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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Two Months of Lifers Down Under (2 Viewers)

Larry, those three birds you refer to are still seen at Gluepot but require some considerable walking to find them, plus some knowledge of the best places to look. We saw the Miner and the Whistler when we were there in 2015 but we were with a guide who knew where to go. With Delia we spent all our time in the bird hide.

Thanks Peter. It was 2008 when I visited the site and there had been a pretty bad fire not long before. Good to hear they're still there. We still saw some cool mallee birds though.
 
First off, sorry, the Little Eagle wasn't, it's now been re-identified as another Whistling Kite!

So just to finish up that lovely river trip, Kites continued to fly around, while I took some views of the river.

The third image shows another female Australasian Darter, not at all concerned by us passing so closely to her tree.

That tree, actually is an introduced willow. They are such thirsty trees, they are removing too much water from the river system, so there is now a programme of clearance.

A Silver Gull escorted us back to our berth... but frustratingly I saw a Whiskered Tern pass close to the water but was not in a position to get a picture of it!!! grrr.
 

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Mannum to Adelaide

3 November 2019

A lovely dinner and a comfy bed; I was up early the next morning and wandered down to the river bank to have a nosey.

A Maned Duck and Eurasian Coot were already up and having their breakfast, and a mother Pacific Black Duck was keeping an eye on her two bairns.

There's a chain ferry there taking vehicles across, behind it you can see a paddle steamer, called the Marion, which does cruises on the river. It's over 100 years old now and you can read about her history here if you're interested: http://www.murrayriver.com.au/paddleboats/paddle-steamer-marion/

Making my way back to the hotel to meet up with Peter and Adrienne for breakfast, I spotted a Noisy Miner in a tree.

After breakfast we drove along the river to a reed bed with a short board walk out to the water's edge. An Australasian Swamphen was on the riverbank here.
 

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There were a couple of Australian Pelicans sitting on perches in the river. And a fine view we had of the river from here too.

On the wide grass verge was a Magpie-Lark with a party of Black-tailed Nativehens.

Also seen in this area were the usual ducks and cormorants.

We then headed back towards Adelaide. In the Adelaide Hills we stopped off at the Gorge Wildlife Park so that I could at least see some of the species out of the range of my tour.

There are some free flying birds there that visit, including this rather lovely Common Bronzewing - the light really captured his iridescent plumage, didn't it.

They have some Dingos there, which are becoming a very threatened species now. I'd been trying to get a post card or souvenir showing one for a dog-mad friend back home, but it proved to be almost impossible!
 

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Nice shot of the Bronzewing Delia :t:
I think their velvety gold caps are as impressive as the iridescent rainbow windows on their wings - you usually find them in any position and lighting which guarantees exclusion of getting a good picture ! :-O





Chosun :gh:
 
Thanks Chosun. Yeah... I was lucky with that one, wasn't I.

Next installment in preparation.
 
Kinchina

4 November 2019

Sadly the start of my last day in the care of Peter and Adrienne in South Australia. Today we're heading back up into the Adelaide Hills to Kinchina a large nature conservation area. En route we saw Little Raven, Galah and Australian Magpie.

We first exploried the Cypress Hill Trail, which was a fairly open area with tall trees and low shrubby bushes.

Around the gate area were more Galahs, a Black Kite flying over and a Mistletoebird, who was too active to get a picture of sadly.

We got started along the track when I suddenly noticed a lot of little holes, which Adrienne told me were ant holes.

It wasn't long, though, before we got more bird action, with a male White-winged Triller. Then a lovely Elegant Parrot, only got the one image though. Shortly after, we found a female triller to go with the male.

Arriving at the fence bordering this area, a Masked Woodswallow was sitting on it.
 

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Thanks so much Lisa... those trillers really are lovely wee birds.

And thank you too, Etudiant, for your kind words.
 
Thanks KC. I rather fell in love with woodswallows - sweet looking birds.
 
Not far from where we saw the male woodswallow was a female sitting in a tree, her face is much lighter, greyish rather than black.

Another tree.... and a young Hooded Robin (I'd seen a male at Bowra about a month earlier!). A female joined him but my best picture of her was as she took flight!

Then a movement at the bottom of the fence showed us our main target for this visit - a female Crimson Chat, then a WOW of a bird her husband flew onto the top of the fence, complete with a mouthful of insects.

Now the hunt was on to find a youngster...
 

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Fantastic pic of that Crimson Chat Delia, just stunning!

I've just been catching up on the last few days and love the Bronzewing image too! As for your aerial shots of the Kites - you must be so pleased with that new camera! Keep it coming Lass!

Chris
 
Thanks Chris - yeah that chat was absolutely gorgeous and what fun we had on that river cruise too.
 
That chat is really handsome with his bright color and eyes! The female while more subtle is a beauty.
 
I found the juvenile, but was too slow on the food pass! Further along the fence was a sub-adult male.

So.... now here's another picture of dad and another picture of the juvie giving a pose!!

Working our way back to the car we found a Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater in a tree.
 

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Love your Crimson Chats Delia, they're gorgeous and the Masked Woodswallows fantastic.....camera certainly paid off, well done you!
Thanks for sharing!
 
In the car park area we saw a Rainbow Bee-eater flying around. Had quite a chase to try and get a picture of him too LOL

In the same group of trees was a Red-rumped Parrot too, obviously trying to keep in the shade!

From Cypress Hill, we then moved along to Brown's Road and wandered through the woodland there.

The highlight of this was my last lifer from SA an Australian Owlet-nightjar. He was in a box, which we weren't sure if it was nesting or roosting, so, to be on the safe side, I can't show you this lovely guy.

On our way come, behind the fence to this woodland was a party of White-winged Chough.

After a lovely farewell dinner, we celebrated a successful couple of weeks with a glass (or two) of wine. The final image was taken from the departure lounge at Adelaide Airport.... and it wasn't even 6am!

Surprisingly, Peter and Adrienne were allowed to escort me up there and stay until I was called to board. I thought you had to have boarding tickets to get so far LOL.

Thanks so much Peter and Adrienne a lovely time spent with you both.

Now for a new adventure in Western Australia!!

A trip list will follow, which will no doubt need to be edited too.
 

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