Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Beside the Bay

A walk along the foreshore at Tin Can Bay is quite different from a walk along the foreshore at Mullens and Cooloola Cove.  The bay is much deeper here so there are boats moored everywhere.  This photo was taken from Norman Point looking north-east.

Right at the point there is a sand spit exposed at low tides where the birds roost until too many people walk by.  The other morning there was one Eastern Curlew roosting there and making a silhouette against the brightness of the early morning sun.

Shorebirds roost just south of the point when there is too much disturbance or the tide is too high.  There were well over 100 Bar-tailed Godwits roosting there - sleeping, eating, and moving slightly as the tide got higher.

Tin Can Bay stretches from Norman Point in the north to Crab Creek in the south.  At high tide it is beautiful everywhere!  Looking north toward Norman Point there are more boats at anchor.

There are small boats tucked away in lots of places.

There are few places for shorebirds to roost on this southern end.  However, there are lots of plantings of native trees and shrubs that attract the bush birds.   Because it was still early there were lots of bush birds still preening and getting ready for the day.  They sat on branches, and every now and again flew off after food.  Although they are honeyeaters, many of them seemed to be catching insects.  There were plenty of these around - especially the small biting ones! - and I had forgotten to put on insect repellent!   Brown Honeyeaters, and Mangrove Honeyeaters were the most numerous.  This Brown Honeyeater was making a thorough job of the morning preen.


This Mangrove Honeyeater was down on the ground on the root of a Grey Mangrove tree.  

This Brush Wattlebird was dark against the light. 

This post is for Our World Tuesday and Wild Bird Wednesday.



31 comments:

  1. I really enjoyed all the birds in this blog, but the Curlew and Godwits were my favourites. From Findlay

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  2. Marvelous captures, Mick, and such beautiful birds!! Thanks for sharing! Have a great week!

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  3. I love your close ups of the honey eaters but then all your photos are good.

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  4. Good to see the bay looking so nice in the early morning.

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  5. Beautiful close up!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

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  6. Lovely views and the birds are wonderful. My favorite are the Honeyeaters! Your photos are beautiful.

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  7. great view of the wattlebird! love the curlew shot!

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  8. Such wonderful journey. Thank you very much. Please have a good Tuesday.

    daily athens photo

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  9. Gorgeous shimmering shots!

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  10. your honey eater is a gorgeous bird and you share great pics. Love it.

    You have so much birds around where you live. Must be great.

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  11. Love the photo you featured in your thumbnail and all your birds. Amazing how similar the markings of the Mangrove Honeyeater and the Singing Honeyeater are.

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  12. Your part of the world is so scenic Mick. Add in the exotic birds like honey eaters and it must be perfect for birding - great shots of the honeyeaters just waking up. I think your Oystercatcher is Haematopus longirostris where ours is Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) also known as the Common Pied Oystercatcher, or (in Europe) just Oystercatcher. All these names!

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  13. A great post for WBW!
    A lot of gorgeous photos!

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  14. I love that Mangrove Honeyeater. Beautiful close up.

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  15. Nice photos from your part of the world and the honeyeater is marvelous! Great shots!
    Greetings Pia

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  16. AH! Summer!! The birds are so beautiful in summer.

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  17. Love the close-up shots of the Honeyeaters and the Curlew silhouette against the sparkling water.

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  18. Nice photos. Well done.

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  19. Your world is lovely ...... And the honey eater just captures my heart! Wow!

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  20. The honeyeaters are so unusual. Great shots! There's always a new bird popping up on your blog for me. One that I mark on my list of birds to see:)

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  21. Wonderful series of shots Mick!
    I like the whimiscal name of Tin Can Bay. :)
    The silouette of the Curlew is a lovely shot as is the shot of the boats at high tide.
    A nice detailed capture of the preening Honeyeater.
    Beautiful post!

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  22. For all I like the "guide book" images that we all strive for, I really do like that silhouette of of the curlew - it has real atmosphere.

    Cheers and thanks for linking to WBW - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  23. Beautiful photo series showing - really like the last picture.
    Wish you a good day :)

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  24. Great capture of the EC in silhouette and your shots of the Honeyeaters are incredible.

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  25. Beautiful place, and great birds, the honeyeater is just gorgeous.

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  26. Great post! It's amazing how similar our two environments appear and yet you always make me look up a bird I've never seen before! Nice job!

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  27. I know this post was more about the birds, but I couldn't help admiring that marvellous view across the bay!!

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  28. Beautiful waterscapes Mick and the Honey-eaters are gorgeous! You certainly got some great shots of them getting ready for the day.

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  29. The contrast in scenery is spectacular, a few new birds to me also

    Thanks for the post
    Dave

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  30. The honeyeaters are so exotic to me -- another bird I'm unlikely to see except virtually. They're wonderful. As are all of the waterbirds, which I have seen (but don't get such good pictures of!)

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