Today was our first trip to the Western Treatment Plant.  My husband Rob joined last week so we have a permit and a key so despite the weather forcast, away we went.

33 Spieces we saw before the rain made it so bad we couldn't keep a single window open!  But still I managed to add a few spieces (with good photos) to my list.  New birds included the; Black Fronted Dotterel, Swamp Harrier, Hoary-headed Grebe, Horsefield's Bronze-Cuckoo, White-fronted Chat and the Golden-headed Cisticola.

One day I'll get a photo of the Crested Greebe or the Australian Bittern... but today wasn't that day so maybe next time.  If you have any helpful hints on how to find either of these two birds I'd love to hear it!

On the weekend was all excited to head all the way down to the Edithvale wetlands... We printed off a list of birds, charged the camera, packed the binos... And then we found that it was closed. Car park at one end was fenced off, car park on the east side was brand new, but empty. This side was also fenced off and closed.

Oh well, better luck next time. At least we got to go to the movies and have a laugh at The Avengers. So it wasn't a total loss.

I love getting out and about and with the addition of my super new Cannon camera with sports lens, I finally managed see the more intricate differences between birds.  For a little history, my family is a bit... well, competitive.  My dad and his brothers used to play point scoring Frisbee - 10 points for a head shot - and so on, and this is when they were just kids!  Anyway, bird watching for them became a competition, who could see how many different birds in a year.  (this was among fishing competitions and who knows what else).

So, I too have a competitive nature, but no bird watching competitions here.  I like getting out into nature, and with the ability to take photos and work out what birds I was looking at, I really started to get into being a real bird watcher.

As for the website, well, no real reason other than to share my photos, a little bit of the knowledge that I've picked up and hopefully, one day I'll get the web site up and running enough to have other bird watchers involved in discussions, the do's and don’ts of being a bird watcher, and how to find the more elusive species around.

Hope you can enjoy the pictures as I do. (below a NewHolland Honey Eater at the front of my house)