Happy Birthday to Trevor’s Birding
Red-browed Finch
Congratulations and Happy 10th Birthday to Trevor’s Birding
A companion site that I also write for is called Trevor’s Birding. You can access the site here. I started that site just a few days over 10 years ago and it has proved to be one of the more popular birding sites worldwide. The site attracts readers from over 200 countries and comments from many of them.
Over the last ten years I have posted over 1660 articles, almost all of them about Australian birds – with a small offering from a few other countries as well, including Thailand, Nepal, Ethiopia and Morocco – with Spain still to come. In many cases I have included photos of the birds I have seen, and write about.
A good proportion of the photos shown on the site include birds I have seen in our own garden. We live on five acres of partly mallee scrub on the outskirts of Murray Bridge, an hour’s drive south east of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. This small rural city straddles the Murray River, Australia’s longest and largest waterway, so we occasionally get the odd water-bird landing on our roof, in the garden – or even in the swimming pool.
Later this year Trevor’s Travels will also be celebrating its 10th birthday, so stay tuned.
Meanwhile, to celebrate, I thought that I would share some of my best bird photos with my readers.
Why not leave a comment as well?
Star Finch
Sacred Kingfisher
Australian Magpie
Laratinga Wetlands Mt Barker South Australia
Laratinga Wetlands Mt Barker South Australia
Just over a half hour drive from home is a place I like to visit but don’t get to as often as I would like. The Laratinga Wetlands in Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills section of the Mt Lofty Ranges is a mecca for local and interstate birders. The wetlands consist of about a dozen ponds which make up the sewage works of the nearby town.
By the time the water reaches the final ponds it is purified enough to be used on nearby farms as irrigation water. In the meantime, the various ponds play host to a wide range of water-birds including ducks, ibis, herons, egrets, grebes, cormorants, dotterels, plovers, swamphens, coots and moorhens.
Purple Swamphen
The area around the ponds and the entrance paths have been wonderfully landscaped, with lawns, shelter sheds – it rains frequently in Mt Barker – barbecues and public toilets. Around the ponds and picnic area many trees, bushes and smaller plants which add the great environment which attracts many bush birds, including parrots, cockatoos, lorikeets, honeyeaters, finches, pigeons, doves and swallows.
You can see more photos of the birds seen here on my other site Trevor’s Birding.
Further reading:
Galah
Grey Teal
Laratinga Wetlands on a cold misty winter’s morning
White Storks in Ifrane, Morocco
White Stork in Ifrane Morocco
One of the prominent birds species – both in size and number – we saw on our visit to Morocco was the White Stork. They were in large numbers in many of the towns and cities we travelled through. Many times they were perched up high on prominent buildings, like those shown in today’s photos. I never tired of seeing them, nor trying to capture good photos.
White Storks in Ifrane Morocco
White Storks in Ifrane Morocco
White Storks in Sefrou in Morocco
White Stork in Sefrou, Morocco
I don’t normally post photos of birds and write about them here on this site. I usually do that on another of my sites, Trevor’s Birding. (I’d love you to visit – and even leave some comments too. Click here to go to that site.)
Despite that general rule I sometimes write about birds here and this time I couldn’t resist showing these photos of a pair of White Storks (I assume they are a breeding pair) on their nest on top of the local mosque in the town of Sefrou near Fes in Morocco. It is quite a magnificent nest an so photogenic, especially against such a beautiful blue sky.
White Stork in Sefrou, Morocco
Photos of Pangarinda Arboretum, Wellington, South Australia part 11
No Comments »19th December, 2011; Category: Birds, Botanic Gardens, Parks and Gardens, Photos, Plants
Eremophila flowers, Pangarinda Arboretum, South Australia
My wife and I both enjoy seeing the various species of Eremophila plants in flower. Eremophilas – commonly called Emu Bushes – are found in many parts of Australia and especially in the drier inland regions. They are becoming a very popular garden plant too, mainly for their wonderful show of colourful flowers over many months. They also attract many of our nectivorous birds like honeyeaters.
This series of photographs was taken earlier this year at the Pangarinda Arboretum at Wellington, South Australia. This is just over an hour’s drive south east of Adelaide. I’ve featured this special collection of plants and flowers over recent days here on this site, so look back through recent posts for more beautiful flowers.
Eremophila flowers, Pangarinda Arboretum, South Australia
Eremophila flowers, Pangarinda Arboretum, South Australia