Well Fed Pied Oystercatchers

On a day that looked less than promising, I made an early morning visit to Pipeclay Lagoon. By the oyster sheds there are 2 pairs of Pied Oystercatchers that have become very tolerant of human presence, and one pair (pictured) is regularly fed oysters by the staff there. I'm sure I could make some remark about the aphrodisiac properties of oysters, but as I stopped the car to observe this pair, as you can see, they copulated. I have always thought that the shots that I've seen of Oystercatchers copulating, must have been the result of many hours watching and waiting! Maybe not. With rain threatening, I decided to drive on to South Arm, and walked through the dunes to Calvert's Beach. As I reached the top of the dune, I saw below me, the seal on the waters' edge that is pictured here. I assume it's an Australian Fur Seal, but perhaps there's someone reading this who can confirm that. A more rewarding morning than appeared likely.

At Last! Spotted Pardalote

Well at last I've managed to get some useable shots of the Spotted Pardalote. It's not as if the bird is a rarity! Arguably it's one of the most approachable and confiding birds that are found in Tasmania. But try as I could, this species had alluded me. Well today, in the Peter Murrell Reserve, I found a pair with a nest hole that they were preparing. As the lower shot shows, they, like all the local pardalotes, seem to carry nesting material en masse to the nesting site. They do this oblivious to the fact that by doing so, they compromise the nesting site. While standing watching them, I noted that both the Fortyspotted and Striated Pardalotes could be heard in the vicinity.
While I was photographing the pardalotes, Tas Boskell came along. He had some interesting facts on the status of the Welcome Swallow in the early days of settlement, which I think would make interesting reading, so I hope he'll send me his findings for a future article.

Clamorous Reed Warbler

One of the highlights of Gould's Lagoon during the warmer months, to me at least, is the calling of the Clamorous Reed Warblers as they take up territory among the reed beds.
Getting on for a year ago, I attempted to photograph these warblers at this venue. The results were less than spectacular, so I recently gave it another go, with somewhat better results, but I nearly gave up in the attempt. They're not called 'clamorous' for nothing, it's not as if you can't hear them. Seeing them can prove a little more difficult, and as I have found before, photographing them needs a great deal of patience and luck.
The best spot to get to grips with them proved to be from the track that runs from the car park. Two birds were calling incessantly, and obviously had territories that abutted one another. That proved to be the key to photographing them, as they both tried to outdo one another with song. The down side of this spot, was the frequent passers by, several with dogs, and some obviously suspicious of my intentions! The spot was also down sun when I was there (in the morning). One of the birds frequently called from a bush, I suspect a Hawthorn, which gave passable opportunities, certainly better than previous efforts. But the frustration of frequent interruptions by people and the resident geese, caused me to give up and return to the car (all of 20 metres away). My more tenacious side finally kicked in at this point, and I decided to give it one more go. This proved fortuitous, as the birds obviously took pity on me and allowed a range of photographs to be taken. In fact the most difficult problem has proved to be, which images to blog, because I ended up with so many. A rare state of affairs! While photographing at Gould's, I couldn't help feeling sorry for the Little Grassbirds. They seem to outnumber the warblers, but their faint call was barely discernible. Photographing them will have to wait for another day, but I can't help feeling they will test my patience and resolve even further.

Forthcoming Events

John Tongue sent in a note on forthcoming events that may be of interest to Tasmanian birders.
"Birdwatching with your ears"--how are you on your bird calls? It can often be very useful (as well as interesting) to be able to identify birds by their call. Many feel they are not very good at this, but may be better than they think. A Birds Tasmania outing will focus on bird calls, though there will be lots of 'watching' too. Meet at the RedGate Section of the Meehan Range Conservation Area (Cambridge) at 8.30am on Saturday, November 11th. Contact John for more details: phone 62346535 or jspk@iprimus.com.au.
" The Great Tassie Twitchathon"--not a nervous disorder, but competitive birdwatching. It will be run over a two week period in January 2007. See how many 'ticks' your team get over a twenty four hour period, and maybe enter one of the novelty events. For an information kit and registration, contact John and Shirley Tongue at 17, Church St. Hobart, phone 62346535, or jspk@iprimus.com.au.

Always Welcome

I've often wondered just how common Welcome Swallows were before European settlement in Tasmania. At the moment, almost every bridge and the larger concrete culverts, 'sport' a pair or more of these birds. And , of course, many sheds, and the eaves of houses, support them too. I can't recall ever finding a nest in anything not man made. Presumably, before settlement, they nested in hollow trees, caves and similar, but would they have been as commom? The similar Tree Martin still primarily nests in trees, often colonially, but occasionally uses pipes and holes in concrete. For several years, martins nested in the exhaust pipe of an old crane on the Hobart Waterfront, and may still do so.
I recall photographing the similar Swallow (hirundo rustica) that is found in England. It had chosen to nest on top of a heater in a bathroom. I photographed a parent bird feeding young at the nest, which was published in the local paper, I suspect with the usual comments about English Summers. The owners of the house used the photo for the front of their Christmas card! The Welcome Swallow shown here, was photographed recently at Gould's Lagoon.

Orielton Waders

There was a time when Orielton Lagoon was at the top of many local birders list of birding venues. Two decades on from those 'halcyon' days, it doesn't register on many birders radar at all. In mitigation, it must be said there have been many changes in that time. The lagoon is now semi tidal, and largely salt water, this to accommodate the local sewage works. There is a burgeoning Kelp Gull colony, and the march of housing development, has crept ever closer. Despite all those negatives, it's still worth a visit, but it's at its' best at high tide.
My visit earlier this week, was primarily to photograph a Greenshank, a species I have so far failed to get. Unfortunately, the Bartails and the Greenshank were roosting together, so I knew it would be fraught, and it was! I approached the flock with some care, but they took flight. I managed to get a few shots before they settled again some metres away. At this point I decided against trying again, I felt they get enough disturbance without my adding further to it. The flock consisted of around 80 Bar-tailed Godwit, c.20 Greenshank and 10 Curlew Sandpiper. The Red-necked Stint prefer the Sorell side of the lagoon where there were approx. 700 stint with 2 Pacific Golden Plover. The GPs were surprisingly easy to approach, and I managed a few shots. The plover seem to prefer the open ground near the golf course, where they sometimes number over a hundred birds. Orielton Lagoon is still worth a visit.

Images: Upper left, Pacific Golden Plover; lower left, Curlew Sandpiper; upper right, Bar-tailed Godwit; lower right, Greenshank (and a solitary Bartail).

Truganini Reserve--A Little Gem.

It's been a while since I birded the Truganini Reserve in Taroona, only a matter of a few kilometres from the centre of Hobart. I sought shelter from the wind at the weekend, in this reserve, and determined to get back there in better conditions, which I did yesterday. Although it's only about 43 ha., and pretty narrow, it's certainly worthy of mention. It runs from the main road upto the Mt. Nelson lookout and, according to the notice at the entrance, takes about 90 minutes for the round trip. I'll take their word for that, as I only birded the first 7 or 800 metres or so. I recorded around 30 species in or flying over the reserve, which for the first part at least, follows the creek line, and consists of eucalypt, with fairly dense undergrowth. I managed to take all the accompanying images in the 3 hours that I birded there, but I also managed shots of Golden Whistler, Yellow-throated Honeyeater, Beautiful Firetail, Scarlet Robin, Blackbird and Silvereye. Perhaps the birds are used to people, or I was just lucky, but it was a great birding and photography session. Other birds seen included Dusky Woodswallow, Green Rosella, Dusky Robin, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Shining Bronze-cuckoo, Yellow Wattlebird, Crescent Honeyeater, and Striated and Spotted Pardalotes. All in all, well worth a visit.

Pictured are, top right,Strong-billed Honeyeater, bottom right, Black-headed Honeyeater, top left, Pink Robin, bottom left, Tasmanian Scrubwren. The Strong-billed and Black-headed Honeyeaters are endemic to Tasmania, as is the Scrubwren.

Action Packed Morning.

It's all happening out there! A recent visit to the Peter Murrell Reserve at Kingston, on one of the few still days, produced a rash of sightings of breeding birds. From the car park, I made my customary walk rould the 'pond', looking out for the Tawny Frogmouth that bred there last year. Much to my surprise, there it was, still using the same site and I even found it without the usual 15 minute search. Further down the track, passing the Spotted Pardalotes, to and froing from their nest hole alongside the track, and the Grey Shrike-thrushes seeking insects from under the bark, I heard the unmistakeable sound of Dusky Woodswallows. Stopping to try to photograph them, I watched as 2 birds displayed and chased each other, watched by 2 presumed females woodswallows, one shown at left. While I was engaged in that, I became aware of a Brown Thornbill close by (photo at right), carrying food, (I think it's a mosquito). I was obviously close to the nest. Quick shot, and away. As I moved back onto the track, I disturbed a Dusky Robin from it's nest behind the bark of a large eucalypt only about a metre from the track. On the return leg, I passed Fortyspots, carrying food. Nearing the car park, I watched and photographed a displaying Shining Bronze-Cuckoo (photo at bottom). This is about the fourth or fifth 'shining' I've photographed displaying in the last month, having never witnessed them displaying before! I have spent a deal of time watching them though. I'm coming to the conclusion that they travel in pairs--probably not unlikely, I would guess.
I watched as a bronze-cuckoo called, getting a reaction from a pair of Brown Thornbills. In an instant, the cuckoo dived from its' perch into the ferns where the Browns presumably had their nest. The cuckoo spent around five minutes in among the ferns, presumably locating the 'Browns' nest, before flying off. I was torn between searching for the nest or leaving them in peace, before deciding on the latter. An action packed few hours

Swift Parrots

I think I may be suffering from Swift Parrot Neck Syndrome! Tipped off by Gillian Lord that there were fair numbers of Swift Parrots at Sandown Park, Sandy Bay, I spent a few hours trying to photograph them. This entails spending most of the time looking almost straight up at the tops of substantial flowering Blue Gums, desperately trying to find the parrots among the almost identically coloured gum leaves. I think I'm getting too old for this caper. By luck rather than skill, I managed to get a few useable shots when they decided to roost in a nearby Elm tree. The flock appeared to consist of around 60 individuals, some of them seemed to have paired. It was something of a smogasbord of parrot species, at least by Tasmanian standards, with both Green and Eastern Rosellas, Galahs and Musk Lorikeets also present. The presence of the latter made spotting the Swift Parrots all the more difficult. Most of the flock briefly fed on the ground, consuming the abundant Elm seeds. However, they were rather 'flighty', and the presence of numerous joggers, walkers and dogs, made approaching them difficult! They also fed in nearby non-flowering eucalypts, and for a while I puzzled over what the attraction was. As the bottom left photo. shows, they were licking off the lerps, or rather, they were eating the sugary coating that the lerp covers itself with. Sandown Park is well worth a visit at the moment, especially to watch the "swifties". Take your camera, you might just be lucky.
[A few facts about the Swift Parrot. It is an endangered species, with a population probably of less than 3000 birds. It breeds only in Tasmania. The vast majority migrating back to the Mainland after breeding. It probably has the longest migration of any parrot in the World.]

Fish Frenzy

Perhaps it would be more correct to call it a fishing frenzy. On a day of gale force winds that made birding difficult, if not almost impossible, I ventured out anyway, although my birding was virtually confined to the car. I drove along the South Arm Neck and found a mixed flock of birds frenzily chasing after what I assume were small 'bait fish' of some sort, only about 20 metres from the shore (and the road). The flock consisted of about 35 Black-faced Cormorants, 20+ Kelp Gulls, some 40 odd Silver Gulls and a small number of Crested Terns. The cormorants appeared to be driving the fish into the shallows--the water would be less than 30cms deep here--and the gulls and terns were hovering in the 40 knot wind and grabbing anything that presented itself. The shot doesn't really do justice to the scene (clicking on the image to enlarge it might help), and shows only a small portion of the action. Nevertheless, it was an exciting 15 minutes. As something of a bonus, I also managed to take a shot of a passing Swamp Harrier, also using the gale force winds to advantage.

Missed Out Again

I had a surprise visit from Bill and Els late on Sunday afternoon. They had just seen and photographed an Arctic Tern at Lewisham Lakes--the Forcett Lakes Golf Course lake to be precise. The Arctic Tern is a rare visitor to Tasmania, and several of the records are of beachwashed birds rather than live ones. Foolishly, I didn't ask for a copy of any of their shots. Actually, they persuaded me that the bird would still be there the following day, and I might get better shots. Can't imagine why I believed that, probably let flattery get the better of me! As you probably guessed, despite two visits, one in the morning and another in the afternoon, there was no sign of any terns, Arctic or otherwise. Despite that, this venue is a pleasant place to bird, and there is usually plenty to see. I didn't come away completely empty handed as you can see from the accompanying shots. Bill had mentioned seeing a few Sharptailed Sandpiper at the lake, and during the morning visit I saw 3 flying round. In the afternoon, I wandered round the margins of the lake near the club house, and while trying to photograph a pair of Black-fronted Plover, I came across this solitary Sharptail seen at left. Sharptailed Sandpipers aren't rare in Tasmania, but in recent years, I've seen very few. Both Orielton Lagoon and Barilla Bay were good spots to see them at times in the past. This is my first attempt to photograph them, and probably because this bird was alone, I was able to get surprisingly close. This venue has the possibility of 'hosting' the odd Pectoral Sandpiper too, being fresh water.
[If you're intending to visit this site, I suggest you ask at the club house, as I did. It isn't always manned though]