This morning was spent at Round Hill Nature Reserve, just north of Lake Cargelligo. It was my first experience in true Australian scrub and it was quite fascinating. Unfortunately, the birds were a bit quiet and none of the Eucalypts were in bloom so there were no honeyeaters around but the birds we did see were largely new for me. Photoraphically, our best opportunity was with a pale of Red-capped Robins, male above, which were quite accomodating for a few minutes.
Nevil had to be back in town for a meeting during mid day so I wandered around the lake a bit and through town. I was able to pick up a few more birds and see the main street of town. In the evening we returned to the sewage treatment plant and saw some decent birds, including a number of crakes. First off, it should be mentioned that the idea of birding at a sewage treatment plant, or sewage works or sewage farm as they are often called here, is not that crazy of an idea. Essentially, the typical sewage farm is just a wetland with some marsh and some open water where water is released after it has passed through all of the treatment. It is the final stage in treatment where the water seeps back into the ground. It's not smelly and awful as the name might imply.
Anyway, we saw a couple crakes, which are very secretive birds that hang out in the dense marshes and only come out right at dawn and dusk and often are difficult to see. I was fortunate to get decent images of Baillan's Crake and one image that shows a Spotless Crake. We also found a family group of White-winged Fairy-wrens with a brilliant male in breeding plumage. I got some great photos of one of the females but frustratingly, the male kept his distance. All in all, it was a decent day with lots of new birds and a couple photographic opportunities.
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