Eagle View, Goolwa, Goolwa Barrage and Victor Harbour area, South Australia.

A morning birding before we had lunch with friends.

Australia, Day Seventy Two.

Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles) adult and chick.

Deb, Ian and I did a few bits around the farm and then headed Strathalbyn where to look around some garage sales, on the way we saw Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus), Pacific Black Duck (Anas superciliosa), Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen), Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes), Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla), Little Corella (Cacatua sanguinea), Little Raven (Corvus mellori), Red Wattlebird (Anthochaera carunculata), Brown Falcon (Falco berigora), Black-tailed Nativehen (Tribonyx ventralis), Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca), Purple-crowned Lorikeet (Parvipsitta porphyrocephala), Australian Ibis (Threskiornis molucca), Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides), Australian Wood Duck (Chenonetta jubata), Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena), Hare (Lepus europaeus occidentalis), Common Brown (Heteronympha merope) and Small White (Pieris rapae).

Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles) chick.

We didn't pick up much from the sales so we headed south towards Goolwa and the drove east along the main channel seeing Little Pied (Microcarbo melanoleucos) and Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris), Willie-wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys), Australasian Swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus), Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles) and it's chicks, Caspian (Hydroprogne caspia) and Whiskered Tern (Chlidonias hybrida), Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae), Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus), Spotted Dove (Spilopelia chinensis), Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula) and New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae).

Great Crested Grebes (Podiceps cristatus).

Red-kneed Dotterel (Erythrogonys cinctus).

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata).

We turned around and drove down the road to the Goolwa Barrage and then to the Beacon 19 Boat Ram, just passed the barrage we made the first stop where we saw a very large number of Great Crested Grebes (Podiceps cristatus) for the area, Black Swan (Cygnus atratus), Grey Teal (Anas gracilis) and a little further along the road we could see Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata), Red-kneed Dotterel (Erythrogonys cinctus) so we drove up to get a better view.

Great White Egret (Ardea alba) breeding.

Great White Egret (Ardea alba) non-breeding.

Great White Egret (Ardea alba) non-breeding.

Great White Egret (Ardea alba) Breeding adult being chased by non-breeding bird.

At the second spot we soon realised there were more Sharpies there than we guessed from further back and in the end we counted around 200 birds.

Waders.

Sharp-tailed (Calidris acuminata) and Curlew Sandpipers (Calidris ferruginea) and Red-necked Stints (Calidris ruficollis),

Mud flats with the Barrage in the distance.

Other species seen here and at the Boat Ram included Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea), Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis), Greenshank (Tringa nebularia), Pied Oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris),  Royal Spoonbill (Platalea regia), Great White Egret (Ardea alba), Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus), Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx basalis), Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera), Singing Honeyeater (Gavicalis virescens), Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) and as we were leaving the area we had a Rock Parrot (Neophema petrophila) fly over the road in front of us. 

Yellow Thornbill (Acanthiza nana).

Yellow Thornbill (Acanthiza nana).

Striated Thornbill (Acanthiza lineata).

We then headed around Victor Habour to friend's Cath and Graham's where we were going to be having lunch and a few drinks, whilst we sat in their garden we picked up Yellow (Acanthiza nana) and Striated Thornbill (Acanthiza lineata), Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus), New Holland and White-plumed Honeyeater (Ptilotula penicillata), Red Wattlebird and Little Wattlebird (Anthochaera chrysoptera) and Grey Currawong (Strepera versicolor).

The Beans.

We had  a very nice afternoon eating and drinking but we had to head off as Deb had to be back, on the way back we quickly checked the rocks on the beach on the Norther side of the Bluff where we had good views of a very smart Pacific Reef-Heron (Egretta sacra) along with Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax varius) and Pacific Gull (Larus pacificus).

Pacific Reef-Heron (Egretta sacra).

Pacific Reef-Heron (Egretta sacra).

Pacific Reef-Heron (Egretta sacra).

Once back at the farm I spent a while on the Laptop and watched a Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) hunting in amongst the rows of fruit bushes.

Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae).