Last week a friend and I signed up for a free field trip to the River Gum Creek Reserve, Hampton Park, run by BirdLife Australia. The area boasts a list of over 160 bird species which is amazing considering how built up the surrounding areas are.
Our group of 4 was accompanied by 3 birding experts and a scope.
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| Purple Swamphen (juvenile), Porphyrio porphyrio |
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| Little Pied Cormorant, Microcarbo melanoleucos |
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| Royal Spoonbill, Platalea regia |
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| Red-rumped Parrot (Female + Male), Psephotus haematonotus |
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| Great Egret, Ardea alba |
We wandered around for roughly 2hrs and managed to tick off 43 species which was fantastic, but unfortunately no new spots for me.
We continued driving to Phillip Island and I went for short walk in the afternoon. It was quite hot and although I could hear lots of birds they were keeping well out of sight. Instead I found this damselfly and caught a quick glimpse of a European Goldfinch peeking out from behind a branch.
I'm fairly certain this is a Slender Ringtail Damselfly, Austrolestes analis.
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| European Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis |
Love the red-rumps in the water! What a great sighting!
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