Final Post!!!!

It seems that my photographic endeavours for 2016 have come to an end. This has been a lot of fun. With persistence, determination and a healthy dose of luck I managed to find and photograph 311 species of birds in 2016.

In 2017 I am not setting any targets for birding. Instead, I plan to simply enjoy finding and photographing wildlife wherever I may be. I am going to blog my outings at a new blog here: http://andrewallenphotography.blogspot.com.au/

Bye!

#311 White-winged Triller @ Woodlands Historic Park, Victoria, December 21

I planned to get out of bed early and spend the day wandering around Woodlands Historic Park. However, I slept in, and didn't get there until around 10:15am. By that time in the summer, even on milder days, the birds have all finished doing what they do and found somewhere cooler to spend the day. Of course, this did not bother me at all, because I had my macro lens and the flowering gums were teeming with insects. I spent 99% of my time photographing insects an spiders (posted here facebook.com/AndrewAllenPhotos) until I heard the trilling call of a White-winged Triller. I eventually found at least two, but they were both very high up in the trees. I got the best photo I could manage for species #311 photographed in 2016!

#311 White-winged Triller

#310 Australian Raven at Wonga Park, Victoria, December 11

I decided to go and look for an apparently reliable Azure Kingfisher at Heritage Wetlands in Wonga Park last week, but couldn't find it. So I decided to go and have another crack at it, and dipped again! It's not a lifer, but it would be a new one for my Victorian list, and a new one for my year photos. While I was there I heard the distinctive call of two Australian Raven, and managed to get species photo #310 for 2016.

#310 Australian Raven

#309 Pacific Koel at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, Victoria, November 27

I decided to go and have a look for the Pacific Koel that frequents the Botanic Gardens at this time of year. The first bird that I 'ticked' for the year was a very vocal Pacific Koel that was calling in the pre-dawn darkness on January 1 when I was in Brisbane. My previous experiences with attempting to photograph this species have all been challenging ones, as these birds call infrequently and like to hide behind foliage. It took considerable effort to find the right tree, and then at least an hour before I could sight the bird, but I was thrilled to get a recognisable photo.

#309 Pacific Koel

#308 White-throated Gerygone at Cummins Reserve and Wetlands, Yea, Victoria, November 20

After dipping on photos of pretty much everything at Toolangi I decided to try my luck at Yea, about a half an hours drive away. As soon as I got out of the car I could hear the melodious call of the White-throated Gerygone. It was absolutely beautiful. There were two of them, but they weren't too keen on me getting any sort of close approach. A heavily cropped photo will have to do then!

#308 White-throated Gerygone

#307 Rufous Fantail at Toolangi, Victoria, November 20

My love-hate relationship with Toolangi continued today. I love the place, but I really hate trying to find birds there. If you like hearing birds, then Toolangi is certainly the place to go. Seeing them is a lot more difficult. Getting a photo - don't even bother. I dipped on too many photos to count, but did manage a low-light motion-blurred Rufous Fantail that needed significant post-processing sharpening to even look halfway reasonable.

#307 Rufous Fantail

#306 Peregrine Falcon, Victoria, November 19

I've driven by a well known local Peregrine Falcon nesting location a few times this year, and finally hit paydirt! Photos taken from a distance and heavily cropped.

#306 Peregrine Falcon

#305 Australian Hobby, Western treatment Plant, Victoria, November 11

I found this very timid and unfortunately back-lit hobby at the Western Treatment Plant this afternoon. Too many bushes in the way, too heavily cropped etc, but easily identifiable!

#305 Australian Hobby

#304 Black-faced Cormorant at Point Lonsdale, Victoria, November 6

I had to go to Geelong on Sunday afternoon, so I decided to spend some time at Point Lonsdale looking for Black-faced Cormorants in the morning. Black-faced Cormorants are somewhat rare around Melbroune, but someone told me that they were a 'sure thing' around the Point Lonsdale pier at low tide. I only found one, and it was a fly-by, but I managed a photo. A pretty crappy photo at that! Still, recognisable enough to be species #304 for 2016!

#304 Black-faced Cormorant

#303 Australasian Bushlark at the Western Treatment Plant, Victoria, November 3

After getting a terrible back-lit photo of a bushlark at the start of the year which I promptly deleted, I was very glad to get this one to add to the year list. I call them a Horsfield's Bushlark, but I think they've been renamed to Australasian Bushlark...

#303 Australasian Bushlark

#302 Leaden Flyctahcer at Woodlands Historic Park, November 1

The first Tuesday in November is Melbourne Cup Day, a public holiday. I'm not at all a fan of horse racing, but I'm most certainly a fan of public holidays!!! Of course, being a teacher, any spare time at this time of the year is usually spent writing reports, which is what I planned to do today... after some recreation time, of course. I headed to Woodlands because it is close to home, not expecting to find much. But I was very pleased to find a female flycatcher, which in the field I thought was a Satin Flycatcher. I has since been identified as a Leaden Flycatcher by the good people at the bird ID Facebook page. Now, instead of writing reports, I'm writing this page. Oh, sweet procrastination...

#302 Leaden Flycatcher

#299 to #301 around Beindigo, Victoria, October 9

I DID IT!!! 300 SPECIES OF BIRDS PHOTOGRAPHED IN 2016!!!!

I go back to work tomorrow (Monday) for the madness of Term four of the school year (I'm a teacher). This means no spare time. Instead, I'll be writing reports. So I was hoping to reach my goal today... and I did! Yay!

I considered a range of locations for today, but ended up choosing Kamarooka in Bendigo because I felt I had a better chance of finding something new for the year there. But when I arrived, I found that most of the birds were hiding from the wind. I struggled to find anything until a family of Variegated Fairywren popped up and I snapped photo #299 for the year.

I pushed on towards the distillery dam where I always find a lot of birds. There were very few around today. Bugger. I moved on again to find the roads impassable in my little two-wheel-drive. Bugger. I moved back to the main road, and that's when I could hardly believe my eyes. A Square-tailed Kite was soaring right next to the car. I piled on the brakes and leapt out of the car. I fired off at least 100 photos before I realised that the settings were all wrong!!! I quickly adjusted, but the bird had moved too far away. Luckily a few adjustments to the photos on the computer recovered the photos somewhat. I was overjoyed to have this incredible species as #300 for the year, especially since seeing one and not being able to stop in time for a photo exactly a week ago when we were at Litchfiled National Park in the Northern Territory. Woo hoo!!!

I continued looking around Kamarooka wherever the roads weren't too bad, hoing to photograph a White-fronted or Purple-gaped Honeyeater, but couldn't find any. The wind was pretty ferocious and it was time to start going home.

While passing through Bendigo, I heard the familliar call of some Musk Lorikeet, a very common species that has eluded my camera all year long. I stopped, got a photo within 30 seconds, and then continued driving home. Species #301!

I might get a few more photos for the year, who knows, but I'll be taking it pretty easy from here. No more big drives until 2017 (unless something mega-rare turns up, of course).

#299 Variegated Fairywren

#300 Square-tailed Kite

#301 Musk Lorikeet

#298 Silvereye at The Jawbone, Williamstown, Victoria, October 6

Silvereye are extremely common, and I usually get a reasonable photo of one a few times each year. But this year I've struggled to get any sort of photo. Today I went to a place that I have seen Silvereye quite a few times and tried to track them down by call. I eventually found a small flock, and then began the difficult task of finding one that would come out into the open and stay still for more than a nanosecond. A few did and I ticked off species photograph #298 for 2016. I did feel a bit silly going somewhere and targeting such a common bird...! Two more photos to go...

#298 Silvereye

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31912572

#297 Fairy Martin at the Western Treatment Plant, Victoria, October 5

I came back from Darwin falling just 4 species short of my 300 species goal for 2016. I decided to go and find some 'easy' local species that I had neglected to photograph so far. The weather was terrible, about 12 degrees and extremely overcast. I was hopeful of finding some Fairy Martin perched on the fences at the treatment plant like they usually are. There were none perched. All were in flight. So I attempted the only stupid and ridiculous thing that I could do - I tried to get in in-flight shot of a Fairy Martin in overcast low-light conditions. Out of about 300 photos taken I actually got a few that would be passable. Yay!

#297 Fairy Martin

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31912540

#286 to #296 around Darwin, Northern Territory, October 3

We spent the morning of our last day in Darwin driving to a few birding locations. First of all, we had a look around the botanic gardens for the Rufous Owl, but once again could not find it. Then we went to East Point to have a look for waders. I absolutely love waders, and fortunately for me, there were quite a few at East Point. I managed to pick out some nice ones too!

#286 Terek Sandpiper

#287 Lesser Sand Plover

#288 Striated Heron

#289 Forest Kingfisher

#290 Northern Fantail

Then we went to the East Point Mangrove Boardwalk. There wasn’t a lot around, but I did get a good look at (and bad photos of) two Torresian Kingfisher.

#291 Torresian Kingfisher

 eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31863245  

We only had a short time at this location because I wanted to be at Buffalo Creek early enough to have a chance of finding a Chestnut Rail, which of course, I couldn’t find. But I gave it a good go. I also had great view of a Black Butcherbird, but getting a photo was extremely difficult!

#292 Black Butcherbird

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31866220

I eventually gave up on the Chestnut Rail so that we could explore Lee Point (we were running out of time) where I got onto some very nice waders.

#293 Yellow Oriole

#294 Grey-tailed Tattler

#295 Grey Plover

#296 Greater Sand Plover

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31866960

And that was the end of our Darwin holiday. We went back to the hotel to collect our luggage, ate some lunch, and headed to the airport to fly home to Melbourne. I saw 110 species including 41 lifers (42 including Red-collared Lorikeet that eBird considers a sub-species of Rainbow Lorikeet, 43 including Masked Lapwing that has been split from our southern version). That’s a lot in just 4 days!

#277 to #285 around Darwin and Litchfiled National Park, Northern Territory, October 2

For our third day in Darwin we had planned to hire a car and drive to Litchfiled National Park. Not a well known birding location, but an incredibly beautiful place to explore.

We couldn’t get the car until 8:00am, so that meant that I could finally explore the park opposite our hotel (where we had been upgraded the most amazing room thanks to my wife’s industry contacts). I knew that there was a Barking Owl roost about 100 metres from our hotel, so that’s where I headed. Along the way I found quite a lot to photograph as well! We found the Barking Owls quite easily, as they were making quite a bit of noise!

#277 Double-barred Finch

#278 Torresian Imperial-pigeon

#279 Little Friarbird

#280 Orange-footed Scrubfowl

#281 Bar-shouldered Dove

#282 Barking Owl

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31842789

Then we picked up the car and headed to Litchfield. We had a wonderful day exploring the beauty of Litchfield, but as expected I didn’t find many birds. We did see quite a few raptors on the way and my wife was beginning to see the difference between the common Black and Whistling Kites, mostly due to the forked tail of the Black Kite. I mentioned that if we see anything with big, long wings and a square-shaped tail that we would need to pull over immediately. Then, on the way to Wangi Falls, we saw one. I started yelling, “Square-tailed Kite! Square-tailed Kite!” as the bird soared right next to the car. My wife was driving, and she stopped as soon as she could – there was a car right behind us, and there was nowhere to safely pull over. We found a spot a few hundred metres up to the road to do a U-turn, and went back for a look, but could not find it again. It was equally thrilled to see such a wonderful species and disappointed that I could not get a photo.

At Wangi Falls I found more birds than the rest of the park. I was hoping for a Black-tailed Treecreeper, but none were seen or heard. Then we headed back to Darwin, and somewhere along the way I saw a Dollarbird perched on the power lines, so we pulled over and got a photo!

#283 Great Bowerbird

#284 Red-tailed Black-cockatoo

#285 Dollarbird

 eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31849251

#259 to #276 around Darwin, Northern Territory, October 1

For day two of our Darwin holiday, we had booked a birding tour with Experience the Wild. Chris, our guide, picked us up at 7:00am from our hotel, and we made our way to the first stop of the day, the George Brown Botanic Gardens. The target was Rufous Owl. We didn’t find one! I did manage quite a few lifers here, mostly of the more common Darwin residents (Green Oriole, Orange-footed Scrubfowl, Torresian Imperial-pigeon, Radjah Shelduck, Spangled Drongo, Helmeted Friarbird (very dodgy photos only), Little Bronze-cuckoo (no photo), and Green-backed Gerygone).

#259 Radjah Shelduck

#260 Spangled Drongo

#261 Helmeted Friarbird

#262 Green-backed Gerygone

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31828788

Next, we headed to East Point where the life list continued to grow – Rufous-banded Honeyeater, Black Butcherbird, Lemon-bellied Flycatcher, Grey Whistler (only terrible photos), Eastern Reef Egret, and a bird that I have always wanted to see, Terek Sandpiper!! I got some better photos of the waders a few days later, so I’ll use those photos for this blog later.

#263 Lemon-bellied Flycatcher

#264 Bush Stone-curlew

#265 Rose-crowned Fruit-dove

#266 Red-collared Lorikeet

#267 Rufous-banded Honeyeater

#268 Eastern Reef Egret

 eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31830362

After a good look around East Point, we made our way to Knuckey’s  Lagoons where the tour owner, Mike, had a spotting scope set up and some exciting news. He had just seen an Eastern Yellow Wagtail. I was super keen to add this one to my life list! Unfortunately, the bird could not be located again. We did a very, very thorough search but it was all to no avail. I did, however, pick up another lifer as there were a few Silver-crowned Friarbird making a huge noise as they sped through the tree tops.

#269 Silver-crowned Friarbird

#270 Cattle Egret

 eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31831017

The next location was a place that I had wanted to visit for a long, long time. Fogg Dam, a place that during a good year can be a birder’s paradise! Our tour guide did warn us that it was not a good year for Fogg Dam since the last wet season was pretty much non-existent. But I still loved it. Sure, there weren’t as many birds as expected, but it was still fantastic. I picked up some more lifers with Crimson Finch and Long-tailed Finch.

#271 Paperbark Flycatcher

#272 Crimson Finch

#273 Long-tailed Finch

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31832478

The next stop was at a place called Window on the Wetlands where saw huge numbers of water birds. The guide said that this is what Fogg Dam is usually like, only better and with closer views. I can only image what that would be like! This was the only location throughout the day that I didn’t get a lifer! I did get some nice photos though…

#274 Varied Triller

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31832612

 

The final stop for the day was at Howard Springs Nature Reserve, the best place to find Rainbow Pitta, and our last chance to see this beautiful little Top-end endemic. The mosquitoes here were ravenous, with insect repellent making no difference. We found a pair of Little Shrike-thrush (lifer), and with persistence, we saw two beautiful Rainbow Pitta, another lifer.

#275 Little Shrike-thrush

#276 Rainbow Pitta

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31832979

On the way back to the hotel, I spotted A Collared Kingfisher sitting on some power lines above the mangroves near Darwin Harbour, my last lifer for the day, racking up a total of 20 new species. It was a great day!!!