I was fortunate to spend the day at a Birdlife Australia / Barwon Estuary Project workshop on shorebirds today.
The morning was spent with presentations from Birdlife Australia ornithologists on the life-cycles and environmental challenges faced by both migratory shorebirds (those that breed outside Australia and travel here in their non-breeding season) and indigenous shorebirds (those that breed, feed and generally hang around permanently within Australia - although several species migrate around Australia depending on weather conditions), and sessions on hints to ID shorebirds.
We spent the afternoon (or as much of it as we could bear given the persistent rain) at Lake Victoria in Point Lonsdale.
I arrived a little early so spent a few minutes photographing a pair of Eurasian Coots on the delightfully named 'Emily's Pond' nearby.
Once everyone had arrived we walked through the salt marsh to a viewpoint across one of the small lakes adjacent to Lake Victoria where we suspected there would be Avocets and Stilts. Despite the gloomy and 'damp' conditions, we were not disappointed as there were several small flocks of Red-necked Avocets in the middle of the shallow lake
and a large flock of Banded Stilts sheltering beside a small island in the lake.
Several smaller groups of Stilts took off giving us fleeting glimpses of them in flight
before landing on the small ponds on the shore of Lake Victoria proper, giving us a closer view of these beautiful birds, many of which were in breeding plumage displaying their brown chest band.
There were a few (unphotographable) Red-necked Stints doing their sewing-machine impersonations feeding on the sand banks and a flock of Red-capped Plovers sheltering amongst the Bearded Glasswort on one of the small, semi-inundated islands.
So, not a great day photographically but it's always great to see Avocets and Banded Stilts, both of which migrate around Australia chasing the wet so we don't always get to see them.
The morning was spent with presentations from Birdlife Australia ornithologists on the life-cycles and environmental challenges faced by both migratory shorebirds (those that breed outside Australia and travel here in their non-breeding season) and indigenous shorebirds (those that breed, feed and generally hang around permanently within Australia - although several species migrate around Australia depending on weather conditions), and sessions on hints to ID shorebirds.
We spent the afternoon (or as much of it as we could bear given the persistent rain) at Lake Victoria in Point Lonsdale.
I arrived a little early so spent a few minutes photographing a pair of Eurasian Coots on the delightfully named 'Emily's Pond' nearby.
 |
| Eurasian Coot, Emily's Pond, Point Lonsdale, Victoria Panasonic Lumix G9 with Lumix-Leica 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 lens @ 400mm ISO 400, 1/1250 second @ f/6.3 |
Once everyone had arrived we walked through the salt marsh to a viewpoint across one of the small lakes adjacent to Lake Victoria where we suspected there would be Avocets and Stilts. Despite the gloomy and 'damp' conditions, we were not disappointed as there were several small flocks of Red-necked Avocets in the middle of the shallow lake
 |
| Avocet, Lake Victoria, Point Lonsdale, Victoria Panasonic Lumix G9 with Lumix-Leica 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 lens @ 400mm ISO 400, 1/1000 second @ f/6.3 |
and a large flock of Banded Stilts sheltering beside a small island in the lake.
 |
| Banded Stilt, Lake Victoria, Point Lonsdale, Victoria Panasonic Lumix G9 with Lumix-Leica 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 lens @ 137mm ISO 400, 1/1600 second @ f/4.5 |
Several smaller groups of Stilts took off giving us fleeting glimpses of them in flight
 |
| Banded Stilt, Lake Victoria, Point Lonsdale, Victoria Panasonic Lumix G9 with Lumix-Leica 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 lens @ 400mm ISO 400, 1/1600 second @ f/6.3 |
before landing on the small ponds on the shore of Lake Victoria proper, giving us a closer view of these beautiful birds, many of which were in breeding plumage displaying their brown chest band.
 |
| Banded Stilt, Lake Victoria, Point Lonsdale, Victoria Panasonic Lumix G9 with Lumix-Leica 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 lens @ 400mm ISO 800, 1/4000 second @ f/6.3 |
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| Banded Stilt, Lake Victoria, Point Lonsdale, Victoria Panasonic Lumix G9 with Lumix-Leica 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 lens @ 400mm ISO 400, 1/2000 second @ f/6.3 |
 |
| Red-capped Plover, Lake Victoria, Point Lonsdale, Victoria Panasonic Lumix G9 with Lumix-Leica 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 lens @ 400mm ISO 400, 1/1250 second @ f/6.3 |
So, not a great day photographically but it's always great to see Avocets and Banded Stilts, both of which migrate around Australia chasing the wet so we don't always get to see them.
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