Hot afternoon at the You Yangs

I visited the You Yangs Regional Park this afternoon and despite the heat (38C at 4:00 PM) the birding was good.

First stop was the visitor centre where the Tawny Frogmouths were in their usual spot doing their best to impersonate branches.

Tawny Frogmouth, You Yangs Regional Park

I then drove around the Great Circle Drive, stopping at my favourite spot on the corner of Branding Yard Road and immediately heard the familiar sound of a Rufous Whistler. It didn't take long to find him

Rufous Whistler (male), You Yangs Regional Park

and, a few minutes later, a female appeared nearby

Rufous Whistler (female), You Yangs Regional Park

along with this Eastern Yellow Robin.

Eastern Yellow Robin, You Yangs Regional Park

A little further along the drive, a flock of White-winged Choughs emerged along the road (this photo shot out of the car window).

White-winged Chough, You Yangs Regional Park

So, ever the optimist, I pulled over and tried to stalk them to get close enough for some reasonable shots. Unfortunately, this is what they usually look like, foraging among the leaf litter and managing to stay about 25 metres away no matter how slowly I approached.

White-winged Chough, You Yangs Regional Park

The same goes when they are perched in trees. The only time you can get close is when they are at the top of the tree.

White-winged Chough, You Yangs Regional Park

I did mange to get close enough to this one for a half reasonable shot but I missed it flying off, the only time you get to see the "white wings".

White-winged Chough, You Yangs Regional Park

An added bonus at the same location was a very cooperative (and very scruffy) Scarlet Robin. I suspect this is a young male just moulting into adult plumage. I love shooting male robins because they are inquisitive and assertive - they'll come up to you and stay around showing off.

Scarlet Robin, You Yangs Regional Park

Back at the visitor centre I found a Restless Flycatcher having a drink from the old iron lid under the tap on the toilet block wall. I missed catching a photograph of it there (too slow) but it landed in a tree close by

Restless Flycatcher, You Yangs Regional Park

and then moved even closer.

Restless Flycatcher, You Yangs Regional Park

Just as I was leaving a Red-browed Finch flew down to the water for a drink.

Red-browed Finch, You Yangs Regional Park

Bendelby Ranges

After leaving Gluepot, we headed for the Bendelby Ranges in the southern Flinders Ranges. Most of our time here was spent driving the 4WD tracks but I did manage to get some early morning and late afternoon birding in. We were camped in the middle of an open Eucalyptus-Callitris woodland that provided some great opportunities to find a range of bush birds.

There was a nest at the top of the tree right next to our campsite and we woke at sunrise to the chattering calls of Chestnut-crowned Babblers. As usual, they proved difficult to photograph as they are rarely stationary and seem to remain in the middle of the vegetation high up in the tree but I did manage to capture one bird with its breakfast on a branch at eye height

Chestnut-crowned Babbler, Bendelby Ranges, SA

A group of five Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters were equally noisy nearby and this one posed nicely in the early morning sunlight.

Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Bendelby Ranges, SA

A late afternoon walk along a creek bank revealed more than 20 species of birds, all of which proved difficult to photograph in the low contrasty light but the highlights were:

Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, Bendelby Ranges, SA

Red-capped Robin (male), Bendelby Ranges, SA

Rufous Whistler (female), Bendelby Ranges, SA

Long weekend in Central Victoria - Day 2

We started the morning with a quick trip out to some drainage ponds near Woodvale (just north of Eaglehawk - see map) to catch the Red-necked Avocet and we were not disappointed.

Red-necked Avocet, Woodvale

We then drove to the Kamarooka section of the Greater Bendigo National Park entering along Millwood Road from the south. We stopped just past the entrance to the park and immediately heard Rufous Whistler calling. The loud and persistent calls suggested a male but none of us could find one. We did manage to find this female singing her little lungs out. 

Rufous Whistler (female), Kamarooka Section, Greater Bendigo NP

Next stop was further into the park, where we were promised White-fronted and Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters. I had not photographed either species before and, in fact, never seen a Tawny-crowned Honeyeater. Within five minutes of getting out of the car I found a White-fronted Honeyeater perched on a nearby branch, food in its mouth.

White-fronted Honeyeater, Kamarooka Section, Greater Bendigo NP

The Tawny-crowned Honeyeater was proving to be more elusive until one of the group told me they had found one just near where they were parked. Sure enough, while standing right next to the car, this bird flew into a nearby shrub. It was behind several dead branches of another shrub (which totally confuses the auto-focus as it tracks back and forth looking for something to focus on and usually ends up on a stick in the foreground) so I switched to manual focus and managed to get this image - backlit and blurry foreground but still pleasing

Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Kamarooka Section, Greater Bendigo National Park

The bird then moved and perched on another branch a few metres away - still backlit but clear view.

Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Kamarooka Section, Greater Bendigo NP

The bird was now getting the hang of this photo-model business and it moved a few metres again, still back and sidelit but a beautiful background of purple wildflowers.

Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Kamarooka Section, Greater Bendigo NP

It then disappeared into a dense patch of shrubs right in front of us. This behaviour is typical of nesting birds, where they don't go straight into the nest but flit from branch to branch in a different pattern each time they enter and leave a nest. So, to avoid disturbing the nest any further, I was just moving away when this bird came from the same patch (may be the same bird or its mate) and stopped just in front of me just as a cloud came across the sun, providing a detailed view of this species' beautiful plumage.

Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Kamarooka Section, Greater Bendigo NP

All of these photographs were taken within a 10 minute period. I can't remember another occasion where I got so many different views of the same bird at one location in such a short time AND this was the first Tawny-crowned I have ever seen (very happy!)

We moved off to another location for a lunch by an old eucalyptus oil distillery. A walk around the distillery dams and lots of the common bush birds were seen and heard but the highlight of the afternoon was a juvenile Nankeen Night-Heron found at another small dam just down the track

Nankeen Night-Heron (juvenile), Kamarooka Section, Greater Bendigo NP

A brilliant day out in the bush greatly helped by some local knowledge (thanks Murray!)

for more:
The night before

Day 1 - Heathcote-Graytown and Axedale

Day 3 - Whipstick and Bells Swamp

Passerine Paradise

I spent the weekend in central Victoria on a farm adjacent to Kimbolton State Forest near Lake Eppalock. An early morning walk among Grey Box trees revealed a wide range of small passerines. Here are a just a few...

Scarlet Robin, Lyal

Jacky Winter, Lyal

Willie Wagtail, Lyal

Rufous Whistler (female), Lyal

Spotted Pardalote, Lyal

Striated Pardalote, Lyal

Southern Whiteface, Lyal

Varied Sittella, Lyal

Oh, and a few non-avians attracted the camera also

Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Lyal