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Sunday, April 15, 2012

Mouth of Powlett River

Many and varied honeyeaters seen at the Ti-tree car park allowing good views and photo opportunities. A nice surprise was a Crescent honeyeater, a Victorian first for me.

Leaving the coastal banksia and ti-tree habitat a short trudge over the dune reveals a magnificent surf beach. Returning via the Powlett River estuary enables views of estuarine, reeds and salt-marsh habitats.

Today the flowering coastal banksia around the Ti-tree and Echidna car parks provided the best birding.

I have placed this car park on my list of Great Birding Car Parks!

Red wattlebird (Anthocaera carunculata)
Red wattlebirds seemed to be outnumbering Little wattlebird 10 to 1.
Little wattlebird (Anthocaera chyrsoptera)
Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis) 
Crescent honeyeater (Phylidonyris pyrrhopterus). Not a great photo but I was surprised to find one.
Looking west towards Kilcunda
There were a dozen or so surfers at the time.
Mouth of Powlett (below).  I was expecting a sand barred entrance but the river does flow to the sea. It has even cut a channel through the rock platform.


Sooty oystercatcher (Haematopus fuliginosus) 
Eastern grey kangaroo footprints (My guess - based on the 2 metre distance between prints and seeing some roos locally)
 

4 comments:

  1. aren't the banksias at their best just now Pete?! Lovely series of photos and I like how you managed a close-up to show the wattles on the Red Wattlebird.

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    1. Yes they're the most prominent red wattles I've captured for a while! As far as wattlebirds go I suspect it thinks it's quite handsome!!

      I agree banksia flowers seem to be providing a lost of interest down here currently.

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  2. Great post again Pete!
    Yes I agree, car parks are a very good choice to shoot birds, but that means people have been feeding them of left food of some kind...
    With birds it might not be such a problem though, but where wild animals such as baboons in Africa are concerned, they become very dangerous and have to put be eventually put down... a pity!
    Anyway, your pictures are brilliant especially the Red wattlebird sitting in Banksia tree!
    Cheers and sorry for this long comment! LOL!

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    1. Hi Noushka, great comment! I agree about wild animals being fed.
      On this occasion all the birds were visiting for banksia flowers. This a reasonably out-of-the-way place with just a few surfers and fishermen visiting - they are not interested in feeding birds! When the flowers go, the birds disappear!

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