South-eastern Australia

25th September - 17th October 2010

Central Canberra

Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius) - ANU Campus, Canberra

After the Botanical Gardens had closed for the day, we took a walk through the ANU campus and along the banks of Lake Burley Griffin in the centre of the city.

Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius) - ANU Campus, Canberra

Eastern Rosella is a very common species and there were several feeding on the lawns and roadside verges of the university campus.

female/immature male King Parrot (Alisterus scapularis) - ANU Campus, Canberra

Another fairly common species was the King Parrot.  Although we saw at least a dozen of these beautiful parrots on my first day, they were all females or immatures.  It wasn't until a few days later that I saw my first male (photos are on the Great Otways National Park page...)

Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes) - ANU Campus, Canberra

The very distinctive Crested Pigeon is the commonest pigeon in the area.

Maned Duck (Chenonetta jubata) - ANU Campus, Canberra

Also commonly called the Australian Wood Duck, Maned Duck is just as often seen perched in trees as it is on the ground or on the water.

Magpie-Lark (Grallina cyanoleuca) - Acton Park, Canberra

Magpie-Larks belong to a small family of birds colloquially called Mudnest-builders which consists of just two species confined to the Papua New Guinea/Australia region.  

Grey-headed Flying-Fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) - Commonwealth Park, Canberra

At lunchtime the following day, we visited the Flying-Fox colony in Commonwealth Park, in the centre of the city.  There was a "Tulip Festival" in the park on the day we visited and it was quite a surreal experience to view these enormous bats sleeping, resting, and grooming in their favourite tree, while all around them was a bedlam of noise and crowds of people who were mostly oblivious to the presence of 50 or so bats above their heads...or at least they were until they saw me with my big lens!  I got quite a few funny looks that day...