Triple WooHoo!!

Great day today: an Open Garden at Mt. Barker (Wayne's boyhood hometown) with lots of chat with his old school friends; followed by a multi-cultural fair at the Mitcham Community Centre.

But before we went down the hill to Mitcham, I absolutely insisted that we call in to the world renowned Laratinga Wetlands to see what we could see. And we saw HEAPS. I was thrilled to see a couple of crested shrike-tits but they were way too fast to get any sort of image. Then we saw a Black-Fronted Dotterel (Elseyornis melanops). A first for me, AND, a first for the BlipBigYear.

Here's the info, for those who are interested.

The Black-fronted Dotterel is a small wader with a distinctive black face-mask and breast-band and prominent chestnut scapulars (shoulder feathers). In juveniles, the breast-band is initially absent but a brown band slowly appears as the bird develops. Legs are pink orange, and the bill is red with a black tip. The dark eye is ringed with red. In flight the wings look broad and the tail short, while the black and white contrast is striking. Flight is slow with almost hesitant wing beats. This species is also called the Black-fronted Plover.

The Black-fronted Dotterel is widespread throughout Australasia, and is found in the shallow margins of wetlands, lakes, rivers, sewage farms, storm drains and marshes. It is normally always near freshwater and is not often seen on the coast. It's a breeding resident.

Mitcham Multicultural Fair was fun - we ate an Eretrian main course, followed by Australian icecream, and then Mexican churros for dessert. And we listened to Indonesian music from Bandung Province (and I thought wistfully of VodkaMan Dave - I really miss him).

Thanks so much for all the lovely comments on my potter wasp yesterday. Right now I have to go and plant out tomatoes, but will try and do some comments this evening.