Inskip Point

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.

Foreshore Walk

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.

Mullens in the Morning

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.

Sacred Kingfisher

Denis over at The Nature of Robertson has a very interesting post on a Sacred Kingfisher which was unlucky enough to fly straight into his car. He makes an interesting observation that "The angle of the sun, relative to the bird and the observer, can seriously change the perceived colour of the bird."
I am posting three photos of different Sacred Kingfishers which show this color difference. I have found this wide variation in color confusing to say the least. I have been advised to look for the buff spot before the eye - and then look at the other color features. I welcome further comments on this feature.