Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Inskip Point

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.
Yesterday was again gray and showery but since the rain was not constant I decided I would drive over to Inskip Point and see what the rough weather had done to the area. There were very few campers around and even the point had only a couple of cars and fishermen out at the edge of the sea. This photo is taken looking along the channel out towards the open ocean.
The only birds were a few gulls and terns.
This Crested Tern (Sterna bergii) looked very smart in breeding plumage.
This is a one year old Crested Tern in non-breeding plumage.
There was one Caspian Tern (Hydropogne caspia)- in non-breeding plumage. Caspian Terns the largest of all the terns we see.
Driving home between Inskip Point and Rainbow Beach we saw this dingo on the road. As the car approached it disappeared into the brush on the side of the road. There was no traffic around so I slowed to a walk and we carefully looked behind every bush. The dingo was sitting just off the road between a couple of bushes but clearly visible from the right angle. It was not at all worried about the car stopping on the other side of the road and I even had time to change from my wide angle lens to the long lens. Very few dingos here on the mainland are pure-bred and I have no idea how much plain "dog" went into this one's breeding.

24 comments:

  1. Very cool post. Love the Crested tern, never seen those before, and a Dingo too, Nice!

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  2. You make me want to hike that beach! Cloudy misty weather....ahhhh.....I need a vacation:)

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  3. Love that shot of the Crested Tern.
    I'd love to see one of those.

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  4. What marvelous pictures of the Terns. We don't see them here.
    Nor Dingos. What a beautiful pup.
    B.

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  5. Nice captures, I don't think I've seen either of these birds though my book says the Caspian Tern is found in my area. I don't get to the coast very often, though.
    I certainly don't see dingos!

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  6. A lovely post. Many thanks for sharing.

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  7. A very fine series of photos!! He looks like a lot of dog to me. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

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  8. Beautiful Caspian Tern. Those guys are big!

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  9. Your Dingo looks peaceful enough but I can't help think of that movie where it supposedly carries off the baby! That aside, I love the way you handle low light photography. Beautiful Terns.
    ;-)WBW

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  10. Love those terns! I am also a fan of a dingo that looks like mongrel dog - dogs that are usually smart, hardy and adaptable.

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  11. Awesome Tern photos, I love to watch the way they work the ocean...What a bonus of the Dingo!

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  12. Very nice shots! The dingo is very cute--I've never seen one before.

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  13. Nice to see the Terns again Mick.

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  14. it is strange, when I think of terns I picture slim and elegant birds. But these are not. The Caspian Tern really looks odd.
    Great shots as always.

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  15. I love Terns, they are so elegant!
    And unlike the Gulls much easier to ID :D
    That Dingo is cool, he does look a bit like a 'normal' dog.
    :)

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  16. Thanks to all for commenting. I should have said that although dingoes look like dogs their temperament is rather different and they are definitely wild animals. There have been several attacks on Fraser island over the last few years and people are actively discouraged from trying to interact with them.

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  17. What a great post! And being new to your lovely blog I scrolled down through the last few -- allo so lovely.

    Some of 'your' birds I have sighted on 'our' beaches. It was fun to see a picture of the dingo, which I have read about but never seen (wish I'd had the opportunity).... fun to see even if he isn't a purebred.


    Thanks for sharing your beautiful birding territory.

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  18. Hi Mick
    Of course, while you were photographing that, all hell was breaking loose just to the south of you.
    Reports of huge rain events even in Gympie, and up at Maleny, too.
    I reckon your Dingo looked pretty pure to me - around the head, especially.
    Great series of shots, and some novelty value with the Dingo. Well done.
    Denis

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  19. Hi Denis, we had a lot of rain down here too and I just got tired of sitting inside and watching it. At least down at the shore it is sand to walk on and not just mud up over the feet. I measured 338mm for last week.

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  20. ...enjoyed seeing the crested tern. I've never seen one. I catch Caspian Terns up in Cleveland. Loved the shot of him too. The Dingo is so muscular--very cool shots!

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  21. "This Crested Tern (Sterna bergii) looked very smart in breeding plumage." Love this quote- it DOES look smart. Why is that?

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  22. Beautiful bird shots and the dingo, well, I guess it's the first time I see one on a blog. Great!
    Hope everything is OK with you in Queensland.

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  23. a dingo! how neat! (i really need to get to your part of the world one day soon!). I love the tern photos- perfect! Terns are so much fun to watch. I've been dive bombed by them before doing research near their nesting sights- scary !

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  24. Thanks again to all who have commented. btw We LOVE visitors!

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