Off the Edge of the Map
April 15, 2005
Early morning
Our primary destination for today was Rottnest Island, but before we got on the train to where we’d catch a ferry, we had breakfast with Helen and Daniel at Kings Park. Of course, I spent a few minutes wandering around outside looking for birds.
Continue reading “Kings Park, Perth”
April 15, 2005: Kings Park, Perth, Western Australia
I just caught a glimpse of these birds flying past the car, as we drove from the park to the train station. Need to get a better look!
Continue reading “Galah”
April 15, 2005: Rottnest Island, Western Australia
Spotted several of these birds foraging along the edges of the lake. Very small, only about five inches long. They didn’t have a whole lot of color, so they were difficult to ID at first, but as I studied the photos later I did see some reddish color on a few of the birds. CUTE!
Continue reading “Red-necked Stint”
April 15, 2005: Rottnest Island, Western Australia
Spotted this bird near the road, and had no idea what it was at first. A female bird, and much less brightly colored than the male bird would have been, but after a minute with the field guide I figured it out. Adorable.
Continue reading “Red-capped Robin”
April 15, 2005: Rottnest Island, Western Australia
I noticed a couple of people peering into a tree near the road, and then one of them pointed out the bird – one of the most beautiful birds I’ve ever seen! What gorgeous colors, and it was posing just perfectly. One of my favorite birds of the day! About half an hour later, I spotted a second one, also perched in a tree.
Continue reading “Sacred Kingfisher”
April 15, 2005
After breakfast, Eclipse, Kevin and I rode the train down to Fremantle, where we caught the ferry to Rottnest Island, a small island about half-an-hour’s trip from the mainland. The Indian Ocean is absolutely beautiful, and we saw bunches of great wildlife. My first bird of this trip was a really good look at an Australian Pelican at the jetty when we arrived at the island. Sadly, though, by the time we’d gotten off the boat, I couldn’t re-locate it to take a picture.
Continue reading “Rottnest Island”
April 15, 2005: Rottnest Island, Cockburn, Western Australia
Spotted a male and female of these beautiful ducks near one of the lakes. Gorgeously colored.
Continue reading “Australian Shelduck”
April 14, 2005
On Thursday, 14 April, we were still in Sydney. Connor and I had a final walk through Hyde Park, and then it was time for the coach to take us to the airport for our flight to Perth.
Continue reading “On Our Way to Perth”
April 13, 2005
Managed to sleep a bit later the next morning (until about 6.00), had breakfast at the hotel, and then out into the city. Our first real stop: The Australian Museum. Today, we timed our start so we arrived right when the museum was opening, and headed straight towards the dinosaur exhibit.
Continue reading “Chinese Gardens and Darling Harbour”
April 12, 2005
This morning, we headed out into the city around 8.30, intending to start at the natural history museum. When we arrived, though, we discovered that the Australian Museum didn’t open until 9.30. We didn’t want to wait around that long, so we headed on foot in the direction of the opera house, which was our primary destination for the day. We did see some great birds in Hyde Park along the way, including White Ibis and strikingly-colored Magpie Lark.
April 12, 2005: Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, New South Wales
These birds were also present in the trees near the lake, although not as abundant as the little blacks. Not sure if these birds were nesting or not. They are beautiful cormorants.
Continue reading “Little Pied Cormorant”
April 21, 2005: Kangaroo Island, South Australia
While walking the Koala Walk at the place where we stopped for lunch, one of the others in our group spotted one of these birds, but I didn’t see it. Fortunately, a minute later we found two of them in the trees very near the path. I’d so wanted to see black cockatoos, and was very pleased to find these. Gorgeous, big birds. Lovely!
Continue reading “Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo”
April 12, 2005: Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, New South Wales
Just spotted one of these birds, flying by as I was walking along the path towards the Opera House. Still, such a pretty bird. Hopefully I’ll see others, as I’ve always enjoyed the anhingas in Florida.
Continue reading “Australasian Darter”
April 12, 2005 Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, New South Wales
Spotted the first of these birds in a small stream near the gift shop, a few minutes later, found several more at the lake. Also saw at least one hybrid (Anas superciliosa x platyrhynchos).
Continue reading “Pacific Black Duck”
For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to visit Australia. I think I really started in earnest after my grandparents went several years ago, and it sounded like the most wonderful, exotic place imaginable. So, when my father died and left me a fair chunk of money, I decided that one of the things we were going to do was take this trip I’d always dreamed of taking. It worked out very well, timing-wise, that our friends, Mark and Vicky Hobba, had recently had their first child. If we came in the Spring of 2005, the baby would be the perfect age for a week on a houseboat along the Murray River (something that sounded fantastic). Everything was falling into place very nicely, and we made our plans . . . we were going to Australia!
Continue reading “Australia – April, 2005”
April 11, 2005 Hyde Park, Sydney, New South Wales
OMG, what a thrill to see the flashes of red and green when these birds flew, and I realized that for the first time ever I was seeing psittacines in their natural habitat! And these are such beautiful birds – bright blue, green and red. They’re very active and noisy, flying about in smallish flocks (maybe up to 10 or so birds) while calling to one another. What fun! I just love these birds!
Continue reading “Rainbow Lorikeet”
April 11, 2005: Hyde Park, Sydney, New South Wales
OMG! We were nearly through the park on the way back to the hotel when I spotted large white birds on the grass. When I realized what they were, I was SO excited. OMG! Cockatoos! Genuine, honest-to-goodness WILD cockatoos! It was almost unbelievable to me to see them there foraging on the ground for food and I’d half-convinced myself that they can’t possibly be wild – they must have been escaped pets. But no, the book says there are large flocks in the cities. OMG! SO INCREDIBLY COOL! They are really pretty and it’s funny to see a bird so familiar, and yet be seeing it for the first time. These two foraged for only a few minutes and then flew up into the tree making a rather horrible screeching noise, and began displaying their crests and raising their wings – trying to chase away a couple of ravens in the tree. It looked as though the ravens were interested in a nest, but I couldn’t tell for certain. The cockatoos made quite a fuss, as did a couple of Noisy Miners. I really loved seeing these birds!
Continue reading “Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo”
April 11, 2005: Hyde Park, Sydney, New South Wales
First spotted one of these while waiting for the Sydney Explorer Bus at Darling Harbor, and it took me a while to find it in the book (these birds and the Noisy Miners stumped me at first, because I had no idea even what section to start with). I discovered that this is an introduced bird which has done well in big cities – unlike the Starling in the U.S., the Myna hasn’t spread across the whole continent (yet, anyway). They are fun to watch, and sing some very pretty songs.
Continue reading “Common Myna”
April 11, 2005: Hyde Park, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
First spotted these two ducks asleep standing up next to the reflecting pool in the park. Took a few pictures, but was only able to really ID them on the way back when we returned to the pool to find them swimming around. Then they got out of the pool and walked over to the grass where they began feeding on berries. Very pretty ducks, and apparently the common species on this continent.
Continue reading “Maned Duck”
April 11, 2005
Our hotel was one block south of Hyde Park, so that was the first place we visited (and would be the place we visited every day in Sydney, on our way to and from everywhere. This park is smaller than the one in London, which I assume is its namesake, but it’s lovely. Of course, after seeing Silver Gull at the airport, I was thrilled to see more Australian birds, all of which were new to me.
Continue reading “Hyde Park and City Bus Tour”
April 16, 2005: Subiaco Park, Subiaco, Western Australia
Decided to take an early morning walk to the park and when I walked out the door of Helen and Daniel’s home, the first thing I saw were these swans flying across the sky in front of me. I’d very much wanted to see these birds and was thrilled about the sighting, even though I only caught a short glimpse. They looked gorgeous flying through the sky – the contrast of black and white is lovely.
Continue reading “Black Swan”
January 30, 2005: MLK Jr. Regional Shoreline-Arrowhead Marsh, Alameda County, CA
This bird was reported on the EBB list as a Snow Goose, but in studying my photos I’ve decided that the bill is more consistent with the smaller Ross’s Goose, so that’s what I’m calling this bird. There are still a few things which make it seem Snow Goose-ish, particularly the size (which I recall as being somewhat large), and there is a bit of rusty staining on the head and body. Not extensive staining, though, and the head is rounder, as pictured for Ross’s. Possibly a Snow/Ross hybrid.
Continue reading “Ross’s Goose”
December 6, 2004: Lake Merritt, Alameda County, CA
(Branta hutchinsii leucopareia) In with the regular Canada Geese, I noticed a bird that was significantly smaller. About half the size of the others. I remembered hearing that Canada Geese had been split and guessed that I was looking at a life bird, although I didn’t know which one. Actually, split or not, I don’t remember ever seeing a Canada Goose this small, so it was a new bird either way. When I got home I discovered it was a Cackling Goose. Very cute.
Continue reading “Cackling Goose”
December 4, 2004: MLK Jr. Regional Shoreline-Arrowhead Marsh, Alameda County, CA
Three of these birds flew overhead, and I might have ignored them, except that I overhead a teacher telling one of her students (I think it was a Cal Berkeley class doing wetlands restoration) that they were white fronted geese. So, I snapped off a few pictures – not great, but good enough to see the white rim on the edge of the tail.
Continue reading “Greater White-fronted Goose”
August 13, 2004
7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
I took another pelagic birding trip in Monterey Bay, and had a FANTASTIC time! We saw some fabulous birds (although I only saw one new species, so I’m still a few short of 500), but what I enjoyed even more was the other wildlife. The short version: I saw 31 species of birds, including the much-coveted Scripps’s Murrelet; 3 species of pinnipeds, 4 cetacean species (including breaching!!! Humpback Whales), a Leatherback Turtle (rare!), and some fish and jellyfish.
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