Readers’ wildlife photos

October 20, 2025 • 8:25 am

Today we’re featuring photos of the birds of Perth taken by Scott Ritchie, who hails from Cairns.  Scott’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Social media, including Facebook, gets quite a bit of negative press these days. I get that. But one of the great values of social media is that it can put you in contact with people who can really help you out. In Sept. 2025, I started posting bird photos from my Western Australia trip. I was contacted by John Edmond, who lives in Perth. Last year, I met John in Cairns on our regular Tuesday AM bird walk, and then showed him some local birds along the Cairns Esplanade. John loves a twitch, and was especially happy to see Nordy, Nordmann’s Greenshank.

So John reached out on FB and offered to take me for a day’s birding in Perth. We had a great time and I particularly touring around Herdsman Lake. Here is some of my favourite images from that day’s birding.

The Pink-eared Duck (Malacorhynchus membranaceus) is one of my favourite birds. I was lucky to get nice close images of this bird. If you’re wondering about the name, look carefully at the head. You can just see a little bit of pink behind his eye. Personally, I’d name it the Zebra-breasted Duck:

And another. The flaps along the bill are used to help funnel microbe-rich water into their mouth:

The Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) is another amazing bird. I just love the hairdo and the neck feathers during breeding season. Interestingly, this bird is found in wetlands from Asia Europe, Africa, Australia. This is one of the grebes that does a upright mating dance that you may have seen on TV:

JAC: Here’s a YouTube video of the mating dance:

So am I gonna get lucky tonight? Let me think about it:

I love the raking light on this stunning bird:

The Australian Shelduck (Tadorna tadornoides) during breeding season. The female is the one with the spectacles. It’s obvious she’s the only one with a good sense to wear glasses:

I like these this couple out for an evening promenade in the quiet water:

Herdman Lake like has more than water birds. This pair of Tawny Frogmouths (Podargus strigoides) are a bit of an institution there. People come around looking for these interesting, well-camouflaged birds. See me if you can:

Australian Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus australis) was regularly heard singing in the rushes. Lovely calls, the sound of the Aussie wetlands:

At an earlier stop, I was happy to see the Western Spinebill (Acanthorhynchus superciliosus). It’s not the world’s best shot, but it’s still beautiful bird and I hope to get better views of it in the future:

And finally, I’ll leave off this WA tour with a robin, a male Scarlet Robin (Petroica boodang). Robins are so cute and they sit nicely for the camera, not jumping around like some crazy caffeinated gym rat like so many birds do. Speaking of which, I’m off for a coffee and a workout to work off some of the pounds I put on during this trip:

9 thoughts on “Readers’ wildlife photos”

    1. I see the Australian Reed Warbler also has a bit of a mohawk hairdo.
      These are all such wonderful photos! Thanks!

  3. Great pics. What a hairdo (Great Crested Grebe)! And what’s with the seaweed in the mating dance?

  5. My sister lives in Perth, and her husband is a professional sports photographer; but I have never been able to get him to take some local animal photos. Thanks for these.

  6. Excellent photos Scott! Thanks for sharing these.

    Can you please comment on your equipment? Thanks,

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