A Long Weekend in SW Victoria: Part 3. Lower Glenelg National Park

The Glenelg River meanders from the Grampians through south-west Victoria eventually spilling into the Southern Ocean at Nelson. The Lower Glenelg National Park surrounds the navigable part of the river and its surrounding forest. We drove through the park this afternoon following the river, stopping at scenic lookouts and river access points.

Glenelg River, Lower Glenelg National Park

We went on several walks and found lots of birds but they were mostly in the treetops and out of photographic range.

Perhaps the most common bird seen and heard was the Grey Fantail and this character spent about 10 minutes feeding on insects in a shady spot in one picnic ground. It was so dark that even after pushing the ISO to 1600, I was still shooting at around 1/60th of a second making it impossible to capture the fast moving bird. The flash did allow me to capture a couple of shots and because the bird was close to the background the flash filled behind the bird.

Grey Fantail, Lower Glenelg National Park

Just near the end of our travels through the park, we spotted a flock of about 8 Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos that hung around long enough for a good look and a few photographs. As with many parrots, even when hanging around in larger flocks, pairs of birds often are found close together as seen here (males have the red eye ring, where in females the eye ring is pale grey).

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Glenelg River National Park

There were also several species of plants flowering spectacularly including Victoria's floral emblem, Pink Heath. I found this specimen while on a walk. I'd left the smaller zooms and macro lenses in the car so tried my best using the 600mm worth of lens (300mm + 2x tele-convertor) I had mounted on the camera. The ultra-telephoto flattened out the image a little too much so I used some fill flash that added a bit more depth to the shot.

Pink Heath, Epacris impressa,
Lower Glenelg National Park

I did bring the macro lens on the next walk and managed a couple of shots (albeit hand held).

Native Fuchsia, Correa reflexa,
Lower Glenelg National Park

Silver Banksia, Banksia marginata,
Lower Glenelg National Park

The rest of the weekend:
Part 1. Cape Nelson
Part 2. Sunrise at Bridgewater Bay
Part 4. Shore Birds

Lake Victoria, Pt Lonsdale

I went for a walk at Lake Victoria in Pt Lonsdale (see map) this evening. Immediately on arrival at the car park I could see a few Banded Stilts feeding close to the shore but once I got through the gate and closer to the lake shore, I was confronted with a flock of 400+ among Silver Gulls and Red-necked Stints.

Silver Gulls and Banded Stilts, Lake Victoria

Red-necked Stints and Banded Stilts, Lake Victoria

They were so intent on feeding that they allowed me to get fairly close.

Banded Stilt, Lake Victoria

Banded Stilt, Lake Victoria

Banded Stilt, Lake Victoria

Banded Stilt, Lake Victoria

Red-necked Stint, Lake Victoria

There were also 3 Common Greenshank nearby but they are usually quite skittish so I didn't try and approach them too closely. Unfortunately, they were almost completely backlit but there was no way of getting around behind them without wading out into the lake and scaring off the Stilts and Stints.

Common Greenshank, Lake Victoria

The highlight of the evening, however, was the smallest plover chick I have seen. This Red-capped Plover can't be much more than a few days old.

Red-capped Plover, Lake Victoria

While I was watching the plover and chick, a flock of Black-winged Stilts flew in over me onto the pond beside the golf course.

Black-winged Stilt, Lake Victoria

Black-winged Stilt, Lake Victoria

About 20 Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos were screeching from the tops of the cypress trees on the golf course and while I was walking back along the track to the car park, they flew past me giving me time for one shot.

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Lake Victoria

Backyard birds

I spent most of the day re-nailing the boards on the back deck and oiling the garden furniture...back-breaking work but I was rewarded with seeing 20 species of birds while I was occupied with drill, hammer and brush (and intermittent trips to the lounge-room for cricket updates). As evening fell a pair of Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos landed in a neighbour's cypress tree so I grabbed the camera for a few shots from our back deck.

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Ocean Grove

Our backyard resident family of New Holland Honeyeaters was not deterred by my presence, in fact I really had too much lens as I had to step backwards to fit the birds in the frame.

New Holland Honeyeater, Ocean Grove

Just as I was about to pack up, a pair of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos arrived and proceeded to demolish a fair proportion of the neighbour's unripe almonds

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Ocean Grove