There’s been a hint of spring in the air with a few lovely sunny days over the past week.
With only three rounds to go in the home and away AFL footy season, it certainly feels like it won’t be long until we are experiencing warmer weather, and many birds will move around the continent to prepare for breeding.
I haven’t had a chance to venture out and about over the past few weeks, so it’s fortunate that I’ve received some great observations from our readers.
Pete, from Ocean Grove, was walking near the picnic area at Moggs Creek on the Surf Coast when he came across a magnificent powerful owl perched in a tree holding its breakfast, which was a ring-tailed possum.
Powerful owls can often be seen holding on to the previous night’s catch while roosting for the day.
I received an email from Kevin, who with his wife Anne Maree, went to Winchelsea where there wasn’t much wind and the sun was shining, so it was a good day for bird spotting.
While there were no little corellas (that’s surprising Kevin), there were quite a few small birds, some of which were quite friendly. He caught a couple of male superb fairy wrens, a grey shrike thrush as well as a more distant white-browed scrubwren.
The Barwon River at Winchelsea is a haven for little corellas and there are usually hundreds of these birds there, as well as near the grain storage area near the highway. Maybe they have flown to Ocean Grove, as there is certainly a sizeable flock hanging around Ray Menzies Oval.
A football game was being played on the oval recently and I noticed at least 50 of these birds trying to feed while the game was in progress.
I received a great message from Carole, who was driving at Portarlington when one of the best birds ever – a spotted harrier- perched on a fence and allowed her to take some photos. Carole explained that the bird didn’t look very pleased to have its photo taken, but she just sat in the car and admired it, as it glared at her.
From my experience harriers (swamp and spotted) do not like human confrontation (understandably) and they do not hang around for photos, so I was in awe of Carole’s pic.
I received an email from Alan, who had a quick trip to Anglesea last weekend. It was so cold and windy, so there were no birds other than a beautiful white-eared honeyeater.
The photo was a good test for Alan’s new camera body (OMSYSTEM OM1) which has AI bird recognition.
Even in the low light, it was able to detect the bird in amongst the branches and foliage then focus on the eye and body resulting in a decent shot that Alan would have struggled to get with his previous camera body (without AI). Alan was pleased to report that the water quality at Blue Waters Lake has improved. The persistent blue-green algae appears to have cleared after more than eight months, but Alan did notice it in the creek last week flowing out through the golf course. Hopefully it will be completely flushed out with a bit more rain.
