#152 to #155 at Lake Caroline, Caroline Springs, Victoria, February 28 2016

I had a great day yesterday with my family at Lake Caroline in Caroline Springs. We ate lunch at a restaurant and then walked around the lake while my daughter rode her scooter and then played at the playground. The birds here are quite used to people, and quite easy to photograph, so I decided to use this as an opportunity to play around with camera settings and learn.

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S27838303

#152 Common Myna

#153 Little Pied Cormorant

#154 Little Corella

#155 Little Raven

#145 to #151 at the Western Treatment Plant, Victoria, Febrary 25 2016

This week's usual Thursday after work expedition to the treatment plant yielded some pretty good results! I got as close to a Pectoral Sandpiper as I ever have, spent sime time with some close-ish views of the ever-so-confusing small terns and attempted some IDs, and found three Brolga being lit up perfectly by the late afternoon sun!

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S27808609

#145 Pectoral Sandpiper

#146 Little Tern

#147 Australasian Gannet

#148 Red Knot

#149 Double-banded Plover

#150 White-winged Tern

#151 Brolga

After this trip...
2016 year list: 229
2016 photos: 151

#144 at the Western Treatment Plant, Victoria, Febraury 20 2016

I was going to Geelong for non-birding reasons, and I decided that I would stop in at the Western Treatment Plant for a "qucik" visit on the way through to see if I could pick up photos of Little Tern, Fairy Tern, and Pectoral Sandpiper, as well as tick them off for the year list. And, as luck would have it, I managed to find them quite easily. However, there were only distant views at best, and the photos were not so good. The only halfway reasonable photo (of a small tern that I could actually ID) is this Fairy Tern.

#144 Fairy Tern

#140 to #143 at the Western Treatment Plant, Victoria, February 18 2016

Some less than perfect photos today including a dodgy Purple-crowned Lorikeet that's actually the best photo that I've ever taken of this species, and a heavy crop of the Broad-billed Sandpiper that I was VERY happy to see (only the second time I've ever seen one)

#140 Purple-crowned Lorikeet

#141 Tree Martin

#142 Australian Shelduck

#143 Broad-billed Sandpiper

eBird checklist:

After today...
2016 year list: 225
2016 photos: 143

#133 to #139 at the Western Treatment Plant, Victoria, February 11 2016

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S27421009

#133 Pied Cormorant

#134 Red-necked Stint

#135 Common Tern

#136 Banded Stilt

#137 Curlew Sandpiper

#138 Buff-banded Rail

#139 Banded Lapwing

#128 - #132 - Birding along the Kororit Creek and then at The Jawbone, Williamstown, Victoria, February 4 2016

For this week's Thursday afrter work birding trip I went looking for a Common Sandpiper along the Kororoit Creek, probably the only place you can find one within 200km of where I live. I've found this bird three years in a row, but never really got any decent photographs. I got a better photo than usual this time, but it's a far cry from what I'd like to get! I managed to pick up a few more species for my 2016 year list and some new year photos as well.

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S27290683
eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S27290879
eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S27291122

#128 - Straw-necked Ibis

#129 - Royal Spoonbill

#130 - Common Sandpiper

#131 - Singing Honeyeater

#132 - Pacific Gull

After this trip...
2016 year list: 220
2016 photos: 132

#121 - #127 at the Western Tretment Plant, Victoria, February 1 2016

I had a rare opportunity to go birding after work on a Monday so I headed straight to the Western Tretment Plant to find the recently reported Wood Sanpiper. Not a lifer, but a bird that I had previously failed to get any reasonable photos of. As luck would have it, I found two Wood Sandpipers quite easily, along with a few more photos for the year list.

#121 Marsh Sandpiper

#122 Wood Sandpiper

#123 Whiskered Tern

#124 Zebra Finch

#125 Yellow-billed Spoonbill

#126 Red-necked Avocet

#127 Black Kite

eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S27244643

After this trip:
2016 year list: 217
2016 photos: 127