Thursday 24 March 2016

Don't turn your nose up at birdwatching

                                           Group of Freckled ducks on water

Many years ago my wife went on a weekend away with a group to learn bird watching in Australia

Needless to say with wifey all enthused I too got roped in to identify birds seen on our travels from the guidebooks to tick our lists for the year, the state, for the whole of Australia in one all time list.

Binoculars at the ready, searching for birds not yet ticked off we took roads less traveled, on tracks with snakes basking, on deserted beaches and sewerage farms a'stinking.

We rose early in the mornings and searched woods at night to find owls and pipits, wrens and whistlers, pardalotes and penguins plus an eagle or two.

We were driving along the road by the Murray River when we thought we would have a break at the next stop but before we did we found the sewerage farm just out of town with birds a'plenty

Unfenced, in we went holding our noses we spied coots and galahs, a cockatoo or two and then some ducks we had not seen before on the water only to find they were Australian Freckled Ducks which were the rarest ducks in Australia.


                                      Female Freckled duck on water

Image 1 found at www.birdlife.org.au
Image 2 found at www.en.wikipedia.org

8 comments:

  1. It must have been exciting to find the rare bird there. :-)

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  2. My dearest Old Egg .. how lovely is this, I'm thinking that that must have been an extraordinary year ... and how lucky to find and observe those special ducks! I've also enjoyed the perky rhythm of your write ... a lovely post all around. Bastet

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  3. ...ok, ya gotta tell us, 'sewerage farm' Australian for 'treatment plant'*?

    though your euphemism is so much more... natural sounding lol

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    Replies
    1. Brits and Aussies like to tell how it is.

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  4. And you checked them all off the list. What an interesting adventure, to slow down and look around you and be a naturalist in your own area. I laughed because you held your noses and still managed to spy and identify birds.

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  5. I lost several comments hope this isnt a repeat...

    OY, the birds would be worth it but ick!

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  6. "..on tracks with snakes basking, on deserted beaches and sewerage farms a'stinking."

    Now THAT sounds like an adventure :)

    I never paid that much attention to birds until I moved to Florida. They can be quite beautiful and dare I say interesting sometimes to watch!

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  7. Yet another wonderful collection of memories with your beloved wife. I can imagine the fun and adventure of searching together for birds on the list, and then discovering in a most unlikely place, the rarest duck of all! Great story to go with this week's prompt!

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