Birding and other stuff

The day started off well with 3 Wedge-tailed Eagles in a cypressy-looking tree near home.  The third ne is a young bird, indicated by a yellow arrow.  It whinged constantly.

A birding friend from Canberra was in town today so we spent the morning visiting a few sites.  The first, Gun-Club Track, was a waste of time: the only bird seen was a Welcome Swalllow.  We did hear a Treecreeper nearby but still pathetic.

We then stopped at Betka Beach where the birds were more obliging, especiallythe Hooded Plovers of which we saw 2.  Hopefully Jnr was nearby somewhere.

On to Bastion Point where we got some good birds despite some funsters walking right through the flock of Gulls and Terns.  Bird of the Day was Red-necked Stint  but there were also good numbers of Red-capped Plover and a large flock of Short-tailed Shearwaters over the ocean.

On to the recycled Water Treatment Plant.  A first sighting there was a Koala in the gum plantation..

The walk in was quite quiet in terms of birds but the ponds soon began to deliver,  Overall numbers were quite good, but not record breaking.  A young Wedgetail - possibly the one seen near home this morning as its only 2.5kms away - posed nicely

As we moved to the big pond my friend spotted what he first thought was a discarded tyre.  Then he realised it was a humungous Red-bellied Black Snake.  We estimated it as at least 2m long and the body as thick as our arm.

It was happily  eating frogs and such like but on dropping a couple of rocks it poked its head up.

Calling in at the small wetland with a hide we saw 2 Spotless Crakes ...

,, and a single Black-fronted Dotterell.

Getting back to the caravan Park and another Koala had been spotted.