I am lucky enough to live in a city where it is utterly commonplace – even on a busy street – to encounter wattlebirds…and many other birds.
(the featured image’s wattlebird was photographed in Grant Street, Cottesloe. All photos copyright Doug Spencer)
Even inner-urban railway stations are quite busy “airports”.
Look up, and there is almost always something in the air.
Few of the world’s substantial cities have so many lakes and wetlands, notwithstanding the sad fact that so many of Perth’s have been destroyed or degraded.
There is a happier fact: some of the “degraded” wetlands are being restored, to great and good effect.
Lake Claremont is an ongoing, inspiring example, largely thanks to well-organised, community, volunteer effort.
No Perth wetland has had more effective friends than Friends of Lake Claremont.
If you last saw Lake Claremont more than a few years ago, your next visit will yield a generous serve of delighted amazement!
If you look closely at/enlarge the image below you will see the preening duck’s tongue…and also a little downy evidence that the other duck had only just concluded its preening.
The dramatic improvement in Lake Claremont’s fringing vegetation is good news for a great many bird species – not just for water birds.
(and, of course, the “good news” extends waaaaay beyond birds)
The Western silvereye – Zosterops lateralis chloronotus – is a subspecies of the silvereye; only in southwestern Australia do these tiny, seemingly ever-restless omnivores have greenish rather than greyish backs.
This post’s other photos were taken on a recent trip to the region now promoted as WA’s “southern forests and valleys“.
On the notional “first day of spring”, at 9.27 am – more than two hours after sunrise – my beloved and I encountered a proverb-defying wren.
The day before, over a beautiful lunch at Silkwood Wines’ restaurant, near Pemberton, we toasted this allegedly “shy” bird – photographed from the window by our table.
Firetail finches live in various Australian places, but the red eared firetail finch (usually known as the “red-eared firetail“) lives only in southwest WA, mostly in or near the southern forests.
Nannup is a good base from which to explore this region, and where we stayed is an excellent choice, if you don’t require “designer glitz”, but do want good value, nice hosts, very comfy beds, a decent stove and a good shower.
(update: I am now well-advised that the above bird is almost certainly a female golden whistler)
Nannup Tiger Cottages are most especially great value if you are a Senior; if you are a couple which includes one “snoring beast”, Bridge Cottage is a particularly good option.
The photos below were all taken from its verandah.
