Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Boggy Bridge Visits 4 & 5

 

Check my birding map for specific location.

So I am back at the little spot in the wetlands again for my final few visits. It looks barren here but it is teeming with life and I am so happy to have found this little spot as the birds have the choice to go anywhere. And they do when they are flushed. They just disappear and you are lucky to see them again. But in this area there are lots of birds and when they disappear, others turn up to replace them. 

As usual, the Spotted Crake was running around at my feet. I sat in the van and watched for a while as I was sure I had seen more than one. There were at least 4 in this area which was just wonderful.

Australia Spotted Crake (Porzana fluminea)

The grebes were out in good numbers and unusually, they were quite tolerant of me. For the first time I saw the Hoary-headed Grebe here as well.

Australian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae)

Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus)

The Purple Swamphen were placidly milling about as usual but I got a nice shot of one just standing in the right light.

Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus)

On the far side of the small creek I explored a bit further and was rewarded with Red-kneed Dotterel and White-fronted Chat. 

White-fronted Chat (Epthianura albifrons)

Red-kneed Dotterel (Erythrogonys cinctus)

As I walked back towards the van I flushed a raptor from the other side of the road. It flew up to a nearby tree and I snapped away, not sure what species it was. The light was right in my eyes so I worked my way around it and it was very tolerant. Turned out to be a juvenile Brown Goshawk and what a beauty!

Brown Goshawk (Accipiter fasciatus)

Back on the main road, as I was leaving, there are several signs warning of turtle crossing. You never see the animals on these signs and on my first visit I sneered a little at them. Today, I see something on the road. As I get closer, I see that it is a Long-necked Turtle. I shoot it from a distance and then closer up. It was quite big and although I was nervous about picking it up, I moved it to the other side of the road. 

Long-necked Turtle (Chelodina longicollis)



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