Monday 28 January 2013

Jerringot Wetlands and Hospital Swamp

A quick trip out this morning to Jerringot Wetlands (in Belmont Common, Geelong) and Hospital Swamp in search of crakes and snipe.

The bird hide at Jerringot proved to be the "spot" for crakes with both Spotless and Australian Spotted Crakes present. They were really difficult to photograph with the backlighting and reeds but I got at least a few record shots:

Spotless Crake, Jerringot Wetlands
Australian Spotted Crake, Jerringot Wetlands

The ubiquitous Purple Swamphens were everywhere (as usual)


Purple Swamphen, Jerringot Wetlands

and a pair Pacific Black Ducks cruised about closeby, one pausing for a quick splash.

Pacific Black Duck, Jerringot Wetlands

Several small birds including Superb Fairy Wren and Australian Reed Warbler flitted about the reeds but the only one that I was able to capture was this Little Grassbird.

Little Grassbird, Jerringot Wetlands

Meanwhile, several White-faced Herons were playing musical chairs with the nesting boxes

White-faced Heron, Jerringot Wetlands

I did spot one Latham's Snipe (the main target for the morning), flushed from reeds close to the road when a cyclist stopped for a look but it disappeared back into the reeds so no photographs :-(

So, on to Hospital Swamp

Black-winged Stilts, Hospital Swamp

where the closest encounter I had was with a pair of Red-kneed Dotterels


Red-kneed Dotterel, Hospital Swamp

So, I dipped on the snipe but a good excuse to keep trying :-)

2 comments:

  1. Good afternoon, I’m a Year 12 student from Christian College and I was hoping I might be able to ask you a few questions for my Geography project relating Jerringot reserve.

    1: Do you visit Jerringot for bird watching or other recreational activities?
    2: How often do you visit Jerringot reserve?
    3: What changes have you observed in Jerringot over time?
    4: Do you live in the surrounding area of Jerringot or another suburb?
    5: What are positive aspects of Jerringot?
    6: What are negative aspects/problems of Jerringot?
    7: Are you aware of the Jerringot master plan? If so do you see it as a being effective? As well as whether you think the master plan will be a positive or negative change to the area?
    8: addition comments on Jerringot reserve?

    This information will be greatly appreciated, thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi,
      please send me an email to iansmissen@hotmail.com and I will respond in detail to your questions.
      Cheers, Ian

      Delete

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