Plovers, Black Swans, and an Old Windmill

On a recent, though brief, stopover in St. Helens we popped in at the bird observation point at Colchis Creek. There is no hide there or anything; just a wooden bench. We were immediately welcomed by two Red-capped Plovers. Well it wasn't really a welcome. More like they were trying to chase us off. I think they may have been nesting nearby. In any case, I managed a couple of photos before we moved on.

Red-capped Plover - Charadrius ruficapillus (Male)

Red-capped Plover - Charadrius ruficapillus (Male)

The short video below shows some Black Swans. The footage was taken at various places around the state including:

• Lake Dulverton in Oatlands, Tasmania
• Gould's Lagoon in Hobart Tasmania
• Tasmanian Arboretum at Eugenana, Tasmania

Next is a bit of a look around Lake Dulverton. This is an ephemeral lake located by the historic town of Oatlands in the Tasmanian Midlands. After above average winter rains the lake is currently full. E-Bird shows that 84 bird species have been recorded there including some rare and uncommon birds (for Tasmania) such as Wandering Whistling Duck, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilt and Latham's Snipe.

Callington Mill is a working, Georgian era windmill, built in 1837. Interestingly, the original sails were blown off in a storm back in 1912 and landed in the lake.

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Wildlife Watching at Narawntapu National Park

On Monday we enjoyed a day  out at Narawntapu National Park. The highlight of the day for me came just as we were leaving. There is a small ephemeral body of water that comes quite close to the road. We stopped to make a final scan, with binoculars, across the water and surrounding field.  Sure enough there were several species I had not already seen that day. Great egret, Australasian pipit, Flame robin, White-fronted chat, and two Black-fronted dotterels. The dotterels were foraging along the edge of the water and gradually making there way around to where we were parked. I've been trying to get a reasonable photo of these birds for a long time so this was my big chance. I was quite happy with the results:

 

 

Black-fronted dotterels

Other highlights included seeing 74 Forester Kangaroos; the most I have ever seen there. There were the usual Bennett's wallabies, and Tasmanian pademelons. We only spotted one Wombat. Some years ago I remember counting over 80 wombats within just a couple of kilometres but, sadly, the population has been decimated by mange. Five mammal species in all if I include the European rabbit.  All but the rabbit can be seen in the following video.

There were not a lot of birds present at the hide apart from four rather entertaining Musk ducks. One just wanted to spin around in circles on the water while trying to doze.

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