A Lazy Day at the Western Treatment Plant

Being a teacher is hard work. It's a tough job, but it certainly has some rewards. Well, one main reward. Holidays. Big stinking long holidays. Usually I like to travel a bit during the holidays, with long drives to places that I wouldn't usually get to visit. But these holidays I've been staying closer to home. And the best bird-watching place close to home is the Western Treatment Plant, so that's where I went today!

I decided to check the T-section first, as this is a great location for damseflies. I planned to mainly focus on birds, but I really do like the challenge of photographing damsels. They are fast, difficult to focus on, and fly away before you can get close enough to get a photo. But as soon as I drove in, I saw another birder who alerted me to the fact that he had seen two Plumed Whistling-ducks just a few minutes before I got there. I was VERY keen to see them as well. I've seen them in Queensland and in the Northern Territory, but never in my home state of Victoria. Unfortunately they were not where they had been seen. Luckily, I did find them on the next pond across, but with distant views only. I went back to get in the car and drive around for a better view and a better photo, but by then everything had been put up by a circling Swamp Harrier. Still, I managed a crappy record photo...

Plumed Whistling-duck (with some Grey Teal)

I stayed at the T-section long enough to get some photos of the damselflies. They played nice and a few of them actually styaed still long enough for me to get a nice photo.

Blue Ringtail (Austrolestes annulosus)

 I then moved on to the Western Lagoons to try and find a Terek Sandpiper, with no success. There were a lot of waders around, but I couldn't pick out anything too interesting amongst them. I did manage to find a pair of Glossy Ibis, plus a few more subjects for the telephoto lens.

Glossy Ibis

Brown Thornbill

Eurasian Skylark

 

Golden-headed Cisticola

Then I decided to head to the Beach Road Rocks. I made a slight detour along the way to check out an area known as the Banded Lapwing Paddock, where of course I had a quick and unsuccessful look for some Banded Lapwing. There was, however, a very nice Horsfield's Bushlark sitting on the fence of the paddock.

Horsfield's Bushlark

I arrived at the Beach Road Rocks to find the tide very high. There was at least a thousand waders present, many of them standing on top of a thick layer of floating seaweed, bobbing up and down as the waves rolled in. This, of course, made them quite difficult to pick through, because the more that I looked at them, the more I started to feel seasick. I really do have a weak stomach! I managed to find a few Red Knot amongst the masses of Curlew Sadnpipers and Red-necked Stints.

Curlew Sandpiper

Red Knot (centre, profile view) with Red-necked Stints and Curlew Sandpipers

Red-necked Stint

Then it was time to go. On the way out, I found an area that had a lot of Striped Ladybird, including quite a few larvae. I snapped a few photos of them, and then headed home. It was a good day!

Striped Ladybird (Micraspis frenata) larvae