Many years ago my wife and I went on a weekend away to learn about birdwatching in Australia. Needless to say with wifey all enthused I too had got roped in to identify birds see on our travels from the guidebooks and to tick off our lists for the year, the state, and the whole of Australia in one all time list.
Binoculars at the ready, searching for birds not yet ticked we took roads less travelled, on tracks with snakes basking on paths, on deserted beaches with cross sea lions and at sewerage farms stinking!
We rose early in the mornings and searched woods and forests by day and night to find owls and pipits, wrens and whistlers, pardalotes and penguins plus an eagle or two.
Once when we were driving a road by the Murray river we thought we'd take a break at the next town but before we did we found a sewerage farm just out of town with plenty of birds there to check out.
Unfenced, in we went holding our noses to start with and we spied on coots and galahs, a cockatoo or two and then some ducks on the water that we had never seen before. Thumbing through our field guides we found they were Australian Freckled Ducks, the rarest ducks in Australia. It was amazing that a retired couple could get so much pleasure seeing them in such a stinky environment.
Image 1 found at www.Freckled-Ducks.jpg
Image 2 found at www.Freckled-duck-female.jpg
