Yellow Brick Road

The Emerald lakes wetlands has always been known as the Yellow Brick Road to my family. Bike rides, cross country training, dog walks is what this place has always meant. Visiting the wetland today to go bird watching meant a much slower walk than usual and I was surprised at the avian activity I had never before apriciated.

At the entrance of the track was a pair of Olive Backed Orioles incubating. Meters from this was a little friar bird feeding its fledgling and looking through the trees of the little friar birds I saw rainbow lorikeets leaving their tree hollow nest.

There was a ridiculous amount of bearded dragons and from one spot I could count six sunbaking. The superb fairy wrens were also in abundance flitting about making me dizzy.

Three Australian pelicans were resting on a pontoon with a noisy Australian darter. To the left of them I was surprised to see a single comb crested jacana walking on the lilly pads. I was able to get quite close to the bird with out bothering it too much. It must be used to all of the golfers that pass by the lake. Above me a striped honeyeater chirped loudly and rudely left immediately after announcing its presence.

Also on the trackI had the joy of watching a pair of Willie wag tails building their sweet nest. They would bring leaves and bark to the structure and rub spider webs from their beaks around the edges.

Other birds noted were: Brown honeyeaters, Pacific black ducks, Magpie geese, hard heads, Eurasian coots, purple swamphens, Maggie larks, pied butcherbirds, magpie, great egret, pied cormorant, little black cormorant, scarlet honeyeaters, noisy miners, scaley breasted lorikeets.

Mum Dad or Helper?

I had recently visited some friends doing research on variegated fairy wrens. I had learnt from them that these wrens have male helpers that will contribute to the building of the nest and feeding of the chicks. I had left this visit hopeing to find a variegated nest of my own that I could observe. 

Days later I was excited to come across one being built in some dry grass on the side of a path. The female wren was bringing long pieces of grass to the nearly completed and well camouflaged little dome. I was unwilling very close to the nest upon discovery and worried that I would cause it to become abandoned I left immediately.

I would occasionally walk past this spot on my birding days and noted not much action at the area for almost a week. I was pleased one day to see a little chestnut spot in the shadows of the nest and moments later a distressed female flying out of the bushes. I was happy to see the nest being used still and walked on. 

Days later there was no sign of a bird in the nest and I approached it, I gently tipped the bottom so that I could see into the soft chamber. Three tiny eggs freckled with light brown spots were hidden in the grass home. Each time I had passed the nest since that day all I could see was mummy's chesnut beak as she was incubating her preciouts eggs.

It felt like for ever but four days ago the moment I had been waiting for had arrived. No mum was to be seen. I peeked inside the nest and three tiny birds the colour of my pale skin and with black unopened eyes were resting in the bottom of their temporary home. 

Moments later an irritated mummy with a beak full of caterpillar chipped and flapped her wings. This brought the attention of two males in breeding plumage. I backed away from the nest and the males fed the chicks. Mum was more reluctant but eventually perched onto the nest beak down and but up. 

This morning I revisited to find the eyes are now open and the babies have pin featheres. I also noted a male early in his first moult tending to the young. He had a small area of black creeping into his chestnut beak. He had sweet blue dots above his eyes as and some chestnut and blue lightly over his shoulders. I was excited to get a photo of this plumage as I had only just learnt that males look like females in their first year and that their beaks are a chestnut before they first moult! This just made sexing wrens more difficult!

The Eyes Have It

Black winged stilts are beautiful. I love them but like many wild birds this love is never  reciprocated. Often I will approach them confidently and they don't seem bothered by me then one will give me a look, make a peeping call and they will all go hangout at the other side of the lake. A place bothersome humans have no access to.

Yesterday three BWS were hanging out at lake Lenore which is small and shallow. When approached they would fly to the other side which is in front of a bird hide. This is the first time for me the birds have been so close to the bird hide. Admittedly when they went back to the first place I herded them back to the bird hide....

Never before have I noticed their beautiful red eyes! Pied birds with red eyes are an ultimate fashion statement. So stunning.

Where I would rather be

I am sitting in the library procrastinating about an assignment wishing I was back on the Gold Coast enjoying this beautiful day at the beach. I have decided to relive my most recent sneaky GC trip.

I have recently started surfing and birding and surfing don't always mix. If I am in the water I see an albatross fly over or an osprey fishing and I am wishing had bins to identify the albatross (or what I think is one, I am New remember) or my camera to capture the Osprey. For this reason I go for a photo walk before I get in the waster and sus out my favourite subjects.

This morning I was taking some seagull shots when I found my osprey buddy eating a fish too far from me to capture. I got caught up in the subjects I had then when retrieving my board from Sebastians' (my red Honda is called Sebastian) boot I saw her again enjoying a bath close to shore on a deserted part of the beach. One of those moments I wish I had a longer lense as I did disturb her. I am pleased however to have some captured memories.

After sitting on my board for a few hours watching the guys take the few waves around me (not complaining) I saw a pair of sooty oystercatchers chipping away at the limpets having a good old time. They are so fun to watch and their bright orange beaks are like a warning to the immobile crustaceans about to meet their doom. I took way more photos of them than necessary but it is so fun having subjects that are conditioned to annoying people like me ;)

In front of my car a pair of striated pardalotes were perched on the wire fence with food for their babies (similar to previous post.) They we quite worried about me watching and would not feed whilst I was looking at them. I backed off and they disappeared into the dirt bank. I couldn't find the nest and decided to leave as they were very uneasy. The pardalot parents were ok with people very close by however they could tell I was watching them intently.

Pardalote Parents of the spotted variety

Well its spring and I did not intend for this to be a blog entirely about babies but what the heck, when I find something that interests me I will post it. Even if it means babies for the rest of this season. hehe.

Yesterday I spotted a pair of spotted (see what I did there) pardalotes (yellow rumped) perched on a low branch with beaks full of goodies. I knew what that meant and although reluctant, daddy eventually popped into a hole in the embankment and quickly out again beak empty. 

A couple of unwelcome visitors arrived at the scene (other than me) and mummy spread out her red tail feathers and called loudly which was enough to make the yellow faced honey eater and white browed scrub wren find somewhere else to be.

I also left them to their duties as the new parents seemed to be under a bit of stress.

I did visit again this morning for some shots and knowing where the nest was and what branches the birds preferred I did not need to bother them for long. 

In the following images you have mummy entering and leaving the nest. Followed by daddy and his entrance and exit.

These birds are quite small about 8-10 cm. They usually are high up in eucalyptus trees where you are unable to see their wonderful detail. I was so excited to see them down and up close only meters from me. It is taking every bit of self control not to roll my swag out and play the third wheel. 

Easten Yellow Robin Nest

Well I was planning on waiting for some chicks then posting a cool timeline about the robin growth however I am impatient and well you know how nature is.. There might never be chicks to post. 

This morning on my walk I noted one robin feeding another. This seems unusual for an adult bird to be feeding another adult bird. I had seen this behaviour before and had read that a male EYR (seen in pic #4 with a spider for the missus) will feed the female while she is on the nest. I waited for a bit and true enough I was rewarded with mummy showing me her beautiful nest.

This site was flooded in the beginning of the year and almost every branch is covered in some extra leaves and grasses which makes it difficult to spot a nest. You can see in the third image how well camouflaged this beautiful structure is. And wow aren't those glossy green eggs something. 

I do hope to see some babies soon.

Getting Started

These are a few of my favorite things.
As this is a blog about the journey of a birding beginner it is only fair to post my early equipment. I wonder if it will change over the years or if these early essentials will continue to be my go to.

I use a the Australian Birds Field Guide by Michael Morcombe. It was one recommended to me so I can not say I have compared it to many others, however I really do like it and find it easy to identify birds by the beautiful drawings and helpful info. It has a great section on nests which is great when looking for nests or looking at a nest with ma and pa on hunting and gathering duty. It is unfortunately to big for me to carry in the field and is kept in my car.

I take with me this same guide on a phone app which I love. The calls feature is especially useful and it is great being able to compare two birds on the same screen.

The large book is one I found at a second hand shop. It is outdated however still has great info. I love Michael Morcombes' beautiful photos and knowing  this is where he started out is inspiring. The Australian Bird Finder has great tips where to best locate species however does not give too much away leaving the reader with the challenge to go out and find the birds themselves. This is really is half the fun anyway isn't it? 

Tracks Scats and other traces is a handy field guide to identifying animals that have left you little clues. I enjoy looking up the bones, droppings and footprints just to see if I can work out the case of the mysterious visitor. It is a great size and also has a handy ruler on the back. I hope to use it for real one day but for now it's just a bit of fun.

I was recently given a pamphlet with the best known birding spots in my area (Lockyer valley region) pictured to the right. I was surprised to see the little and always deserted place I love featured. I had found this place by chance and am addicted to going there. I Can't wait to visit some of the other spots and hope for a chance very soon.

I was a bit spontaneous with my binocular purchase and did not look into it. I chose these because they were the cheapest ones that were recommended for bird watching. They are 10 x 50 LE Australian Geographic. They are very useful although as someone who enjoys taking photos of the birds I am a bit slack with the Bins. you can't photograph something you need binoculars to see ;) They have however done wonders for my identification and adding to my life list so in time I am sure my attitude will change as I grow more content to watch the birds from a distance.