Fairy Martins under the bridge - Oct 2014

It's been a while since I've posted photos and I have a bit of a backlog to catch up on. These photos were taken back in October 2014.

Someone had mentioned that Fairy Martins were nesting under the Bourke road bridge so I set off on a nice walk along the Yarra river to hopefully tick off another species.

The birds were easy enough to find but difficult to photograph under the bridge's shadow and with their speedy flying.

Fairy Martin nests under the bridge

Their bottle-shaped nests are made with up to 1000 mud pellets and then lined with dried grass and feathers. They nest in large colonies in caves and rock crevices and more so now on bridges and buildings.

Fairy Martin, Petrochelidon ariel 

Fairy Martin, Petrochelidon ariel

A Blue-tongue lizard was enjoying the hot weather.

On the way home I nearly stepped on these 2 gorgeous ducklings, camoflaged well on the path. I think I saved their lives photographing them because a mountain biker came racing around the corner and had to stop to go around me - he surely wouldn't have seen them otherwise. It was a bit concerning however, that these two ducklings were by themselves, without their mother in sight. 

Australian Wood Duck chick, Chenonetta jubata

The Fairy Martin spotting takes my tally up to 211.