It was school holidays and I had taken some time off to celebrate my daughter Sienna’s second birthday, as well as look after my 4 year old son Liam on the days that my wife Mel was working.

I had a free morning that Mel had a play date arranged but didn’t have many great ideas for seeing some wildlife.  Alfred Cove Nature Reserve was close to the play date venue and I thought I could see some nice birds there.  It is located on the Southern Swan river with mudflats and inter-tidal vegetation which attract bird life.  It can host more than 140 species of birds – some from as far away as Mongolia and Siberia!  It’s an easy site to get to – just off Canning Hwy, with convenient parking at Troy Park. 

I parked the car and walked to view the mudflats which can be accessed across the park.  I choose not to go over any of the fences at the reserve – to respect the birds habitat – though it can be tempting for closer views. 
I saw this amazing exposed feral bee hive hanging off one of the trees! 

From the parkland and across some of the samphire I saw a number of birds often seen around Perth as below.

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This Black-faced cuckoo-shrike let me get very close which is unusual.

Once I reached the mudflats I saw a Grey plover in what I think is breeding plumage as they often look pretty plain.

Other lovely water birds were seen such as the Common (not so common for me!) greenshank and the elegant long-legged Pied stilt.  There were many others but I have limited my photos of the standard birds for this post.

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I saw a number more birds whilst walking anticlockwise down Burke Drive onto some of the boardwalks to the other side of the cove.  The sighting of the morning was a Pallid cuckoo.

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It was a lovely walk with many bird species seen but unfortunately the normally resident Eastern osprey were not present.