Trevor's Birding

Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker, South Australia

No Comments »25th January, 2011; Category: Birders, Favourite Birding Spots, Good Birding Sites, Waterbirds

Laratinga Wetland, Mt Barker, South Australia

Over recent days I’ve featured some of the birds that can be seen at the Laratinga Wetland. This area has become one of my favourite birding spots. This wetland is situated on the eastern edge of Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills, about a half hour drive from the city centre. It is a similar distance from my home.

The wetland area was established in 1999 to treat waste water from the growing town. The wetland was established, along with the planting of many local species of plants until now it is an excellent educational and recreational facility. The treated water is used for irrigation nearby. Walking tracks surround each of the ponds and these are used daily by hundreds of walkers, cyclists and birders. The tracks are linked to the town centre by a walking trail. Several hides cater for birders and there are numerous vantage points for viewing the birdlife, including some seats for the weary.

I have included below a photo of an interpretive sign which includes maps of the ponds. Click on the image to enlarge.

Laratinga Wetland, Mt Barker, South Australia

I have a new camera

No Comments »24th January, 2011; Category: Camera, Photos

Canon Powershot SX20IS

Most of the photos on this site have been taken with a Canon Powershot S2IS. It has been a good workhorse camera for me over the last five and a bit years. The results shown on this site speak for themselves. The S2 has been superseded by several models since its release but it was perfectly adequate for my needs. I bought the camera specifically for a trek in the Himalayas and the Everest region in January 2006 (read about it here.)

The Canon Powershot S2 IS features 12x zoom and 5 megapixels. The 12x zoom has been particularly useful for taking bird photos, but often I was left wanting just a little more. A recent set of circumstances has led me to upgrade to the Canon Powershot SX 20 IS (see photo above). This is a run-out model, being superseded by the Powershot Sx 35 IS. I knew about this new model but reviews I read were not all that complimentary, so I dismissed that model, despite the extra zoom. It was also double the price.

The one I bought was actually on sale for less than half its listed RRP. Not only have I scored a bargain, my first impressions are very favourable. The 20x zoom is great and at 12.1 megapixels the photos should also be impressive. Sure, you can get cameras that are far more impressive, greater zoom, more features, more megapixels and so on, but you’d pay a lot more than I have.

I’d love a top of the range digital SLR with all the bells and whistles, but I carry enough gear when birding; I don’t want to have to carry several lenses, tripod and so on. It’s a choice I’ve made; lightness and convenience won the day, as well as price.

I still have quite a few photos to share here taken with the old camera but those taken with the new one should start appearing here soon. Some of the first photos taken with the new camera have appeared on my blog Trevor’s Travels here and here and here. One of the first bird photos taken with the camera appears below.

Good birding.

New Holland Honeyeaters and House Sparrow bathing

Chestnut Teal, Laratinga Wetlands

No Comments »23rd January, 2011; Category: Ducks Geese and Swans, Waterbirds

Chestnut Teal, Laratinga Wetlands, South Australia

The male Chestnut Teal is an attractively coloured member of the duck family here in Australia. They are moderately common in their range which covers most of SE Australia, including Tasmania, as well as the SW part of Western Australia.

The birds shown in these photos I saw at the Laratinga Wetlands in Mt Barker, South Australia, were not as confiding as the Pacific Black Ducks and I found it hard to get good photos on the day.

Chestnut Teal, Laratinga Wetlands, South Australia

100,000 visitors – well, almost

No Comments »22nd January, 2011; Category: Blogs

Male Flame Robin, Mt. Macedon, Victoria

This blog about my sighting of Australian birds has been going for just over five years now. During that time I have published nearly 1200 articles about our beautiful birds. Many of these articles have one and often several photos of birds I have been blessed to get focussed in my camera lens.

Over the years a community of people who appreciate birds has grown on this site, and we are approaching 4000 comments and questions, a significant milestone which will happen any day now. (I’ll keep an eye on the statistics and let everyone know. Sorry – no prize for making the 4000th comment.) I’d like to thank all of you who come here regularly, and especially those of you who leave comments. You are appreciated.

You may have noticed a logo on the sidebar from the Fat Birder “Birding Top 1000” ranking. This site ranks the top birding sites from around the world. Over the last year my site has consistently been in the top 50 sites, sometimes as high as about #24. This amazes me. The ranking is based on traffic to my site, so plenty of people must be visiting on a regular basis.

I use two other programmes which analyse the traffic coming to my site. On one of these I had just over 250,000 visitors last year, but this site can be rather misleading. Google Analytics is a far more reliable indicator I believe, and last year Trevor’s Birding had almost 100,000 visitors – actually, it was just 600 short of that figure.

Darn.

Never mind, figures so far in 2011 indicate that visitor numbers continue to grow. I am planning to continue posting new articles here at least every two or three days – more if I have the time – for the foreseeable future, so stay tuned.

And don’t forget to leave a comment or two. I appreciate your efforts.

Good birding.

Pacific Black Ducks, Laratinga Wetlands

No Comments »21st January, 2011; Category: Baby birds, Ducks Geese and Swans, Photos

Pacific Black Duck, Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker, South Australia

Pacific Black Ducks and Grey Teal are probably the most common and well known ducks found in Australia. They are very common in parks, on lakes, rivers and reservoirs and can even be found in private gardens. More than once we’ve had ducklings in our swimming pool.

They are one of most recognisable birds and are very popular in public parks and gardens where people love to feed them. I don’t encourage this practice as the food – often bread – is not only unsuitable for ducks, it is potentially harmful to them.

Pacific Black Ducks are generally quite unafraid of people, especially in public places like the Laratinga Wetlands in South Australia. This makes them excellent subjects for photography.

Further reading:

Pacific Black Duck, Laratinga Wetlands, Mt Barker, South Australia