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Message: <blockquote data-quote="colonelboris" data-source="post: 1597521" data-attributes="member: 40117">A trip to Centennial Park today (not to be confused with last weekend's Bicentennial Park).  Bit of a trot from where I', staying, but easier than trying to figure out a) which buses go where, how many of them and where to change and b) where to buy the tickets...On the way, I stopped at Victoria Park and managed to get a picture of one of the two Little Pied Cormorants that have set up home there.First bird I was greeted by was a Purple Swamphen, followed (amongst others) by a few Australasian Grebes, Little Pied Cormorants and Little Black Cormorants.  A male Darter was sunning itself on an island.  Round the way a bit, I bumped into a Muscovy Duck and a few Mallards, most likely gone over the wire at some point.  Goot luck, Herr Bartlett...On the biggest lake there, there was a large number of bread-habituated Pacific Black Ducks, Black Swans, Coots and Hardheads of which I took merciless advantage by photographing while other people were feeding them.I bumped into a nice chap who does a spot of birdwatching and notes the leg rings and wing tags of Australian White Ibises for another chap's Ph.D project.  I'd noticed the rings and tags earlier and had taken some photos so I could report them and managed to bag one with a ring combination the chap hadn't seen before.  It's things like this I use to trick myself into thinking my hobby is somehow useful to society as a whole.The day's only lifer appeared in the form of a large flock of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, each about the size of Wellington bomber and only slightly less noisy.  I did add one more to the year list when a Whiskered Tern came bouncing over, dipping in and out of the lake with a large splash each time.  I think it had been somewhat lucky, though as another large splash revealed an enormous Eel that looked like it had taken a lunge at the tern.I spent ten minutes sitting very still, waiting for a Willie Wagtail that playing around my feet to come out into the light, which it finally did.  A pair of Crested Pigeons were also doing a little mating dance, which I rudely photographed.  After that, the last birds of the day were a group of Laughing Kookaburras, which posed nicely, albeit in the shade of a lovely paperbark.[edit] Pictures are: Little Pied Cormorant; Hardhead (or White-eyed Duck); Willie Wagtail; Crested pigeons getting it on; Laughing Kookaburra.</blockquote>

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