white strip in front of the eyes. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

330/WA6: Australasian Darter,  Fremantle Marina 

 

We stayed at Be.Fremantle, located just in front of a private marina. The darters, cormorants, gulls, martins, and swallows were always flying around the boats and in and out of the marina. It was a lovely spot.

The Australasian or Australian darter can also be found in Indonesia and PNG. It is a rather solitary bird, socialising mainly with the cormorants. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

331/WA7: Common Bronzewing, Victoria Dam

 

Despite its lovely name, this is a medium-sized pigeon and is one of the common pigeons in Australia, even though we didn't see it except when it was skulking in the woods at Victoria Dam. 

 

[Kitsafari]

332/WA8: Little Pied Cormorant, Herdsman Lake

 

Also referred to as the little shag or kawaupaka, the little pied cormorant can also be seen in New Guinea, New Zealand, Indonesia and Malaysia. It's the smallest of all cormorants with a short bill and a short yellow bill. Unlike the Australian pied cormorant, the little cormorants prefers fresh waters. 

 

[Kitsafari]

333/WA9: Australian Pied Cormorant, Fremantle Marina

 

The pied cormorant is a far larger bird than the little cormorant, and prefers the seas to fresh water bodies. There was always a small flock of them by the dykes just outside the marina, which made it challenging to get good photos! They have a yellow gape just above the eye to the bill.

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2019 by Kitsafari

[Peter Connan]

What a beautiful dove!

[Alex Rogers]

Good to see someone else posting Aussie birds :-) Love the shelducks (I have never seen them) and shoveler. The bronzewing is lovely too - we don't have them in Sydney, but there are some very cool pigeons and doves around the country, I'm looking forward to finding more of them. 

[Zim Girl]

Lovely additions @Kitsafari,  I really like the Australian Darter set.

[Kitsafari]

Thank you @Peter Connan @Alex Rogers @Zim Girl

 

[Kitsafari]

334/WA10: Eurasian Coot, Herdsman Lake

 

[Kitsafari]

335/wA11: Black Fronted Dotterel, Herdsman Lake

 

[Kitsafari]

336/WA12: Laughing Dove, Herdsman Lake

 

[Kitsafari]

Moving on to the duckies.

 

337/WA13: Maned (formerly Australian wood) Duck, Herdsman Lake

 

The maned duck is distributed widely in Australia 

 

[Kitsafari]

338/WA14: Freckled Duck, Herdsman Lake

 

We thought we had missed the freckled duck, which we had heard were seen recently in reasonably large flocks at Herdsman Lake, but when we reviewed our shots from the first visit, the ducks were mixing with other duck species, especially the grey teal, and confounded us. Only when I looked at the grey teals, did I realise that a larger duck was swimming alongside them and then identified it as the freckled duck.

This is one of the most uncommon ducks in south western Australia, so we were there at the right time. 

 

339/WA15: Grey Teal, Herdsman Lake

Slightly smaller than the ducks, the grey teal was in numerous numbers at the lake. A rather dull but still pretty bird, the teal is found throughout Australia and is highly nomadic, happy in either fresh, brackish or saline waters.  

 

 

 

Freckled duck with grey teals (and an Australasian shoveller)

 

[Kitsafari]

340/WA16: Pink-eared Duck, Herdsman Lake

 

A rather small and pretty fowl, the pink-eared duck has a rather unusual behaviour. we noticed two of them started swimming in a very tight circle with one's head to the other's tail, with their heads in the waters. Later, a third one joined them and they were just turning and turning in their circles. the reference book Birds of Western Australia says the feeding technique stirs up invertebrates and is called "vortexing". This kind of co-operative feeding is quite unusual for the smaller waterbirds. 

 

[Kitsafari]

341/WA17: Pacific Black Duck, Herdsman Lake

 

This species prefers fresh waters and is one of the dabblers, that is taking food from the surface and turning upside down to feed on aquatic plants. 

 

[Kitsafari]

342/WA18: Hardhead, Herdsman Lake

 

It used to be known as the white-eyed duck, not that you can see it from my EBC photos. They were quite far out in the lake and refused to come closer. There's a reason for it - apparently hardheads love deep water and dives deeper than most ducks. Their numbers are declining.

 

343/WA19: Hoary head Grebe, Kardinya, Perth 

 

Thanks to @Alex Rogers' description of his hoary head grebe,, I was able to identify this particular one, having initially mistaken it for a non-breeding Australasian grebe. The hoary head grebe tends to have a greyer body while the non-breeding Australasian grebe has a light chestnut/browner body. this grebe hung around the hardheads and refused to come any closer.