Saturday, 9 February 2019

Australia - SA - Swanport Wetland - Pit Stop Pays Off!


The weather turned English style last night and it was time to batten down the hatches and hope the wind and rain would clear by the morning. Then it was a pit stop to get some supplies and make my way up to Wakerie which is the last stop before Gluepot. If you buy fruit or vegetables outside Riverland but within the confines of SA you MUST keep the receipts to show to pest control officers. There is also a food bin before you enter the shire to discard any unaccounted for items. This centres around control of fruit fly in the region and is mentioned in guides and advice on visiting Gluepot.
I stopped at Swanport Wetland which is a small wetland behind the main river situated adjacent to the Murrey Bridge. The reserve has a kind of thicket with freshwater pools and areas of bulrush. This was quite a productive stop for new species starting with a pair of Superb Fairywren. The first male was an adult in its full glory complete with black bib. It had obviously been phished out before as it took one look at me and was off. The later moulting male was not as experienced!
During my walk round the reserve I was buzzed by a group of Turquoise Parrot who were obviously late for lunch. I photographed a Noisy Miner with its all black face which had a small following of Honeyeaters including White Plumed. 
A Darter was on the main river with Little Black and Great Cormorant on the lake. House Sparrow has also made it onto the trip list. I was getting concerned about this global wide regular along with Feral Pigeon.
I am not certain what this species is or the correct family. I originally thought Honeyeater but the bill does not look right and it seems bulky though the chest to the vent. - A suggestion for this bird is a juvenile Black Eared Cuckoo.

I will spend the night at Wakerie Caravan Park with some 250 Corrella’s. No alarm clock required in the morning for the shortest ferry journey over the Murray River. The Caravan parks are not busy at this time of year costing around 30AUD for a powered site allowing the truck to be fully recharged before Gluepot which has three basic campsites with pit toilets. I don’t expect to have any outside communications having already entered a small cell area for phone service!

No comments:

Post a Comment