Check my birding map for specific location.
Cranbourne is the botanical gardens south east of Melbourne and I visited there in 2019. The sculpted areas were interesting and seemed to attract a lot of little bush birds. The first one I spotted was my old favourite, the fairywren. As always, you are looking for the male to more easily identify them. I knew when I saw this guy that it was the Superb Fairywren. Thankfully, he stuck around bouncing from plant to plant with me in hot pursuit!
Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus)
This was the first time that I had seen the White-browed Scrubwren out in the open. There are lots of different subspecies with differing plumage but I can never tell which one I am looking at. Even when I got this one clearly, I still can't tell!
White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis)
Common honeyeaters in the park were the New Holland and I always love seeing their bright plumage (makes them easy to identify even in flight).
New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae)
Much larger is the Little Wattlebird, a wattlebird with no wattles. These details are designed to keep us birders on our toes. I have noticed that wattlebirds seem to be attracted to pale blooms and that always makes them photogenic.
Little Wattlebird (Anthochaera chrysoptera)
I spent some time walking the grounds of the gardens and they were quite wild. I first stumbled across a Fan-tailed Cuckoo sitting on a post calling away. More surreptitious sneaking to get close to it. Didn't do too bad.
Fan-tailed Cuckoo (Cacomantis flabelliformes)
Unfortunately, I was walking in grass. Fortunately, I saw the snake just before I stood on it. Being ever professional, I got a snap of it before it snuck away. I have never been brave enough to find out what species it was. I just don't want to know.
A rather sweeter animal I found was a Swamp Rat. You do see small animals on the edges of dense foliage fairly regularly in Australia but it is difficult to get photos of them. This was a real treat.
Swamp Rat (Rattus lutreolus)
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