After more than a month with no birding it was good to get out again today with the
MELBOCA Photography Group on an outing to Coolart Homestead and Wetlands in Somers (
see map). I took the first ferry from Queenscliff to Sorrento, which was early enough to catch sunrise over Port Phillip Bay.
The showery weather arrived as predicted but judicious use of the bird hides enabled us to avoid the worst of it while still getting some shots of ibis, ducks, cormorants and grebes.
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| Chestnut Teal, Coolart Wetlands |
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| Australian White Ibis, Coolart Wetlands |
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| Australian White Ibis, Coolart Wetlands |
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| Hoary-headed Grebe, Coolart Wetlands |
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| Australasian Shoveler, Coolart Wetlands |
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| Little Pied Cormorant, Coolart Wetlands |
as well as some bush birds on the Woodland Walk
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| Little Wattlebird, Coolart Woodland Walk |
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| Noisy Miner, Coolart Homestead |
and a pair of Red-capped Plovers on the nearby Balnarring Beach
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| Red-capped Plover (female), Balnarring Beach |
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| Red-capped Plover (male), Balnarring Beach |
A great day with more than 50 species sighted and/or heard. Highlight of the day though was the pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles perched on a dead branch just upriver from the bridge on the track to the beach. A long way off and the light wasn't great but one half decent shot of one eagle in flight.
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| Wedge-tailed Eagle, Coolart Wetlands |
