Benalla Botanic Gardens are a lovely place, just over the bridge from the main shopping area. Set alongside a lovely lake there are a variety of trees and plants but also sports parks and a playground. It is very well laid out and there is a nice walk alongside the lake and into the gardens.
I walk here each morning at dawn with the young dog from the family whose house I am looking after for a while. The house is only a couple of minutes from the house and every day I am amazed at the bird activity. Pied Currawong call and Australian King Parrot fly overhead and in the distance I can hear cackling.
The gardens are home to hundreds of cockatoo. They are mainly Little Corella but there are also Long-billed Corella and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. And at dawn, they tear around the place shrieking. It is marvellous!
Little Corella (Cacatua sanguinea)
Long-billed Corella (Cacatua tenuirostris)
The Little Corella hoon around the park and play in the trees. For once, the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo are the quiet cousins.
Further along the path around the lake are some grassy areas and very tall gum trees. On the other side are reeds lining the edge of the lake. For the first time in Victoria, I heard, looked for and found some Blue-faced Honeyeater. It seems fitting that they were here as they are also full of character, even in a still photograph.
Blue-faced Honeyeater (Entomyzon cyanotis)
Then behind me, I hear the call of the Australian Reed Warbler. It used to be called the Clamorous Reed Warbler which seems more appropriate given the amount of noise they make. I am beginning to see a theme at these gardens.
I tracked the Reed Warbler and got him peeking out from in between the rushes.
Australian Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus australis)
On the way back from the gardens I could hear Rainbow Bee-eaters, a bird I wouldn't expect to see in the middle of a town, but there they were sitting on the power lines. I never tire of seeing and photographing these birds.
Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops ornatus)
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