Day 38: Superb Lyrebird!
Wednesday 19 February 2014
50 °F
Hello, this is the combined post for today and yesterday, my family and my two full days in Melbourne, Australia.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19:
The highlight of yesterday was going to the world heritage sight Carlton Gardens. I saw a few birds there, including the following:
Male AUSTRALIAN WOOD DUCK:
Family of DUSKY MOORHENS:
Here's a close-up of an adult:
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20:
Today was much more action-packed. My mom rode the train with me to Dandenong Ranges National Park, which was a mere hour trip out of Melbourne. The mountains were substantially higher than the city of Melbourne, which meant that today was one of the coldest days on the trip so far, staying at about 50 degrees Fahrenheit all day. The goal was to walk the Lyrebird Track to see the rare, reclusive Superb Lyrebird. Another goal was feeding parakeets at the visitor center which had food for the many parakeet species that flock to that area.
This is one of the many SULPHUR-CRESTED COCKATOOS I saw today:
Our walk on the Lyrebird Track was extremely successful. My mom and I saw two SUPERB LYREBIRDS and we possibly heard a third one. Below is the best photo I got; they are tough to photograph because they are shy and retreat into the dense jungle undergrowth as soon as they see you. The Superb Lyrebird is about the size of a pheasant, except it has absolutely resplendent tail feathers.
I also saw this gorgeous EASTERN YELLOW ROBIN:
As well as this characteristic Australian bird, the LAUGHING KOOKABURRA. We heard it cackle its laughing, almost ominous call a few times.
When we arrived at the parakeet feeding station, I saw this beautiful CRIMSON ROSELLA amongst the hundreds of omnipresent SULPHUR-CRESTED COCKATOOS.
Then, we bought seeds to feed the parakeets and I only wanted to feed the rosellas, which are much smaller than the aggressive cockatoos. Soon all of the cockatoos knew to stay away and I hand-fed a few friendly CRIMSON ROSELLAS. This one actually perched on my head:
Towards the end of my feeding time I wanted to feed a few cockatoos, and soon they swarmed in. They were substantially heavier than the extremely light rosellas. It was actually a bit challenging to have so many of them on me at the same time:
Just as we were leaving the park for the day, I saw my second target bird. It was a stunning AUSTRALIAN KING-PARROT!
Bird-of-the-day to the SUPERB LYREBIRD, which has so far been the best bird in Australia. Runner-up to the magnificent AUSTRALIAN KING-PARROT.
Stay tuned because tomorrow my family and I will travel to Kangaroo Island. Some specialties there include endemic bird species, nesting Little Blue Penguins that come ashore in the evenings, wallabies, and of course, kangaroos! Sadly, I will not have wifi there, so I will probably not post for about three days.
Good birding,
Henry
World Life List: 564 Species (2 new life birds today)
