As I am out of photos, and readers are withholding theirs, I once again steal the lovely photos of Australian Scott Ritchie from Cairns, whose Facebook page is here. Scott’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them. .
I went to Melbourne during the middle of January to visit friends. Of course, birds are my feathered friends. This report cover a visit to the WTP, Western Treatment Plant, at Werribee, Victoria. These names pass mythically from the lips of Australian birders. I’ve been there before and really enjoyed it, but this past trip was wild. WTP is a series of quite large, secondary sewage treatment ponds, and lagoons. These abut along the great Southern Ocean and you get this wonderful interaction of freshwater and saltwater wetlands and associated birds. These are used, particularly in our summer, as overwintering sites for migratory shorebirds. But there’s a lot of resident waterfowl and waders there too. The WTP is so valued that you have to have a key to the gate for access to the site. Fortunately, my friend David was a key-carrying twitcher.
The weather was crazy, with 45 KPH winds. One of the first things I discovered was that strong winds can really mess with a telephoto lens. My lens was being buffeted by the gusty, easterly winds to the point where I had to remove the lens hood to stabilise the camera. But a few interesting things happen because of the wind. It was a great opportunity for BIF shots; birds in flight. Birds generally take-off and land into the wind, and because it was so strong, they were moving quite slowly. So I got nice shots of normally very fast birds such as terns and sandpipers as they came into land. Attached are some fun pics.
The next day I did a short walk through Banyule Flats Reserve, an urban Melbourne wetland. The highlight was to see the oh so cute Owlet Nightjar, as well as a family of Tawny Frogmouths. Shout out to Lyn Easton for leading the tour.
A Black Swan Beach. The high winds packed the east facing beach with seagrass. And the Black Swans [Cygnus stratus] made for the buffet:
A beach of Blacks Swans, necks writhing like snakes:
Amazing!
“Ahh, now that feels good.” An Australian Spotted Crake [Porzana fluminea] enjoys the breeze up its bum:
“Bugger off!” But is not happy with the hordes of shore flies:
An immature Black-shouldered Kite [Elanus axillaris] gives us the eye:
Whiskered Terns [Chlidonias hybrida] cruised flew slowly against the wind, providing good views for the camera:
. . . and another:
A Black Kite [Milvus migrans] swings down to pick up a dead little bird that have been by a car:
A large flock of Australian shelducks [Tadorna tadornoides] into the WTP. It was great to see large numbers of waterfowl darken the skies:
I had fun shooting small short birds, as they say, coming into land against the wind at adjacent pool. This is a Rednecked Stint [Calidris ruficollis]:
And here comes a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper [Calidris acuminata]:
A family of Tawny Frogmouths [Podargus strigoides] greet the day at Banyule Flats Reserve:
But he poses stoically, “You can’t see me!” Frogmouths sit still, imitating dead branches and stumps:
An Owlet-Nightjar [Aegotheles sp.] peaks out of his hole hollow. He stared at all the photographers down below. We must’ve started him because then he just disappeared. But we waited and waited:
“Come on, take your pictures!” He suddenly popped up, posing nicely:
Nice!
Thanks for such wonderful photos of birds I’ll never see in person. I especially love the nightjar and frogmouths.
Nice! It’s interesting that the water treatment plant attracts so much wildlife. Seattle has a small, man-made, open reservoir, now a park, that is also a major attractant for wildlife. We occasionally go to the concrete pond to watch the birds. Humans also congregate there.
Such an amazing set! I very much appreciated that.
Wonderful. Thanks!