During my recent trip to
Mudgee for their
Readers' Festival I was keen to find some local birds too. A trip to the local tourist information helped greatly, and the staff told me about the new Putta Bucca Wetlands on the edge of town. Perfect.
Click on the photos to see them in larger format. Well worth it for the bird shots.
 |
| Thankfully no snakes on my visits! |
The entrance into the car park is only open Monday to Friday 8-4. All of my visits were outside these times. There is another parking area just outside, and it's a short walk in.
There are two areas, one a creek off to the left from the car park.
Where I saw this most attractive fellow. An Azure Kingfisher! Alcedo azurea, a new species for me. Not a perfect picture because of the difficult light, but you can still appreciate how gorgeous that blue is. Off to a great start.
And this young fellow. I think this is an immature Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike (Coracina novaehollandiae). Which can apparently be
difficult to distinguish from a White Bellied Cuckoo-Shrike.
If you keep walking around the track you get to the main water area. A filled in quarry. Where there was an astonishing variety of birdlife.
 |
| A pair of Red-Rumped Parrots (Psephotus haematonotus) taking a drink |
 |
| The sky reflected in the water |
 |
| Three Little Black Cormorants (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris) taking a rest |
 |
| A male Red-Rump Parrot showing off his assets |
There were three predominant species of ducks on my visits. Grey teals. Australasian shovelers (new for me! Woo hoo). Hardhead ducks.
 |
| Grey teals (Anas gracilis) |
 |
I was very excited to get this shot of a White plumed Honeyeater
Lichenostomus penicillatus |
I visited three times over the weekend. Each time was lovely, and I saw something new. Like ibis roosting in the morning.
 |
Straw necked Ibis (Threskiornis spinicollis) and
Australasian White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca) |
 |
| Then heading out for the day. |
 |
| One lonely pelican seemed a bit out of place |
 |
| A pair of Australasian Shovelers (Anas rhynchotis) |
 |
| Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae) |
 |
| On an early morning visit the ducks were having a party! |
 |
| Grey teals |
 |
| A reminder of the former quarry. |
Putta Bucca Wetlands were opened in 2010.
A week later they were almost destroyed by a flood! There are
two great bird hides, and more plans to
keep expanding and improving the area and facilities.
Saturday Snapshot is a wonderful weekly meme now hosted by WestMetroMommy
17 comments:
We live in one of the best areas of America for birders. This summer I walked every morning beside Mustang Bayou. Lots of birds, including water birds and hawks.
I'm amazed at these birds. What color!
Thanks for sharing this with us.
Thanks for sharing :-))
Awesome! Thanks for sharing...and now I wish I could visit in person. Lovely wetlands with all the creatures, too.
Enjoy your weekend, and thanks for visiting my blog.
I didn't know where in the world Putta Bucca Wetlands was located so I did a quick Internet search and found a post about platypus in Putta Bucca Wetlands. Guess that reference just answered my question. Are snakes a big issue in wetlands in your homeland. I don't think I'd be able to look at the birds I'd be so freaked out watching for snakes.
I love these little tours you give us. The photos are always so beautiful!
That purple bird is beautiful. Great shots!
WOW you did well. O.K. do you know what you are looking at when you see it, or do look it up when you get home. I've been looking it up.
What beautiful birds, and so many types. The kingfisher looks just stunning.
Quite the collection of birds! I love that colorful kingfisher.
Gorgeous photos, especially the kingfisher!
That kingfisher is spectacular! So is that little honeyeater!
I lived in Mudgee for 17 years. Seeing your photos of the area made me feel a little homesick. But it's lovely to see the wetlands area has finally come to fruition.
You saw birds I never saw in the 17 years I lived there :-)
Wow, what gorgeous birds! And such variety! I especially like your pictures of the teals. I think they're awfully cute :) I'm definitely going to remember your idea of asking at the tourist center for good places to do bird photography. Maybe I'll even do that near my where I live :)
love these snaps.. my son wants be an ornithologist when he grows up :) especially love the snap of the grebe
That was fun! I've only seen the North America variety of these species - amazing how similar and yet different they are.
Those are great photos. Thanks for sharing.
There just aren't any dull creatures in Australia, are there? I must share these with my birder friends. They will start making plans for an Australian trip.
Post a Comment