Watch out - Darter on the road

Australian Darter

Last Friday I took my wife on a drive through the countryside here in South Australia. We had been to Adelaide for an early appointment so we decided to take an alternative route home and have lunch at Mannum which is a half hour drive north of our home in Murray Bridge.

As we were coming down the hill into the small township of Palmer I suddenly had to brake and swerve to miss an Australian Darter sitting in the middle of the lane we were travelling in. I was also conscious of the car close behind me as well. Both of us missed the bird and on checking the rear view mirror I was relieved to see the bird flying off.

Darters are usually seen in or very near water. What on earth was it doing sitting in the middle of a road? Of course I didn't have time to take a photo and there was no safe stopping area either. Besides, this was the first trip I had taken in many years where I totally forgot to take my camera.

The photo above was taken several years ago on the banks of the Murray River which flows through my home town of Murray Bridge in South Australia.

Darter at Sturt Reserve

I recently took a break from my writing and spent a little while at Sturt Reserve, a public picnic area next to the River Murray in my home town of Murray Bridge in South Australia.

While there were quite a few birds around, the one which caught my eye in particular was this Darter drying its wings on a log near the bank of the river. While this species is widespread in Australia, I have found it not to be common anywhere.

For more about Australian birds go to Trevor's Birding here.

Darter

The Darter is also called "Snake-bird" because of its long, snake-like neck. As it swims along the surface of the water you can often only see its neck out of the water, not unlike a snake swimming.

The Darter is a widespread water bird in many parts of Australia where there is suitable habitat. It frequents lakes, rivers, reservoirs, swamps, lagoons and estuaries but rarely the open sea. After swimming individuals can be seen perched on a bank, log or tree branch with wings outstretched drying out the feathers which are not water resistant.

To read more about Australian birds, and to see many more photos of them go to Trevor's Birding blog.