Category Archives: rufous fantail

My birding related goals this year are to improve my photography and fieldcraft. To get off to a flying start I hit one of my favourite spots in the Mornington Peninsula National Park – Greens Bush. I visited twice over two days – midday on the first day and 9 am on the second. On the first visit it was full of families and groups  bushwalking and making a racket. Strangely there were quite a few birds around and lots of opportunities to take shots. The second day while it was earlier and I only saw two guys going for a cross run, it was very much quieter – not many birds around at all. This may have been because the forecast was for a hot day and the birds had found cooler patches to wait out the pending two day heatwave.

This bird took me a while and a lot of effort to find as a lifer in 2013 and I am still excited to see it whenever it pops up – they  are summer migrants to Greens Bush . They are hard to photograph and never sit still for very long and always seem to use a bit cover when having a look at something….

For the first time at this site I also found a large Koala up an unusual tree  – he was facing away and happy to glance at me and then ignore my presence.

I knew I would find these guys soon enough as I could hear them from the car park – they are fun to watch as they preen, squabble and harass each other.

The Grey Kangaroos were also out and feeding, getting a quick top-up from mum, and resting. The female Roo feeding her young was very alert and had spotted me from the other side of the creek through the trees even though I was moving quietly and very carefully….