Loja Wildlife, Granada Province, Spain.: Clinton Consevation Park, Port Wakefield, South Australia.

Thursday 19 October 2023

Clinton Consevation Park, Port Wakefield, South Australia.

Wader watching North of Adelaide with Deb.

Australia, Day Forty Two.

At the back of the Mangroves.

We were up and out early and on our way up to Clinton CP looking for waders as we wanted to be back to help Ian after he had baled the top meadow at Deb's Moms place.

Australasian Pipit (Anthus novaeseelandiae).

Little Black Cormorants (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris).

Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia).

On the way up we saw Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen), Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca), Black-shouldered (Elanus axillaris) and Black Kite (Milvus migrans), Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes), Little Raven (Corvus mellori), Willie-wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys), Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides) and Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae).

Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae).

Grey Teal (Anas gracilis).

We arrived at the gate of Clinton CP, Deb had all ready got permission to drive in which save quite a long walk so we headed along the track picking up Australasian Pipit (Anthus novaeseelandiae), Australasian Bushlark (Mirafra javanica), Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis), Brown Songlark (Cincloramphus cruralis), Singing Honeyeater (Gavicalis virescens) and Brown Falcon (Falco berigora).

Red-capped Plover (Charadrius ruficapillus).

Pacific Gull (Larus pacificus).

We parked and after putting our wellies on we continued out to the shore line, as we went we crossed an area of Samphire with several large pools of water where we picked up the first of a good number of Red-capped Plover (Charadrius ruficapillus), as well as a single White-fronted Chat (Epthianura albifrons), Samphire / Slender-billed Thornbill (Acanthiza iredalei ssp rosinae) and a single flyby Elegant Parrot (Neophema elegans).

Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis).

Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) and Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis).

Once we were out on the shore line we started to walk south following a line of off shore Mangrove trees, along this stretch of water we saw Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris), Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia), Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae), Grey Teal (Anas gracilis), Black Swan (Cygnus atratus), Great White Egret (Ardea alba), White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae), Black-shouldered Kite, Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx basalis) and Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus).

Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus).

Far Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis).

Red Knot (Calidris canutus).

Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris).

Further on we picked up more and more waders as the tide started to drop, first were Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis), Curlew (Calidris ferruginea) and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata), Pied (Haematopus longirostris) and Sooty Oystercatcher (Haematopus fuliginosus) and Greenshank (Tringa nebularia).

Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus).

At the top end of the beach we could see good numbers of Far Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis), 3x Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), 2x Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica), Red Knot (Calidris canutus) and lots of Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) but things kept getting shock up due to a Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus) and a pair of Black Falcons (Falco subniger) continually flushed the waders.

Black Falcon (Falco subniger).

As the tide dropped further we added more species including at least 9x Greater Sand Plovers (Charadrius leschenaultii), 2x Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus), Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris), Gull-billed (Gelochelidon nilotica), Australian (Gelochelidon macrotarsa), Little (Sternula albifrons), Australian Fairy (Sternula nereis), Whiskered (Chlidonias hybrida) and Great Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii), Little Pied (Microcarbo melanoleucos) and Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) and Australian Ibis (Threskiornis molucca).

Australian Ibis (Threskiornis molucca).

Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica).

Gull-billed (Gelochelidon nilotica) and Australian Tern (Gelochelidon macrotarsa).

Little Egrets (Egretta garzetta).

We returned to the car adding Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla), Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis) and Tree Martin (Petrochelidon nigricans) before heading back South adding just Hardhead (Aythya australis), Australian Wood Duck (Chenonetta jubata) and Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra) on the way.