Sandy Straits and Beyond

Galahs

2012-01-24T20:39:00.006+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

A couple of weeks ago I heard some unusual noises coming from the big pine trees in the empty block next door. When I went and looked I found a family of Galahs roosting there. There were two adults and three very noisy juveniles that were still begging for food from the adults. The adults were well hidden in the foliage high in the trees but the juveniles were lower down in the tree and looking at me as much as I was looking at them. They looked soft and fluffy and just as cute as young birds usually do.
This is the first photo cropped.
This one didn't seem to know how to keep its head feathers nicely smoothed down in the slight wind that was blowing.

Morning Light

2012-01-24T05:22:00.005+10:00

This post is for NatureFootstep Waters.

These photos were taken a few weeks ago when I was driving through Kilcoy very early one morning. There was fog hanging around and filtering the sunlight. The little lake in the park was like polished silver.

Pied Oystercatchers

2012-01-18T05:58:00.005+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

Pied Oystercatchers (Haematopus longirostris) are a common sight around the bay. Sometimes I even see flocks of a dozen or so roosting together. However, pairs of Pied Oystercatchers stay in the same territory year after year and these ones are decreasing. The pair I photographed for this post have a permanent territory around the Mullens shorebird roost.

Fog over the Bay

2012-01-14T16:13:00.006+10:00

We don't get many foggy mornings here but when I went down to the bay for an early morning walk the other day fog covered most of the sand flats. Even the closer mangroves trees were indistinct.
Finally the sky started to clear and then the fog began lifting also and the sand flats were clear.
In a short while the last of the fog could be seen moving quickly northwards down the channel of water at the far side of the bay.

High Tide Roost

2012-01-11T05:34:00.007+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

On the highest tides of the year when most of the shorebird roosts are underwater, there is one small sandbank where the small shorebirds fly in to roost. When we kayaked there this year we again found small shorebirds lining the edge of the water. There were Red-capped Plovers and Red-necked Stints roosting together. (All photos enlarge when clicked on)
This Red-capped Plover looked especially nice standing in among the Sea-purslane (Sesuvium portulacastrum).
As usual I took lots of photos and then examined them carefully at home. In amongst the Red-necked Stints was one different bird. It took me a while to work out that it was a Lesser-sand Plover. These don't usually roost so closely with the Red-necked Stints but I guess any roost is better than none! (Red-necked Stint in front and Lesser-sand Plover behind.)

Sunrise

2012-01-09T18:13:00.006+10:00

The very nicest time of the day down at the bay is soon after sunrise. I took these photos two days ago. Looking toward the sun the sky was bright golden but looking at an angle away from the sun the colors were soft pastels and reflecting in the still water.
The only shorebirds I saw were a couple of Little Egrets - both visible in this photo. (All photos enlarge when clicked on.)

Gull-billed Terns

2012-01-03T18:55:00.007+10:00

Gull-billed Terns (Sterna nilotica) can often be found at the Mullens roost with the migratory shorebirds. These Terns stay in Australia all year but leave this area to breed on inland lakes and water. In breeding plumage they have a full black cap. In non-breeding plumage this black cap reduces to a black patch around the eye. There were several birds still with a black cap in the flock I saw the other day. They had been roosting with Bar-tailed Godwits.
Before I got very close most of them flew off a little way to another part of the roost.

New Year

2012-01-01T04:41:00.004+10:00

Happy New Year to everyone!
I decided the best start to the year would be to post some photos of Rainbow Lorikeets. These birds are the most numerous in my yard. They are noisy and quarrelsome but also gentle and affectionate within their small family groups.
I have never had a "wink" from a bird before! It was a very windy afternoon and the leaves and branches were whipping all around and I think this gave me the photo op!

Lesser Sand-Plovers

2011-12-28T06:40:00.007+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

Although the tide wasn't yet full, it had already covered most of the Mullens roost site.
The smaller shorebirds were having to move from where they had first roosted and these ones flew in just ahead of me. They were not sure that they really wanted to be that close to me but when I stayed very still they settled down and let me get some good photos. They are Lesser Sand-Plovers (Charadrius mongolus) which also used to be called Mongolian Dotterels. This is their non-breeding plumage.

What a Difference...

2011-12-26T18:39:00.005+10:00

What a difference a day makes! This was Christmas morning when we had planned to kayak on the highest tide of the year.
Even though others braved the rain and threatening storms I decided I'd prefer nice weather.
Today - one day later - the sun was shining and everything looked different. The only problem remaining was wind that made the sea a little too rough for comfortable paddling! I did kayak - but had a few stretched muscles when I got back.

Christmas in Queensland

2011-12-25T05:03:00.006+10:00

Season's Greetings to everyone who reads this blog!

Christmas in this climate can certainly be different! It's summer and raining! We've had 152mm of rain dumped on us from ex-topical cyclone Fina in the last two days. - that's just over 6 inches in the old scale. My house is built on a very flat block of land and when it rains the rain makes huge puddles! This is the one on the front lawn photographed yesterday afternoon between showers.

By this morning most of the water has drained away into the sandy soil but there are still showers. It's the highest tide of the year and we were all planning on kayaking around to one of the bird roosts. It's not my idea of a nice kayaking day so I'll wait on a decision by the others!

Small Shorebirds

2011-12-21T04:45:00.004+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

When I walked out to Mullens the other day the bigger shorebirds were all at the far side of the roost. Since I had walked out instead of kayaking there was no way I could get closer to them. However the smaller shorebirds were in their preferred roost site at the southern end of the roost and all I had to do was wade through some shallow water. They were standing in shallow water in among the saltmarsh plants. Red-capped Plovers and Red-necked Stints were roosting together. Both of these birds are only 15cm (6 inches) beak to tail. Red-capped Plovers are an Australian shorebird and stay here all year. Quite a few were showing their beautiful red caps. Red-necked Stints are the smallest of all the shorebirds that migrate from the arctic to spend the summer here. They only show their red necks just before they migrate north - that is in March and April.

Mangrove Tree

2011-12-20T14:11:00.003+10:00

This post is for NatureFootstep Waters.

After all the rain and showers and winds, this morning was perfect. I was walking down on the shoreline very early and this mangrove tree was silhouetted against the early morning light with the sea almost like glass - perfect reflections and almost no ripples in the water.
It was lovely and warm - quite different from the northern hemisphere cold and snow!

Australian Wood Duck

2011-12-18T18:14:00.006+10:00

This post is for the Bird Photography Weekly.

Over the last few weeks there have been several groups of Australian Wood Ducks (Chenonetta jubata) wandering along the side of the road. I have been in the car driving somewhere or other and no camera with me until the other day when this group was walking along immediately opposite my house. I don't know what they were finding to eat right there but they were all pecking at something!
This is a male
This is a female .
By the way - they might look nice in the photos but if a group decides to spend the night on your driveway they leave quite a mess to clean up the next morning!

Whistling Kite

2011-12-14T05:22:00.005+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

This Whistling Kite was sitting high in a tree close to where I put my kayak into the water at Crab Creek. It looked very beautiful against the blue sky but when I zoomed in it looked very rumpled! It was doing a very thorough preen of all its feathers and looked like a very fluffy feather duster! Or maybe it was just having a "bad hair day"!

Shorebird Count at Crab Creek

2011-12-12T05:11:00.007+10:00

The other day I kayaked over to the Crab Creek roost with friends to do a count of the shorebirds. We counted almost 400 birds with the majority being Bar-tailed Godwits. The Godwits were lined up along the sandspit with most standing out in the water a little way. I was doing a second check on the bird count when I thought I saw something different. Finding one different bird among a couple of hundred others is not easy so I took lots of photos. There was definitely one bird that was smaller and moving differently from the Godwits but it was not until I got the photos home and had a good look that I could definitely ID it as a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.
On the way back to the boat ramp I took a photo of the other kayakers with me. Sitting down so close to the water gives a different perspective to the everything else on the water.
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Balloons

2011-12-10T18:25:00.006+10:00

This post is for Scenic Sunday.

Driving down from Maleny to Kenilworth the other day I saw this balloon floating through the air ahead of me. It looked beautiful floating through the still morning air and is not something I see very often.
When I stopped to take photos and looked around I saw a second one further to the east.
The one ahead of me looked as if it was coming down so I drove on a short way and watched it come down very gently onto a farm track.

Common Koel

2011-12-07T04:36:00.004+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

The Common Koel (Eudynamis scolopacea) is a cuckoo that migrates from Asia down to Australia for the summer. It lays its eggs in cup-shaped nests of large honeyeaters. This is a photo of the male. The female is barred brown and so far hasn't come anywhere close for me to take a photo. Although this bird is often hard to see as it hides among the foliage it is certainly not hard to hear! From a distance the call is not unpleasant but close up - like just outside my bedroom window at night!!! - it is loud and raucous. You can hear its call here.
I took this photo in the late afternoon and the bird's feathers were picking up the golden tones of the sunset sky.
This is a full crop of the above photo showing the bird's beautiful eye.

Early Morning.

2011-12-04T17:06:00.007+10:00

This post is for Bird Photography Weekly

It was a beautiful morning with a bank of clouds in the east which eventually covered the sun and muted all the colors.
The only bird I saw along the shoreline was an Eastern Curlew which was standing by itself out on a little rocky island. This is the only shorebird I know that doesn't seem to mind roosting by itself as long as it is not disturbed. If disturbed it then flies off and joins the rest of the Eastern Curlews and other shorebirds at the usual roost sites. This one disturbed before I got anywhere near and then flew off with its usual harsh squawk.

View from Maleny

2011-12-03T18:35:00.005+10:00

This post is for Scenic Sunday.

This photo was taken from the look-out a little way along the Tourist Drive close to Maleny, Queensland. On a clear day the view from here is spectacular as you can see along the Sunshine coast and right out to the ocean. The mountains in the distance are the Glass House Mountains which are deeply eroded volcanic cones.

Good News Story

2011-12-01T07:20:00.004+10:00

This is definitely a good new story for the shorebirds in our area! QPWS (Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services) has been installing shorebird signs all down the Sandy Strait and the other day I was lucky enough to go out with two of their people to make some decisions about where the signage will be put around the Crab Creek shorebird roost. Signage is the first step in protecting the shorebirds in our area. People need to know where the shorebird roosts are before they will be careful of what they do in these areas.
I am delighted that signs are being put up around the Crab Creek roost as it is directly opposite a very busy boat launch area. At present there is nothing to show that the birds use this area and I am sure that the roost is often disturbed because people have no knowledge that it is there.
Moyra and Wayne came with a small boat that took us over to the other side of the creek. We had a good look around for suitable sites for the signs - although we did have to wade through shallow water and mud because the tide had dropped quicker than we expected. Then we had to very carefully navigate down the creek before all the water had drained out and left only a few 'puddles'!
Just enough water to get back! Wayne and Moyra in the boat.
This is the sign that has already been placed at the Mullens Creek area where boats are launched.
Congratulations to QPWS for the care they take of our very special environment in this area.

Brahminy Kite

2011-11-30T04:55:00.004+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

I had just come in from a morning's kayak and was loading the kayak onto the car to go home. It was a beautiful morning but I had not been able to get close to any shorebirds for good photos. I glanced up into the very tall gum tree that stands beside the car parking area when I saw this Brahminy Kite (Milvus indus) sitting up in the tallest part of the tree and quietly watching me. A photo opportunity like this gave my rather dull morning a perfect finish.

Somerset Dam

2011-11-29T07:28:00.003+10:00

This post is for NatureFootstep Waters.

This is the northern end of Lake Somerset which is one of the water storage dams for Brisbane. The dam is currently at 98% capacity. It was very early in the morning when I drove past there the other day and fog was still hanging over some of the hills.

Figbird

2011-11-27T16:35:00.006+10:00

This post is for the Bird Photography Weekly.

I often hear Figbirds (Sphecotheres viridis) sitting high in the trees. However, that's not much good for a clear photo so when this one sat on the electricity wire the other day I walked quietly around the house to take some photos. The bird was so intent on singing that it took little notice of me and I was able to get a series of clear photos. This is a male bird - the female has a grey/brown color around the eye and is streaked down the front.

Red-winged Parrots.

2011-11-22T17:29:00.010+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

I often hear Red-winged Parrots (Aprosmictus erythropterus) flying over my place but they seldom come down into any of the trees. The other day I heard one - then saw it fly down into a Grevillea bush. This particular Grevillea bush had almost finished flowering and had set seed. The Red-winged Parrots are seed eaters and these seeds must have been just right to their taste! I went closer as carefully as I could and there were two of them in the bushes. I stayed down there for nearly an hour trying for photos where the birds were not half hidden among the branches.
Finally one of the birds hopped down onto the fence - unfortunately in the shade and with a background of my neighbor's shade house. It looked at me as carefully as I was looking at it.
It sat and ate seeds and used its left foot to do this - in typical parrot fashion!
Finally it reached down towards some seed pods lower down and I could get a good look at the feathers on its back. The color was rather splotchy - only just beginning to get the dark color of the mature male.
Then the second bird hopped down to the same place and this one had the typical color of a mature male.
I kept waiting and taking photos and finally it hopped up higher into the bush and into the sunshine. There were some branches and leaves in front of it but the sunshine really showed off the colors beautifully.
I still didn't get the "perfect" photo - one without anything in front of the bird and in full sunshine! - but it was worth waiting for what I did get!

Common Greenshanks

2011-11-20T19:00:00.006+10:00

This post is for the Bird Photography Weekly.

I was kayaking the other day when I saw some Common Greenshanks on a sandbank. I let the wind and tide drift me in toward them and was able to get some good close photos. However, the really interesting photos showed the feathers on the backs of the birds' heads. They made a definite line down the middle of the back of the head. It reminded me of that hair style from years ago where both sides were brushed back and towards the back of the head!

Carlo Creek

2011-11-19T18:16:00.005+10:00

This post is for Scenic Sunday.

Carlo Creek is only 3 Kms from Rainbow Beach, but where Rainbow Beach overlooks the ocean Carlo Creek is on the Sandy Strait - the waterway which comes inland behind Fraser Island and south to Cooloola Cove. There is a marina at Carlo Creek and a boat launch for private boats. This is also the place where off-shore fishing charter boats leave for their trip up the Strait and out the channel between Inskip Point and Fraser island. It is also a very convenient place for the start of kayaking trips to several of the shorebird roosting sites.

Black-winged Stilts

2011-11-15T14:25:00.011+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

Over the last few weeks we have seen Black-winged Stilts (Himantopus himantopus) in several places around the bay where we have never seen them before. This last week I saw four at the Crab Creek roosting site, roosting with other shorebirds. Black-winged Stilts live in Australia all year and are only nomadic to different wetlands within the country. They have a most distinctive call which sounds rather like a very small puppy yipping.

When I first saw the birds at Crab Creek they were roosting with a large flock of Bar-tailed Godwits. I had never seen them standing beside Godwits before and their very long legs almost made the Godwits look short and dumpy!

When they flew off their long legs trailed behind them.

They then settled down in shallow water and I was able to get good views of them by themselves.

Extra:

Over the last few weeks I have had several comments and questions about kayaking with a camera so I thought I would explain what I use and how I use it.

I have a sit-on-top kayak made by Viking. Kayaks such as this are more closely related to wave skis than to the traditional kayak. I wanted something that was very easy to slide on and off - especially if I turned it over when I was out by myself on the bay. I had a shorter and wider model when I first started kayaking around here but - after a white-water kayak, with my son, down one of the rivers in the Olympic National Park in Washington State I wanted something a bit faster and more manoeuvrable! The flat waters of the bay were pretty tame after the white water of the river! Viking kayaks have a seat moulded into the hull of the kayak but I also have a stiffened fabric seat which attaches to the kayak and gives a better back rest.

I carry my camera in a Pelican case which are advertised as unbreakable, waterproof, and dustproof. These cases are totally sealed and on the few occasions mine has dropped off the kayak it has floated perfectly! I have it attached to the kayak with rope and also under some stretchy fastening behind me. When I get to where I want to take photos I can loosen the case from behind me and open it on my lap and take the camera out. Of course I only do this when the water is nice and still! Birds will let you get much closer on the kayak than when you are walking on shore. I get into position some way from the birds and let the tide and wind push me in closer. Waving a paddle around is guaranteed to make any bird take off. I know I have done a good job when I take my photos and then slowly push my way out again levering the paddle against the sand under the water - all without disturbing the birds!

Airport Roost

2011-11-13T17:47:00.009+10:00

This post is for the Bird Photography Weekly.

When I kayaked around to the Airport Roost the other day most of the larger shorebirds had just flown off . They looked as if they were going in the direction of the Mullens Roost. The smaller and medium sized shorebirds were strung out along the strip of sand. These were mainly Grey-tailed Tattlers, Terek Sandpipers and Greenshanks.
Tattlers and Greenshanks standing next to each other made an interesting size comparison. Tattlers looked very much smaller.
There were also a few Pacific Golden Plovers.
At the far end of the strip of sandy beach there is a ridge of sand that runs out into deeper water. Often Eastern Curlews stand there out in the water.
It was surprising to also see some more Pacific Golden Plovers in the same area as most of the time I see them in areas of saltmarsh.

Mullens Creek - Reflections

2011-11-12T18:39:00.007+10:00

This post is for Scenic Sunday.

This is the same place I posted photos of last week but this time it was a high tide. There was no wind and the reflections were beautiful.
This view is taken from out on the bay and looking back to the picnic area and car park. There are picnic tables and barbeques under the shade of the trees.
With a high tide I could kayak right into some areas that are usually too shallow to get into. With the water high like this Grey-tailed Tattlers often roost on some of the Mangrove trees in this area.
Looking in the other direction the clouds and lighting made the colors in the water quite different.

Synchronized Flying?

2011-11-09T04:29:00.004+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

These two were part of a large flock of Eastern Curlews that flew up from the other side of the roost and whirled overhead for a while before settling down again well away from my camera's reach.

Special Juveniles

2011-11-06T16:58:00.006+10:00

This post is for Bird Photography Weekly.

It's really nice when you have friends with special birds in their yard and you are invited around to see them. It's even nicer when these friends take photos of special bird events!
Back in July I went and visited the garden of Brian and Sue where there was a pair of Bush Stone-Curlews (Burhinus grallarius). This is one of the photos I took then of one of the birds.
This time Brian and Sue brought photos around to my place so I could see the two very young birds that the parent birds were raising this year. This pair of birds have lived in this garden for a number of years and have raised other young during this time. They are also very used to Brian and Sue working in the garden and coming close to where they are resting during the day. This photo shows a parent bird crouched down on the ground with the two little ones right next to it.
The next moment the bird got up and left the young ones and came toward Brian telling him in unmistakeable terms that he was too close!
He backed off! The parent bird went back to the young ones and peace again descended on the garden!

Mullens Creek

2011-11-05T18:16:00.006+10:00

This post is for Scenic Sunday.

Mullens Creek has not got a big flow of fresh water in it (unless there is heavy rainfall!). When the tide is out down at the bay the creek is nothing but a series of deep pools in between sandy stretches. These photos were taken the other morning at low tide from the boat ramp. This is looking east out to the bay. The sun was still not high in the sky and shows a bright patch at the top of the photo as well as the silver sparkles on the water.
This is looking upstream along one of the channels. There was a White-faced Heron on the closest sand bank and an egret further upstream.
The same view but at high tide. This was taken a few years ago with a little 'point and shoot' camera.

Endangered Little Tern

2011-11-02T05:11:00.005+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

Sometimes it's not the quality of the photo that counts but the fact of a photo record at all!
I was out at Inskip Point last week photographing shorebirds and rather as an after thought I turned around to photograph some of the Terns. There were four kinds there - Caspian, Crested, Common, and Little Terns - and I wanted some record shots. One of the birds I photographed was a Little Tern with a lot of breeding plumage and even a beak that was yellow with the black dot at the end. This didn't make sense to me at this time of year so I sent the photos on to an expert in Terns and the word came back that I had photographed one of the endangered Australian Little Terns on its way north to breeding grounds.
We see lots of Little Terns here but they are the population that breeds in Asia and flies south to spend summer here. The population of Australian Little Terns only migrates within Australia. Unfortunately they are having a hard time breeding successfully as the beaches they use are also used widely by humans, and dogs, and (south of here) introduced foxes.
Inskip Point is recognized as an important shorebird roost but finding an endangered Little Tern there makes it even more important.
Added Later: After a number of comments I thought I should add that there are laws here in Australia (as well) protecting nesting shorebirds. Also there are volunteers that do their best to protect Tern nesting sites. Unfortunately, it only takes one careless person with a dog off-leash! There is also a problem with enforcement of "no-go" areas. Unless there is a ranger with legal powers some few ignore signage! Sometimes I despair!!

The Edge of the Water

2011-11-01T06:01:00.011+10:00

This post is for the watery meme at NatureFootstep Waters.

Mangroves line much of the bay where I usually watch shorebirds. Sometime, I must do a 'serious and scientific' post about the different varieties around here - but for this post I just want to show their beauty and diversity. Mangroves need salt water around them. Some of them stand in water all day long and some of them only have the very highest tides wash around them.
The biggest mangroves are quite large trees with big trunks and branches.
It's always a struggle to grow and these small mangroves have found shelter in the roots of another much larger tree. I don't know if they will survive here or if the shelter will eventually prove too inhibiting for their growth.
Mangrove roots are diverse. This variety has aerial roots that hang down from the tree.
This mangrove sends up numerous small roots through the sand into the air.
This is the seed of a Grey Mangrove that has just started to attach itself to the sand and send up leaves.

Crested Terns

2011-10-30T17:18:00.007+10:00

This post is for the Bird Photography Weekly.

Crested Terns are coming in to breeding plumage and getting ready to fly off to the off-shore islands where they will breed and raise their young. I watched these ones the other day - in full breeding plumage - strutting around among a flock of other terns. Their crests were raised as part of the display they were putting on.

Mainly Godwits

2011-10-26T04:53:00.010+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

I was delighted to find a huge number of birds all roosting on the Point at Inskip yesterday morning. When I go out with my camera I do not try to count. I cannot do both! I can only estimate that there were well over a thousand birds and there could well have been double that number. Most of the flock were Bar-tailed Godwits. They were strung out along the water line and then packed in solidly behind that. Many of the birds were standing out in the shallow water and as the tide came in and the water got deeper there was constant movement.
It was very interesting to see good numbers of juvenile birds. Their plumage is quite distinctive but they only keep it for a short time after they arrive out here in Australia. The bird on the right of the photo is a juvenile.
I think one of the prettiest parts of the Godwits' plumage is the under-wing patterns.
When I first started looking at the flock of birds I thought there were only Godwits. However, after a while I saw that there were numbers of small birds standing right under the legs of the larger Godwits. Unless they were at the front of the flock they were almost hidden. The smaller of the birds are Curlew Sandpipers and the slightly larger ones are Great knots.
In many places these smaller birds were packed in so tightly it was impossible to count individual heads.

Boats and Birds.

2011-10-25T11:17:00.011+10:00

This post is for NatureFootstep Waters

I went out to Inskip Point soon after sun-rise this morning. I hoped that I would see shorebirds roosting on the Point - IF - I got out there before too many people started walking around. I was lucky - there were several thousand birds roosting on the sand. This is one end of the flock that was furthest out on the Point. (More about them tomorrow when I have had a chance of going through all the photos I took.)
I got out there even before the barge for Fraser Island had arrived. However, it is never too early for a fisherman to start trying for a big catch!
The barge came across from Bullock Point soon after but it went straight over to Fraser Island where there were vehicles waiting to come back.
There were several small fishing boats speeding across the water. This one went very close to the sand island and disturbed all the birds from out there.
This one came past the Point a little later and the birds did not disturb at all.

Early Morning

2011-10-23T08:13:00.013+10:00

This post is for Scenic Sunday and Bird Photography Weekly.

I went walking very early this morning around to the Mullens roost site. Although the tide was right in it was not very high and there was more sand than water right in the roost site.

As I walked along a Great Egret (Ardea alba) flew up then settled down again a little ahead of me.

I walked slowly towards it and it kept right on looking for food in the shallow water.

Crab Creek (2)

2011-10-19T04:53:00.014+10:00

For more photos of birds go to World Bird Wednesday.

With a variety of different habitats Crab Creek usually has a good variety of shorebirds. Different species of birds seem to prefer different places on the roost - although sometimes they are all mixed up together in one large flock. On days like that I assume they have been disturbed some time before I arrive to watch them. There are Brahminy Kites, Whistling Kites, and Ospreys nesting around the area and these birds always disturb the shorebirds if they fly too close overhead.
The mangroves lining the creek itself are used as a roost for Whimbrels. They usually prefer the trees between the third and fourth entrances into the roost.
At the northern end of the roost there are a number of Grey Mangroves. These trees have branches that are more open and while providing shelter for the Grey-tailed Tattlers also allow them clear views around to watch for predators - or humans that accidentally come too close in kayaks! The Grey-tailed Tattler I photographed the other day still had quite a lot of breeding plumage down its front.
Common Greenshanks are often found on a small sandbank at the northern end of the roost. If they are disturbed from there they usually fly to the north-eastern side of the roost where there is an open area of grass and saltmarsh plants and they have good clear views of anyone approaching. There are only small mangrove plants in this area which don't restrict the views.
Further down this side of the roost there is another clear area of grass and saltmarsh plants and this is the area preferred by the Eastern Curlews.
Godwits use the sandbanks closer to the water. They can also sometimes be found on the sandbanks right at the southern end of the roost. Red-capped Plovers, Red-necked Stints and Pacific Golden Plovers prefer areas of saltmarsh where the plants are just tall enough to give them some cover when they sit down to rest.
There are usually a couple of pairs of Pied Oystercatchers on the roost. One pair prefers the southern end and the other the northern sandbanks.
When I did a count of this area a couple of days ago I saw Whimbrels, Godwits, Eastern Curlews, Common Greenshanks, one Marsh Sandpiper, Grey-tailed Tattlers, Pacific Golden Plovers, Red Knot, Red-capped Plovers, Pied Oystercatchers, Little Egrets, White-faced Herons, and Masked Lapwings for a total of 394 birds.

Crab Creek

2011-10-18T08:29:00.009+10:00

This post is linked to the new meme of NatureFootstep Waters.

Crab Creek is at the southern end of Tin Can Bay. Dense mangroves line both sides of the creek. Behind the mangroves on the southern side of the creek is a large area of open shallow water and sandbars which the shorebirds use as a roost site. There are four entrances from the creek. The first entrance is immediately opposite the boat ramp and is used as an anchoring area for boats. All photos enlarge when clicked on.
The other entrances are well-hidden narrow passages and give no idea of the extent of the waterways and sandbars in the area. (This photo is also taken looking out toward the creek.)
The main area of water stretches for quite a distance behind the sheltering mangroves.
There are other more shallow areas that end in thick grasses and sedges right under the taller trees.
Even without seeing shorebirds, it is a beautiful place to kayak.
I will post tomorrow about some of the shorebirds I counted at this roost the other day.

Kookaburra

2011-10-17T06:53:00.003+10:00

This post is for the Bird Photography Weekly.

Kookaburras are always fun to photograph but the other day this one flew down onto the grass in front of me and gave me a great view of the color and pattern of the feathers down the back and tail.

Swallows

2011-10-12T04:38:00.008+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

I have been kayaking twice this week going to two different shorebird roosts. While I saw plenty of shorebirds I could not get close enough to get good photos of any of them. S0, I photographed what was there and that was these Welcome Swallows which were sitting up in this dead tree and preening and resting. I wish I could get some in-flight photos but I still have not learned to be fast enough to focus in the right place at the right time.
The bay waters are always very beautiful first thing in the morning. This photo is taken from the Mullens picnic site at high tide and looking straight over to the other side of the bay.
A photo such as this gives no idea of how shallow these waters are and how much sand is exposed at low tide. This is at low tide taken from the same site.
I usually kayak in the southern part of the Great Sandy Strait which stretches from Cooloola Cove and Tin Can Bay in the south right up to Harvey Bay in the north. The Great Sandy Strait has many miles of similar sand and mud flats which makes it an ideal feeding place for shorebirds of all kinds. It is recognized as a "Wetland of International Significance" and listed under the Ramsar treaty.

Norman Point

2011-10-09T04:53:00.010+10:00

There was a bank of cloud covering the sun early the other morning and I was able to take some photos into the brightness of the eastern sky. (I have put a border on the photos as they don't show up well against the background color of the blog.)
There were mainly gulls and terns right on the point but a little south there were numbers of Bar-tailed Godwits and a few Eastern Curlews.
This is the area where are a number of boats are moored. I counted 7 but as no-one was around the birds were not being disturbed. Eastern Curlews don't stay around too long as soon as they see people. This one walked away from me towards the south but did not disturb and fly.
These Godwits were resting but kept an eye open to see what I was doing.
This one was preening with that long bill. It's amazing how they manage to use it successfully on even feathers close to the neck. The bird was still showing faint washes of red color from the breeding plumage. This will soon all disappear.
This post is for Scenic Sunday and Bird Photography Weekly.

The Airport Roost

2011-10-05T05:45:00.009+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

The other morning I kayaked around to the roost on the south side of Mullens Creek. It is not far from all the activity at the picnic ground but too far for anyone to reach it unless they have water transport. This roost is also close to the small grass airport for private planes - hence its name. A good variety of shorebirds uses this roost with the right tide height and the right time of day. I counted well over 200 shorebirds the other morning. If you want to count the shorebirds you need to be out on the bay where you can see the whole of the sandy beach. If you want good photos you have a better chance of creeping up closer to the birds without disturbing them if you come in behind the sandspit. Unfortunately there's not much chance of doing both on the same tide so I had to opt for a count the other morning and only got what photos I could while sitting in the kayak while it rocked slightly on the water. I am not taking my new camera or long lens out on the kayak and can certainly notice the difference in the photos.
The birds were spread out along the length of the sandy beach. I saw Pied Oystercatchers, Little Egrets, Eastern Curlew, Whimbrels, Bar-tailed Godwits, Pacific Golden Plovers, Grey-tailed Tattlers, Terek Sandpipers and Common Greenshanks.
The Eastern Curlews were standing off by themselves but the others were in a mixed flock. I took numbers of photos from one end of the beach to the other so I could check my ID and counts after I got home and looked at the photos on the computer. The Whimbrels were on the beach behind where most of the Godwits were roosting. Later in the season I commonly see Whimbrels roosting in the mangroves and not on sandy beaches.
There were only 3 Pacific Golden Plovers but they were in different stages of moult out of their breeding plumage.
This is the only roost on the southern end of the Strait were we see Terek Sandpipers. They always roost with Grey-tailed Tattlers and it is not easy to tell them apart. Some of the Tattlers also showed remnants of their breeding plumage.

Bullock Point

2011-10-02T06:09:00.007+10:00

Bullock Point is south from Inskip Point across Pelican Bay. There is a boat ramp here where private boats can be safely launched and also sheltered anchorage where the barges to Fraser Island are tied up at night. There are extensive sand banks across the deep water channel and the other morning there were more than 2,000 shorebirds roosting and feeding there at high tide. This photo was taken early the other morning from the Point looking north-west.
For the birdwatcher, there are several different habitats which come together right at the point so there are always different birds to be found here. Mangroves line the bay, there are a number of dead and open trees right on the point, the grass at the edge of the parking area is usually quite tall, and coastal forest is on the eastern side of the point.
This White-breasted Woodswallow was perched on one of the dead trees.
A pair of Red-backed Wrens played hide and seek in the tall grass. The little female didn't mind coming out and having her photo taken.
However, the male was much less helpful and even though I stayed around for a while the best I could manage was this photo with several grass stems in front of the bird.

This post is linked to Scenic Sunday and Bird photography Weekly.

Mangrove Honeyeater

2011-09-28T05:48:00.004+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

Mangrove Honeyeaters - often called Varied Honeyeaters - are common around the bay. If you hear a beautiful songbird calling from a mangrove tree this is most likely what you are hearing. I have cropped the second photo to show the bird's beautiful blue eye.

Shades of Gray

2011-09-26T05:05:00.011+10:00

When I walked out to the Mullens roost the other morning everything was colored in shades of gray. There had been a big fire burning the previous day and the smoke had drifted everywhere. It was the same color both north and south.
There were birds on the other side of the roost but they were too far away for me to accurately ID them.
I know that some were Godwits because I found this wing feather sitting among the saltmarsh plants.
I saw numbers of Herons and Egrets close by and on the way back this Little Egret gave a nice photo opportunity. It was standing on a little rocky island and let me get quite close before it flew a little way on to the next rocks.
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Red-capped Plover

2011-09-21T05:58:00.007+10:00

This Post is for World Bird Wednesday.

I walked across the salt marsh flats on Monday to see if there were any Godwits back yet but could not see any at all. However, while I was walking across the flats I heard a Red-capped Plover and then it flew quite closely past me. It then fluttered to the ground and did its best to convince me it was hurt in some way and I should go and investigate. It was the old 'broken wing' technique to lure me away from where it had either a nest or a young one hidden. When I was far enough away it stood up tall and flew off quite well. I just hope the nest is far enough above high tide to be safe - or that the young one is able to move away. The bird is a female and the typical red on the head is not as dark as the male has.

Eastern Curlews

2011-09-19T05:56:00.009+10:00

For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

I still hadn't seen any large flocks of Godwits by the end of last week but there were good numbers of some of the other migratory shorebirds. These Eastern Curlews were out on the end of the point at Inskip Point. I counted 70 birds.
When I first saw them they were resting and sleeping.
Is that a yawn or a squark?
Inskip Point is where vehicles get on the barges to go over to Fraser Island. As well it is a favorite place for fishermen to launch their boats. It was not long before the birds were disturbed and flew off. There had been people walking about on the sand island when I first arrived but as they had left by now the birds decided that was a better place to rest.

Buff-banded Rail

2011-09-14T05:16:00.004+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

The other week a couple of friends told me that they had Buff-banded Rails (Gallirallus philippensis) which came and walked around their yard even when they were sitting out on their veranda and having morning or afternoon tea. I had seen and photographed a Rail a month or so ago but that one was quite a distance away and the photos were not very clear. So I was invited over for afternoon tea when the light was best and the Rail obligingly came out and walked around.

Blue Against Blue

2011-09-11T16:43:00.006+10:00

This post is for Bird Photography Weekly.

These Blue-faced Honeyeaters (Entomyzon cyanotis) are usually in my yard somewhere but I thought they looked particularly beautiful this afternoon against the blue sky. Once again it was the Grevillea tree that was attracting them.

Rainbow Bee-eaters

2011-09-07T05:17:00.005+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

I often find Rainbow Bee-eaters (Merops ornatus) when I go out to Inskip Point. They are such beautiful birds that I can't resist more photos of them. The male bird has the very long tail shafts and the female has shorter shafts. These two were very vocal as they sat on a branch in a gum tree and then went swooping off after insects.

Rainbow Beach

2011-09-06T08:31:00.005+10:00

This post is for Our World Tuesday.

I always enjoy looking at the stretch of beach north and south of Rainbow Beach. There are some rocks close to the town of Rainbow Beach which get exposed every now and again, but other than this it is a long stretch of open sand in the north from Inskip Point to Double Island Point in the south.
Photos enlarge when clicked on.
Looking south towards Rainbow Beach and the colored sand cliffs.
Looking north from the surf beach at Rainbow Beach towards Fraser Island in the distance.

Scarlet Honeyeater

2011-09-04T07:18:00.007+10:00

This post is for the Bird Photography Weekly.

The other day my friend Janet phoned to say she had Scarlet Honeyeaters (Myzomela sanguinolenta) feeding in her Callistemon bush and would I like to come and get some photos of them. I have never had these birds in my yard, but my friend's yard backs on to some undeveloped land which at present has a thick growth of tall grass and shrubs and trees. The smaller birds can find lots of hiding places in there and can then fly into the yards that back onto this area.
I have taken lots of photos of Scarlet Honeyeaters before - and have even posted a few on this blog - but my previous photos have shown a beautiful scarlet color gainst the blue sky but no detail of the birds. This time I was really up close!
These birds are tiny - 10-11cms or about 4 inches. They were flying in and out of the bush and climbing all over the flowers to feed. Often they were completely hidden by the leaves and flowers but then it was just a matter of waiting until they chose another flower where I could see them properly.
Special thanks to Janet for phoning to tell me about these birds!

Shorebird Count at Inskip

2011-08-30T16:12:00.012+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday

We did a Tern count at Inskip Point the other evening. There was a heavy cloud cover coming in from the west which made it harder and harder to see the Terns as it got darker. We counted 702 birds of which most were Crested Terns. The clouds made a beautiful sunset. At first most of the color was right around where the sun was setting but a little later the color flooded all the western sky.
The next morning we were out again before 7am but this early start did not really help as there was a heavy fog drifting from the south and completely covering the sand island. Even the Point itself was misty. It was more than an hour before the mist lifted and the day turned bright and sunny.
We did not count as many birds as we had found the previous month but it was not a really high tide and there were possibly sand spits exposed in other parts of the Strait where the birds could have been roosting. We counted 9 species and 130 birds.
The Double-banded Plovers (Charadrius bicinctus) were showing lots of bright breeding plumage. There were three of them searching for food among the leaves at the edge of the water. There have been very high winds for the past week and a lot of vegetation must have had leaves stripped off.
This bird turned and faced me and the photo shows how it has been putting on weight ready for the migration back to New Zealand. These birds are 17.5-19cm - a bit over 7 inches - in length. It is a long way across the Tasman ocean to New Zealand - (more than 1500 miles) - and there are no places to stop and rest. The fat the birds put on provides the energy for their long distance flight.

Rufous Whistler

2011-08-28T15:06:00.006+10:00

I saw this Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris) while visiting friends the other day. This is a male - the female is not colored so brightly. She is another one of those brownish birds that are so hard to ID!. It is not a big bird - only 17cms or about 7 inches in length.
I didn't see any of the common birds that I see in my own yard while I was around at my friends' place. They don't live very far away but the environment around their house is quite different. There are lots of large old trees and some dense low plantings that run down to the wet area at the bottom of their property. Possibly the most important difference is that there are no dogs, cats or children near-by!
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

5 Minute Birdwatch

2011-08-24T05:19:00.007+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

The weather has not been good for photographing birds over the last few days - high winds and heavy showers with only brief breaks of sunshine. I could hear birds in the grevillea tree in my backyard so went out with the camera to see what I could get between rain showers. The result - 4 different species in just 5 minutes.
Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus)
Noisy Friarbird (Philemon corniculatus)
Little Friarbird (Philemon citreogularis)
Spangled Drongo (Dicrurus bracteatus)

Varied Triller

2011-08-21T16:28:00.006+10:00

The other day while I was trying for some more photos of White-cheeked Honeyeaters this Varied Triller (Lalage leucomela) came into the same tree and sat and looked at me for a few moments. I find that a head-on view is never the best for ID and the bird gave me just one chance of a photo from the side view. I know these birds are around here but I more often hear them than see them. My birding book describes the bird as an unobtrusive small cuckoo-shrike 18-21cms.
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

More Wildflowers

2011-08-19T08:35:00.009+10:00

This is a beautiful time of the year! The days are pleasantly warm although the nights are still chilly enough to need a couple of blankets on the bed. I went for another walk where I had seen all the wildflowers a couple of weeks ago. Close to the car park on the top of the hill the best of the flowers were finished but as we walked down the hill to the more swampy flats below there were flowers everywhere. They stretched in sheets of color on both sides of the track. I didn't take close-up photos of these yellow ones but I think they were pultanaea villosa.
We saw a number of plants of these Queensland Wax Flowers (Philotheca myoporoides subsp.queenslandica). Thanks Denis for showing me how beautiful close-up photos can be.
I saw more Boronia rosmarinifolia - which I photographed last time - and then as we got onto the lower area I saw these Boronia falcifolia.
This flower is Hibbertia linearis - I think! - and there was a little native bee on it. When I photographed the bee from a different angle it appears to be carrying something under its abdomen - and I wonder if they are eggs. Does anyone have any suggestions about this and is it normal behavior for these insects?We walked as far as some waterholes on one of the creeks. The reflections were perfect!

Spangled Drongo

2011-08-17T04:59:00.006+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

Several times over the last few weeks I have heard a strange bird call out in my yard. When I went out to see what it was the Spangled Drongo (Dicrurus bracteatus) flew off. As well as their own harsh metallic cry they are great mimics. It happened again the other afternoon but this time I went out quietly and the bird stayed in the grevillea tree where it was feeding.

Norman Point

2011-08-14T17:03:00.007+10:00

I went around to Norman Point the other morning right on high tide to see what birds might be roosting at the end of the point. There were two Curlews but no other migratory waders. Of course there were the usual numbers of Silver Gulls and some Terns with them. One of the Gulls was a juvenile with brown edges to the back and wing feathers. The adults have bright red bills and legs - this one had a dark bill and the legs were also quite dark.
Pied Oystercatchers always look beautiful against the background of the blue water - and these ones walked out onto a sand spit which showed their reflections in the closer water.
The best bird of the morning was this Forest Kingfisher (Todiramphus macleayii) which was perched on an electricity wire beside the road. I stopped where I was on the other side of the road and wound the window down to take photos. I have frequently see these birds out in the bush but have never been able to get close enough for a good clear photo. This one didn't mind the car stopped on the other side of the road but as soon as someone came walking along the footpath the bird flew off.
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

At the Water's Edge

2011-08-09T16:28:00.007+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

It was an almost perfect morning - still and bright but a bit chilly. The tide was on the way out and the birds were all looking for food right at the edge of the water. I saw migratory birds - Godwits, Whimbrels, Eastern Curlews, - and local birds - Gull-billed Terns, Egrets, and Masked Lapwings. None of them were close enough for good photos of individual birds. It is a perfect environment for shorebirds and recognized as such by its status as a Ramsar wetlands site. In another couple of months there will be hundreds of migratory shorebirds returning to this bay. All photos enlarge when clicked on.

White-cheeked Honeyeater

2011-08-07T17:25:00.005+10:00

The other day I watched this White-cheeked Honeyeater (Phylidonyris nigra) as it fluttered around flowers on a bush. The flowers were looking past their prime but there were numbers of insects around them and the bird appeared to be catching them. It was fast! By the time I had the camera up it was off somewhere else. The only time it sat still was when it rested deep in among the branches where it was quite dark. White-cheeked Honeyeaters differ from New Holland Honeyeaters in their dark brown eye and large white cheek patch.

For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Gannets

2011-08-02T17:47:00.011+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

When I was out on the whale watching boat the other day - (which I posted about in the last post) - I saw several groups of white birds resting on the water some distance away from the boat.
When the boat came closer to one group I saw that they were Gannets. The skipper of the boat said that they only saw Gannets in this area during the winter months.
Gannets are wonderful divers and we saw several dive after fish while we were watching. I was not fast enough to get photos of them diving but did manage some in-flight photos.

of Sparrows and Whales

2011-07-31T07:00:00.018+10:00

For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Last week I took a trip up to Hervey Bay and went whale watching. I went with a delightful couple who were visiting from New Zealand. (Just as an aside - Isn't it nice when visitors like the same things you do and are so appreciative of whatever you show them! Thanks John and Jackie!)
It is a little less than two hours - if the traffic is good! - from where I live at the southern end of the Great Sandy Strait. I left earlier than we needed to so we had time to sit at a cafe right on the boardwalk around the harbor and enjoy a drink before we left. There were small trees in tubs around the outside eating area and a bird flew in and starting singing. When I looked I saw it was a Sparrow. Early colonists took sparrows with them wherever they went around the world and they were introduced to Australia also. However, they seem to stay in larger population areas and I have not seen any close to where I live. This was the first one I had seen since I began photographing birds some years ago. (All photos enlarge when clicked on.)
There are a number of boats to choose for a whale watching tour. We decided on the Freedom 111 - a 58 foot catamaran which takes a maximum of 45 passengers. We found the crew very helpful and friendly and thoroughly enjoyed the trip. It was a 3/4 day tour and we were served morning and afternoon tea as well as lunch. The food was excellent - we started with a morning tea of hot scones with jam and cream, profiteroles, and soft drinks or tea or coffee. What could be nicer!
Humpback whales were almost hunted to extinction but now their numbers are increasing and each year many of them come into the shallower waters of Hervey Bay and rest and play for a while. We traveled north along the west coast of Fraser Island. It was a beautiful day - sunshine, almost flat sea and hardly any wind.
The first glimpse we had of a whale was a distant splash.
We saw several whales quite early in the trip and had good views of them 'breaching' - jumping right out of the water - and splashing the water with their flukes and tails.
These first whales we saw left after a few minutes and we could not see where they had gone to. The boat skipper then took us to the northern end of Fraser Island but although there had been several pods of whales up there earlier they were not there by the time we got there. We started south again and were lucky enough to see another 3 whales moving south ahead of us. We kept pace with them without getting too close but suddenly they turned back towards us and came right up close to look at us. Whales are curious and apparently it is quite common for them to do this. It was an awesome experience to have these huge creatures swim alongside the boat, dive under it to come up on the other side, and repeat this a number of times. The water was beautifully clear and you could see the whale through the water as it dived down. The best of all was when a whale lifted its great head right beside the boat and appeared to be looking at us. There were barnacles clinging to the skin of the whale. White marks showed where they had fallen off.
Later in the season there are more whales in the area and tours expect to see many more in one trip than we did. However, we had a great trip this time - and the experience is certainly one that I would like to repeat sometime.

Mullens in the Morning.

2011-07-26T16:23:00.012+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

It was low tide the other morning when I went for a walk along the foreshore to the Mullens roost. I wanted an easy walk without having to carry a lot of weight so left the big 150-500mm lens at home. Oh well, we all make mistakes of that kind sometimes! There were small birds everywhere in the bushes and trees and the 70-300mm lens was just not long enough!
Because there is still a lot of blossom on the Paperbark trees there were numbers of honeyeaters around. The easiest to see in that area are the Mangrove Honeyeaters. This one stopped just long enough for a quick photo even though the light was not in the right direction.
There were also lots of Brown Honeyeaters flying around.
There were a number of other small birds flitting in and out of the Mangroves that are all around the edge of the salt marsh. I waited for quite some time hoping that one would stop where I could actually see it rather than just fly into the bushes where I could only see leaves moving. This is the best I did - not a clear photo of the bird but unmistakeable with that pale ring around the eye - a Silvereye.
The biggest surprise of the morning were a group of small waders that flew up ahead of me then dropped down into the saltmarsh plants again. I couldn't tell what they were just from their flight pattern but even a distant photo was enough to ID Black-fronted Dotterels. These are another of the small shorebirds that are resident in Australia. They are not common in this area although I had been told that there were two there a couple of months ago. There were at least 4 in the group I saw. I took better photos of one I saw out in SW Queensland last year and have posted that photo again.
The most colorful photo of the morning was of a Scarlet Honeyeater that flew high up into a dead tree and then sat up there and let me get a couple of distant photos against the deep blue of the sky.

Spring Already

2011-07-24T11:03:00.013+10:00

When I went for a walk in the bush the other day I realized that all the early spring flowers were out already. This is a few weeks earlier than I remember them from other years.
Of course with flowers blossoming there were birds all around us. I could hear them but it was not so easy to see them as the paperbark trees were also blossoming and the birds were mainly up there. The only one I got anywhere near enough to photograph was this Brown Honeyeater which seemed to be catching small insects rather than just taking nectar.
Before I saw the flowers I smelt the perfume from them. Then I saw that Leucopogon pimeleoides was flowering all through the bush. I love the perfume of this flower. It is quite a delicate perfume but when there are numbers of plants flowering it scents the bush all around.
There were two kinds of Hakea in flower. - Hakea plurinervia
and Hakea actites.
Pultenaea villosa brightened the bush around it with its bright yellow flowers.
There were numbers of other smaller flowers not quite so easy to see. This Boronia rosmarinifolia looked as if it was just starting to flower as there were more buds than flowers.
There should be more of these Patersonia sericea later in the season or when there is a little more rain. At present it is very dry and I have seen more of these flowers in places where the soil is damper.
For those readers not used to this sub-tropical climate, our wildflowers bloom mainly in late winter and early spring. Summer is just too hot for most of these delicate flowers to survive.
I am not an expert with bush flowers so if I have made mistakes in naming any I would appreciate correction!

For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Buff-banded Rail

2011-07-19T16:51:00.009+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday

A couple of weeks ago (July 5) I posted about being invited to see some Bush Stone-Curlews - (which I should have called by their new name of Bush Thick-Knees! - thanks Tony!) - in a very beautiful and bird-friendly garden. Brian and Sue were kind enough to invite me a second time - this time to wait and see if we could see one of a pair of Buff-banded Rails (Rallus philippensis). Brian and Sue have a yard that backs onto public reserve land which runs along a creek. This land is not mowed so there is dense vegetation here. My birding books says that these birds prefer areas of rank grasses near water. Possibly this is where the birds live permanently but they frequently wander through the garden area as well. They had been walking through the garden at the edge of the tall grass just before I arrived and after waiting a bit one of the birds walked out into sight and then quickly ran along beside the tall grass and disappeared again. The only other views I have had of rails have been very brief and certainly not long enough to get a camera focused on them. Thanks again Brian and Sue!

Inskip Point

2011-07-17T17:20:00.009+10:00

I am sure I have said before that I enjoy going out to Inskip Point. Last Thursday I did a shorebird count in the early morning then in the evening I had help from some friends to do a Tern count. Both results were very interesting but the difficulty was that I cannot take good photos when my mind is concentrated on counting the birds that I am seeing. The best I can usually do is some quick photos of the scenery.
There were the usual flocks of small birds roosting in the car tracks on the point. They were mainly Red-capped Plovers and Double-banded Plovers. Some of them were just getting their breeding plumage of bands of bright red and black.
There are always a few Silver Gulls and Terns right on the point hoping to pick up something easy from whatever fishermen are around.
The sand island had great numbers of birds all roosting closely together. There were hundreds of Bar-tailed Godwits and smaller numbers of Eastern Curlew, Grey-tailed Tattler, Pied Oystercatchers, Pied Cormorants; and Caspian, Crested, Little, Common, and Gull-billed Terns. It is not possible to see the smaller birds with a spotting scope but I know they must have been out there too because I see them when I go out there in a kayak.
In all I counted over 800 birds.
That evening I went out with friends to count the Terns. We count the ones that are already roosting when we get there then wait for the others as they fly in from wherever they have been feeding during the day. There was a nearly full moon as we waited for the birds to come in.
Many of the birds fly in to roost on the sand island which gets harder and harder to see as the light goes.
The sunset was especially beautiful as there had been a big fire burning that afternoon and the smoke made the sunset extra bright.
We counted over 700 terns that evening.
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Borumba Dam

2011-07-15T05:48:00.006+10:00

Borumba Dam is the water storage for the Gympie area. It is west of the town of Imbil in the Mary Valley. We sat and ate our picnic lunch there the other day and enjoyed a perfect winter day. The lake is surrounded by hills and there was almost no wind so there were some beautiful reflections. The lake curves around behind the hills so the full length cannot be seen from the picnic area. The lake is also used for boating and fishing.

Shining Bronze-Cuckoo

2011-07-12T15:36:00.004+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

On our trip along the Mary valley the other day we also stopped at Stirling's Crossing. There were more Bellbirds here but quite a lot of other birds as well. We were strolling along the track when we saw this Shining Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus) fly into the bushes ahead of us. Instead of flying up into the trees where it would be well hidden it flew off into some more low shrubs and we were able to get good photos of it. None of my birding books show so much green on this bird although in the description one book says it has an iridescent green color. It is 17-18cm in size. This cuckoo lays its eggs in the nests of other birds such as warblers, thornbills, scrubwrens and sometimes fantails and robins.

Bellbirds - Finally!

2011-07-10T06:23:00.010+10:00

I thought of starting this post with one of those sayings about the value of 'patience' and 'persistence' but then decided that it would be enough to tell you the length of time it has taken to achieve this goal. It has taken me fifty years to see Bellbirds instead of just hearing them! It is easy enough to hear these birds. Even driving along in the car - with the windows down, of course! - they are easy to hear. However, I have found seeing them a different matter. They have always been high in the trees and any movement of birds I could see was just a LBJ (little brown job) moving very fast!
When my friends Neil and Kell suggested a day out looking for bush birds I told them that actually seeing a Bellbird would be top of my list! These friends have watched birds in this district for many years so they suggested that Brooloo in the Mary Valley was the easiest place they knew for Bellbirds.
The proper name for a Bellbird is a Bell Miner (Manorina melanophrys). They are a smallish bird (19 cm) and colored olive green which of course just appears brown up against the sky. Their call is a high-pitched bell sound - hear it here. They have a dark yellow beak and legs and a yellow patch in front of the eye.
Bellbirds feed in among the leaves of trees and there is a dense stand of forest at Brooloo. However, there are also a number of dead trees as well and the birds seemed to choose these trees in which to rest.
The birds were still very high in the trees but just within reach of my long lens. One of the birds sat up there and fluffed its feathers out and then preened before flying off as fast as it had come.
This was certainly the highlight of the day for me. We then went off to another spot in the bush were there were more Bellbirds and a variety of other birds. Neil and Kell thought that the birds in this other spot were even better! More about that in the next post!

For more bird photos go to the Bird Photography Weekly.

The Valley Rattler

2011-07-08T05:50:00.006+10:00

I had a great day out birding in the Mary Valley on Wednesday. I saw some birds that I had wanted to see for a long time - but I shall leave them for posts next week. On the way home we stopped at Imbil - which is the end of the line for the historic Mary Valley Heritage Railway. This railway has been operating as a tourist train since 1986 which was just a few years after Queensland Railway closed this section of rail line. The train is known as the Valley Rattler and is a popular tourist attraction. As we drove through Imbil the Rattler was about to start on its trip back to Gympie and I couldn't resist getting out and taking a few photos. It reminded me of the huge black thundering and smoking monsters that I used to see on all the rail-lines many years ago.
This is the first part of the line returning to Gympie.

Bush Stone-curlews

2011-07-05T14:42:00.012+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday

This morning I was invited to visit a beautiful bird-friendly garden. Brian and Sue have been living here for about twenty years and they have a garden filled with mature trees and shrubs as well as areas of low-growing foliage and flowers. Many of the trees and shrubs are flowering and fruiting varieties that the birds love. There are also areas of low growing foliage where the ground is mulched and plenty of dried leaves are left for ground dwelling birds to hide in among. Add to all this beds of veges and herbs and large beds of strawberries.
I could see birds flying between the trees but I had come to see a special pair of Bush Stone-curlews (Burhinus grallarius). These birds have been in this garden for a number of years and have nested and raised young ones here. There are no cats or dogs to bother them and they are used to people moving quietly through the garden. They have a couple of favorite spots where they can sit down among the plants and get lots of winter sunshine. (Click on photos to enlarge them.)
(Added later! I should have given an indication of the size of these birds. Length 550mm including 180mm tail and 45mm bill. These birds are NOT small!)

Birding books say that Bush Stone-curlews are shy and more often heard than seen. However, they can also become used to people around them in places where they feel safe. The garden this morning was very peaceful and it was great to have the opportunity to see these birds so close. Thanks Sue and Brian!

Scarlet Honeyeater

2011-07-03T08:03:00.009+10:00

This post is for Bird Photography Weekly.

It was a beautiful day for a walk along the foreshore at Mullens but a brisk wind meant that the small birds weren't sitting around out in the open. I could hear them back in among the trees but it is thick bush and not easy to see any small birds.
I was interested to see that a pair of Masked Lapwing have apparently claimed the little rocky island as their own.
This used to be a territory occupied by a pair of Pied Oystercatchers but the Masked Lapwings would be aggressive enough to chase almost anything else away. I saw only one Pied Oystercatcher and it was standing well away from the shore on rocks that were only just out of the water.
Around the corner into the area of saltmarsh I was out of the wind but the birds were still well back in the bush. I saw a flash of scarlet and followed slowly until I could see up into the tree where the bird had gone. It was a Scarlet Honeyeater (Myzomela sanguinolenta) - a beautiful bird but always very active. It was up high in a casuarina tree and almost out of reach of even my big lens. It was feeding on mistletoe flowers. Now if I could only take the best bits out of all these photos I would really have a great photo of the bird!

Beach Stone-curlews

2011-06-29T05:19:00.006+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

Yesterday afternoon I went out to Inskip Point with a couple of friends to do a count of the shorebirds and seabirds. There are always quite large numbers of Terns but if you want a full count of terns you must be there as they fly in at dusk. Even then many of them can still be heard coming in after dark when it is impossible to count numbers any more. We did not count as many as we expected to as there were storms all around and we left early.
I saw the most exciting birds for the evening right at the edge of the road as it goes out on to the sand. There were three Beach Stone-curlews (Esacus neglectus). This bird is listed as vulnerable in Queensland and in many places it is only just surviving. There have been two of these birds at Inskip for quite a few years but it was quite unexpected to see three of them. I have taken better photos of these birds when it was bright and sunny but I was delighted to get any sort of photo last night in poor light - and all three birds in the one photo!

Hole in the Beach!

2011-06-27T10:10:00.011+10:00

The local TV news media last night had a story about a "sink hole" that had claimed part of the Inskip peninsular area. This I had to see!
Well it is spectacular but not as extensive as some of the stories were suggesting.
I parked in the parking area at the end and took the track directly opposite towards the channel and Fraser Island. This is where the wash-out has occurred. Previously there was quite a stretch of sand here. Now all the sand has gone and some of the shrubs and small trees have fallen in. This is what it looks like. (There was very little blue sky around.) All images enlarge when clicked on.
I then walked out to the end of the peninsular. There were four barges working. It is the beginning of school holidays.
This is what it looks like as I walked east back towards the area that has washed out.

Try Again...

2011-06-26T08:14:00.008+10:00

Some Other Time.
I frequently see Fantails around here but have yet to get a good photo of one. However, when Gouldiae showed great photos and said that they "frequently almost pose for a picture" I decided it was time to try again! Well, it didn't work any better this time! The one I was watching came down close but flew off into the tops of the trees again immediately. The best I could manage was a distant photo with the tail spread - way up in the top of the tree.
While I was waiting with as much patience as I could manage, another little bird came down close and really did sit and wait for its photo to be taken! It was a Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus).
Some of my friends call this the "chip-chip" bird because of its distinctive two note call. It's a very cute little bird and I was glad to get some more photos - BUT - I still want at least one good photo of a Fantail!
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Inskip Point

2011-06-22T04:34:00.012+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

It was a beautiful morning at Inskip Point yesterday - bright sunshine and enough wind to make the boats with sails move along quickly.
Because it is winter here now I don't expect to see many shorebirds and the only ones I saw yesterday were a small flock of Red-capped Plovers roosting in the tire tracks on the dry sand.
Crested Terns are here all year round and there were about 50 of them roosting together at the edge of the water. They were in all stages of moult and it was quite difficult to pick the adults from the juveniles.
While some were sitting and sleeping and others were preening their plumage there were a few that decided they needed a bath and were splashing around in the shallows. They really made the water fly - then when they were finished, with one quick shake of the wings, they flew off onto the sand again.
The surprise of the morning came as a I walked off the sand to the track through the bush. There were three Sacred Kingfishers on the sand. I have seen Kingfishers catch small crabs at other times so assume that's what these ones were doing - although they were just sitting still when I saw them.

Bayside

2011-06-19T08:49:00.008+10:00

For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

The bayside looks and sounds so very empty during the winter. During the summer there are groups of shorebirds feeding at the edge of the tide as it comes in. When I was walking down at Mullens the other morning I didn't see any migratory shorebirds at all out on the sand.
The only bird I saw was a White-faced Heron which kept moving ahead of me as I walked along. Eventually it stopped out on a little rocky island and I was able to get close enough for a photo.
This photo of a White-faced Heron was taken some time ago. This one had become used to fishermen at a boat ramp and allowed me to get quite close.

Eclipse

2011-06-16T06:58:00.003+10:00

Did anyone else from this area watch the moon eclipse this morning? I naturally wake up early most mornings so it wasn't too much of an effort to wake a bit earlier and peer out the window as soon as I woke. I didn't stay outside too long - it was too cold even for Queensland! - but it was worth going out every little while to see the progress of the eclipse as the moon got less visible. The dark part really did get that red glow that the scientists were predicting. Unfortunately my old 'point and shoot' camera was just not good enough to get good photos. This one was taken at 5:16 am.

Norman Point

2011-06-15T05:34:00.007+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

Yesterday morning I drove along the Tin Can Bay foreshore to Norman Point. The tide was high so it all looked very beautiful but there are seldom any shorebirds to see except right at the point.

As I looked east I could see that the sandbank right at the end of the point was almost under water but there was still a group of birds roosting there. As usual there were numbers of Silver Gulls, but also a small group of Gull-billed Terns and about 10 or 12 Bar-tailed Godwits.

Another small group of Godwits flew by but continued north to find a better roosting place. The Godwits here now are birds that are too young to have made the migration north to breed this year. Usually birds from the point will move just a short distance to the sand directly south of the point but there were two boats anchored there yesterday so the birds were not going anywhere near that area. One was a houseboat so it is possible they have taken up semi-permanent residence. People and shorebirds don't mix well.

Sunrise and Birds

2011-06-07T16:48:00.009+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday

Usually when I am out with the camera I am focused on birds and the scenery is part of the background. Sometimes, however, the background is so beautiful that the birds just become a delightful extra!
The last few days we have had several spectacular sunrises. Of course the day has been overcast afterwards, but it's certainly a delightful start to the day. These photos were taken from my back veranda looking towards the Grevillea trees. The Rainbow Lorikeets are usually the first birds to visit the yard and they drop in on the grevilleas with their usual noisy cries. The morning - and the sunrise - wouldn't be the same if they didn't come by.
A photo of a Rainbow Lorikeet taken a while ago - in better light.

Mischief Intended?

2011-06-05T15:10:00.006+10:00

Those Wicked White Ones - i.e. Sulphur-crested Cockatoos - have been demolishing my half ripe Passionfruit again. So, when I saw this one sitting in a tree close to the Passionfruit vine I went down to watch. The Cockatoo just sat and watched me for a while, then flew off.
There were also a number of them sitting in the pine tree next door. There must have been several juveniles there because there was quite a fuss going on with the juveniles giving their harsh begging cries. They flew off before I could get close enough to work out which ones were making the begging noises and this was the only one left. I wonder if it is a juvenile?
Update: My friend with the Brown Honeyeater's nest in her yard phoned on Friday to say that she was watching out her window and had just seen two baby fledglings leaving the nest.
Update 2: Have you noticed that the photos in the last few posts have not been quite as sharp and clear as I would want them? My DSLR is away getting 'fixed' and I am back using my old Canon S2. What a difference! Hope I get the DSLR back soon!

For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Masked Lapwing

2011-06-01T05:15:00.005+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

Masked Lapwings (Vanellus miles) are very common around here. There are numbers of them living on the empty house blocks. I have also seen them around the bay in among the shorebirds. They prefer places where the grass is not too tall and make a nest by simply finding a grass clump and sitting down on it.
They used to be called Spur-winged Plovers because of the bony spur on their wings. They are most aggressive birds and swoop down on predators and use the spur on their wings to drive them off. Unfortunately, when they have a nest or young ones they see anything that moves close to them as a threat and dive in to attack. It is impossible to walk safely along the road if a pair of them are nesting close by.
Because they are so aggressive I let my dog chase them out of my yard. However, they know that the dog is safely tied up at night so a pair of them flies in just as it is getting dark and stays for the night. The empty house blocks are open to roaming cats and dogs at night and they obviously prefer the safety of my yard.

Brown Honeyeaters Nest

2011-05-29T14:05:00.008+10:00

Cold weather came suddenly this year and with the change in temperatures there was the usual outbreak of colds and flu. I have had a prolonged attack of flu and haven't even felt like walking around my yard to watch the birds that I could hear. Blog posts were something I didn't want to even think about :-(
Technically, May is counted as the last month of Autumn - but Autumn in the sub-tropics is certainly not the same as Autumn in other parts of the country or the world! Do away with any idea that birds nest in the spring-time. They are nesting right now!
My friend Helen phoned me a couple of weeks ago to tell me that there was a very tiny nest in a shrub right outside the window of her house. I was too sick to even want to go and look at that stage but when she phoned again the other day and told me that the parent birds - Brown Honeyeaters - were now feeding young ones I decided that it was time that I made the effort and started to get out of the house again. This morning I went and sat on her veranda and waited. The nest was in the shade and Helen said even later in the day it was still shaded.
Brown Honeyeaters are always noisy birds and they have a range of calls. I listened and sat still while they scolded and made warning cries from close by. Then they came a little closer and made their more melodious calls and finally came closer still and made their little contact calls. Patience paid off and they eventually came in to the nest and clung to the branch and fed the babies. The branch the nest is attached to is very small and the adult birds set it swinging wildly as they clung to it. Brown Honeyeaters are small - only 11-15cms long.
My bird book says that the Brown Honeyeater's nest is a deep cup of bark strips, grasses, plant down, wool, spiderwebs and cocoons. When I looked closely at the photos I had taken I could see the spiderwebs they had used at the top of the nest to help to attach it to the branch.
Click on the photos to enlarge them.
Photo of the nest cropped to show the spiderwebs at the top.
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Bar-shouldered Doves

2011-05-17T17:37:00.008+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

I usually see Bar-shouldered Doves (Geopelia humeralis) hunting around among the grass in the shade of trees or shrubs. These ones were among the grass on a sand hill fronting onto the beach and when I went closer they flew up into one of the trees. The sky was blue and it gave me an excellent photo opportunity.

Please Don't Disturb!

Red-backed Fairy-Wren

2011-05-15T16:01:00.007+10:00

I had walked right along the forest track without seeing or hearing any birds except way up in the canopy of the trees. I stopped at the end of the track close to the car park - and still nothing. So I got in the car and started the engine - then decided to look at the photos in the camera that I had taken out on the sand bank. Finally, I put the camera down and looked around before I began to back out and drive off. There - sitting just a few meters from the car and quite unafraid of the engine noise, were two Red-backed Fairy-Wrens (Melurus melanocephalus). They were sitting on a small branch that poked out from among the bracken fern and preening. All I had to do was open the window and point the camera out and take some photos. I am not sure if they were females or males in eclipse plumage. The books say that they are very similar. I guess if I spent as much time looking at "bush" birds as I do at shorebirds I would eventually get better at some of the finer points of ID. If anyone reading this knows - then please let me know.
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Caspian Terns

2011-05-10T19:09:00.007+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

Out at Inskip Point the other day there were numbers of Terns flying across the point and fishing in the channel between the mainland and Fraser Island. However, there were only two that came in and rested on the sand right on the Point. I was immediately attracted to them because one of them was making begging noises at the other. It seemed to me that it was rather late in the season to see or hear a juvenile Crested Tern, but when I looked they were Caspian Terns (Sterna caspia). Although I frequently see Caspian Terns their breeding cycle is much harder to understand as they breed at widely dispersed sites and at varying times of the year depending on the climate of the region. They then move to quite different areas to spend the rest of the year.
Here is the juvenile begging from the adult. The juvenile is still showing its typical "spotty" plumage.
The Caspian Tern is the largest of all the terns and occurs over most of the world. Beside smaller terns such as the Little Tern (Sterna albifrons) it looks massive. However, the wingspan is also large - 130-145cm.
Adult Caspian Tern Juvenile Caspian Tern

Photographing at Inskip

2011-05-08T16:58:00.007+10:00

When I go out to photograph the shorebirds I am usually less concerned with getting the perfect bird photo than with recording the numbers and species I see that morning. Some of my friends 'count' before all else and then keep meticulous lists. I get a better end result if I take lots of photos.
Photos of scenery or some thing that makes the day memorable are a good way for me to fix the rest of the details in memory. The other morning at Inskip Point as I looked north along the Strait between the mainland and Fraser Island there were a number of large vessels which I could not immediately identify. It appeared that they were anchored up that way and then after a while - when the tide came in a little more - they came south and appeared to be making for Tin Can Bay. I have seen similar vessels before - something to do with the army (which has a base close to the southern end of the Bay) I think.
There was a huge difference in the numbers of birds at Inskip from the last time I was out there. I saw no large waders at all. This might have been because the tide was not very high and they could have still been feeding on some of the exposed sand banks. There were approximately 150 small waders - very different from the large numbers I saw last time. (I will record this number and attach it to the photos for the morning.) They were making use of the dry sand and wheel tracks of all the vehicles. There were more Double-banded Plovers than anything else. There were also numbers of Red-capped Plovers. I have always seen these birds out there so I would have been very surprised if they were absent. Although I usually see the Red-capped Plovers roosting in amongst the other small shorebirds, this morning the Double-banded Plovers tended to be by themselves and the Red-capped Plovers separate from them.
Mainly Double-banded Plovers.
Mainly Red-capped PloversThere were, however, places where the birds were standing together and it was possible to get good comparisons of size and plumage. Double-banded Plover on the left and Red-capped Plover on the right.
So - no great or perfect bird photos for this morning but a very useful photographic record for the area.
For great bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Disaster Looms for Shorebirds

2011-05-05T17:30:00.002+10:00

The Australasian Wader Studies Group (AWSG) has just published a most disturbing paper about land reclamation in the coastal area between China and North and South Korea. The paper is titled "Minutes to Midnight". The tidal flats in this area are essential staging areas for shorebirds on their migration from the arctic to Australia and back again. The introduction to this article on the AWSG site says that "while you are reading this article another hectare of shorebird habitat has disappeared in the Yellow Sea!"
It is not just birds that migrate to Australia and New Zealand that use this area. A study done in 2010 on Curlew Sandpipers in this area found leg flags from India, Thailand, Singapore, Sumatra, Taiwan, Shanghai and six sites in Australia.
Each year that I have been monitoring and counting shorebirds in the southern Great Sandy Strait I have seen fewer and fewer shorebirds returning to our area. The habitat here has changed very little in this time. The problem is there are fewer and fewer sites in the Yellow Sea area where the birds can feed on their migrations.
The scale of the problem is high-lighted by figures on individual species. Numbers of Great Knots have decreased by 50% in the last 25 years. Eastern Curlew numbers have declined by 20% in the last five years!
A posting by Adrian Boyle on the Birding-Aus site is even more depressing. He is presently in the area counting shorebirds. He mentions two other species - Red Knot and Curlew Sandpiper - at risk because of reclamation which is happening right now. Another site, just south of where he is, was where last year 24 of the critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpipers were observed. This site is also now under development.
I despair! How many shorebirds will not make it this year because their feeding sites have been destroyed? Will I get to the place where I count only a few score of shorebirds where now I count thousands? Why must we destroy so much of our planet!

Lake Alfred Park, Gympie

2011-05-03T17:06:00.011+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

I took these photos a couple of weeks ago in at the ponds in Gympie. I haven't been there for a few months and it was good to see birds back at the ponds after the ponds were so messed up from the floods in January of this year. (In parks like this in the middle of a town it is always easier to get close to the birds.) There are always lots of the more common water birds but it was interesting this time to see a number of juvenile Dusky Moorhens (Gallinula tenebrosa).
Here is a juvenile by itself
A juvenile with an adult on the right
An adult with very worn plumage
There was also a pair of Black Swans (Cygnus atratus) with two half grown juveniles.

Foreshore Walk

2011-05-01T17:41:00.009+10:00

It was a beautiful morning this morning and with an early high tide I thought I might find some shorebirds somewhere along the foreshore in Tin Can Bay. I started at Norman Point where there was beautiful scenery but few birds. The sandbank right at the end was rapidly going underwater and I only saw a couple of Pied Oystercatchers and some Silver Gulls.
I then traveled down to Crab Creek at the other end of the foreshore walk but although there were plenty of birds in the bushes and trees I did not see any other shorebirds. The best of all the birds that I saw in the trees was this Sacred Kingfisher Todiramphus sancta) which was sitting on a branch out over the water.
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Wicked White Birds!

2011-04-26T16:19:00.014+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

I am always intrigued with accounts from others about their backyard bird feeders with several different foods and seed mixtures to attract birds. It certainly wouldn't work here! All I'd attract would be these Wicked White Birds - a.k.a. Sulphur-crested Cockatoos! There are far too many of them around here for comfort and they are so destructive!
However, if the natural balance of the environment is disturbed you must expect birds to take advantage if they can. Just west of here there are large commercial pine plantations (Slash Pine - Pinus elliotii - not a native!) and the cockatoos definitely like the pine cones. However, they fly over the houses here night and morning and also take advantage of anything they see!
There's a pine tree next door for them to explore. They break off whole branches - not just the cones.
They sit in the tops of my neighbor's palms and chew the new fronds to pieces.
They cling to the electricity wires - when all else fails - and screech and play on them for a while.
What has made me cranky with them at present is that the Passion Fruit vines have a heavy crop on them right now and the Cockatoos sample the fruit. Passion Fruit is a vine that has a round fruit which is sweet and "yummy" when nice and ripe. The fruit is 2-3inches in diameter (50-70mm). The pulp of the fruit can be eaten 'as is' or used for flavoring in fruit salad, or flavoring for icing (frosting) on a cake, or for flavoring in cream for a pavlova - (and here's a recipe for pavlova)
This is the flower.
This is the green fruit almost hidden in the leaves.
This is what the ripe fruit looks like - cut open to eat.
And this is what the Cockatoos do!
I wouldn't mind sharing SOME - but the Cockatoos come down and pick anything they see and try it by making a hole in the side. When it is green and not pleasant to eat they just spit it out on the ground. You come out to find the ground littered with discarded green fruit and not much else left on the vine! So far I am relying on my dog to chase them off before they do too much damage. I have a friend who - in desperation! - has covered some of her fruit with paper bags.
So, blogging friends in North America and Europe - can you imagine how much the cockatoos would LOVE your bird feeders! Not sure how much would be left of the feeder by the time they had finished!

Mullens in the Morning

2011-04-24T17:05:00.011+10:00

Very early morning light makes the bay look beautiful even with the tide out.
The air is especially clear and even common birds look interesting. These pelicans were roosting well out across the flats and I could not get any closer to them. It's nice to see some of them around since many of them are still out west where there are still lots of wet areas.
These Crested Pigeons showed off their plumage colors much better against the sky than they do when they are foraging in the dirt at my house.
These White-breasted Woodswallows were still roosting all tucked up together on a branch. This is the way they prefer to roost rather than to have more room around them.
To finish off the bird photographs I had taken, this Sacred Kingfisher stayed just close enough for me to get it in focus.
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Double-banded Plovers

2011-04-19T15:07:00.007+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

I had no intentions of photographing more small shorebirds when I went out to Inskip Point the other morning but when there are literally hundreds of birds spread out on the sand in front of you it seems a shame to not get a few more photos. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
Most of the birds were Red-necked Stints showing even more red color around the face and neck than when I last photographed them a couple of weeks ago. They will leave on their northern migration soon. There were also some Red-capped Plovers in among them. The Red-capped Plovers stay in Australia all year. In this photo the birds are roosting down in a car track in the sand. There are 3 Red-capped Plovers in the rear.
As I took more photos I noticed a few other shorebirds roosting with the Red-capped Plovers and Red-necked Stints. Some of the flock moved out to the edge of the water as the tide fell and I followed trying to get some good photos of these other birds. They were Double-banded Plovers which are sometimes called Double-banded Dotterels (Charadrius bicinctus). These birds are different from all the other migratory shorebirds that visit Australia. They breed in the braided river channels in the south island of New Zealand. The winters are too severe for them to stay there all year so they fly over to the east coast of Australia for the winter. Then in early spring (the southern hemisphere season) they fly back to New Zealand again to breed there. I am told that there are also some birds that remain in New Zealand year round in places where the climate is not so severe. In the first photo there is a female Red-capped Plover in front and a Double-banded Plover behind.

Migrating Shorebirds

2011-04-17T16:12:00.008+10:00

I went out to Inskip point the other morning. I thought that I was early enough to be the first out there but there was already a vehicle and boat trailer sitting out on the end of the point.
There were lots of birds out on the sand island and enough roosting on the point to make it interesting.
Most of the larger birds such as Bar-tailed Godwits and Eastern Curlews have left and the ones still here are possibly juveniles that will spend the winter here. I had seen very few Grey-tailed Tattlers (Tringa brevipes) when I was last out here a couple of weeks ago but now there were good numbers of them and most were in breeding plumage.
Although some were roosting by themselves at the edge of the water others were in among the Bar-tailed Godwits. This photo shows the considerable size difference between the two species.
This photo shows a Grey-tailed Tattler on the left, a Bar-tailed Godwit in behind and a Great Knot in the front. The Great Knot is in breeding plumage.
I saw a couple of Curlew Sandpipers also in breeding plumage in among the Bar-tailed Godwits. They are not easy to see when they walk in among the much larger birds.
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Ducks

2011-04-12T19:26:00.005+10:00

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

I haven't been out photographing this week so had to go back into my photo archives to find these photos.
Pacific Black Ducks (Anas superciliosa) are common over most of Australia. These photos were taken at one of the parks in Gympie. Pacific Black Ducks frequently hybridize with Mallards and some of the hybrids look quite close to the Pacific Black rather than to the Mallards. However, I am told that over time the Mallard tends to dominate.

More Red-caps!

2011-04-10T17:14:00.009+10:00

There were not many shorebirds around when I walked out to the Mullens roost the other day. On the southern end of the bay there were the usual Red-capped Plovers - and, as usual, I couldn't resist taking more photos of them. Some were making great reflections in the still water.
Some were taking a bath! This one looked a bit damp all over.
This one was dipping itself in sideways in an effort to get as wet as it could in the shallow water.
However, the really interesting thing I wanted to photograph was an area of new plants. Much of the ground on the shallow end of the bay is covered with this almost black coating which dries out and cracks up when it is out of the water for long periods. When the tides come right in it gets very soft and slippery again. I don't know what it is although one book I read suggested that it was some kind of algae.
There are several quite large areas where nothing has grown on top of this black "stuff" but over the last few months I have noticed this has been changing. Areas of small plants are growing over the black and there is now a rather sparse cover of bright green.
The plants are still small enough that it is difficult to ID them. All the plants in the salt marsh are very slow growing but it will be interesting to see how these plants develops over the next year.
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.