White-throated Honeyeater

This is my first post for World Bird Wednesday. Go there to see a great variety of birds.

A few months ago White-throated Honeyeaters (Melithreptus albogularis) were frequent visitors to my garden but then they went away. Over the last few weeks I have seen them again but only when it was wet and windy. On good days when the photos would have been so much better they were nowhere to be seen! They seem to like the Hibiscus flowers or to hide up in the Callistemons.

Shorebirds at Mullens

Once again the tides are great for kayaking and seeing the shorebirds and the weather is terrible! We've had 50mm (2 inches) of rain in the last 36 hours. This is certainly not as much as some areas are getting but I won't take my camera out in it.
Last Thursday I dodged the showers and walked out to Mullens. It rained just before I got down there and then rained again just after I reached the car to drive home. In between I saw some interesting birds.
The bigger shorebirds were on the far side of the bay and inaccessible for photos. However, as I walked out onto the saltmarsh flats I saw some small birds and a few terns on my side of the bay.
Gull-billed Terns (Sterna nilotica) nest inland where it is wet but spend the rest of the time out here on the coast. Birds in breeding plumage have a full dark cap and those in non-breeding plumage have only a black patch around the eye. Both of these birds in non-breeding plumage still show some dark pin-feathers on their heads.
There was a large flock of Lesser Sand-Plovers (Charadrius mongolus) roosting with the Terns at the edge of the water.
Further around the bay were flocks of mixed Red-capped Plovers and Red-necked Stints. I photographed one Red-necked Stint (Caladris ruficollis) standing with the Lesser Sand-Plovers. The Stint looked very small standing next to the Plovers.
I also photographed one Little Tern (Sterna albifrons) standing with the Lesser Sand-Plovers. This is one of the migratory terns which come down here from Asia during our summer.
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Early Morning at the Bay

Yesterday I went for an early morning walk along the foreshore at Mullens. Although it was well after sunrise there wasn't much light coming through the very heavy cloud cover.
Although I could see the shorebirds across the other side of the roost they were too far away for photos. The only shorebird I got close to was this Eastern Curlew which was roosting out on the little rocky point.
The really interesting sight of the morning was the number of saltmarsh plants which were in full flower. There are only half a dozen different plants across the whole of the saltmarsh flats but some of them are so similar that it is not easy to ID them. I know that this is one of the Tecticornias - common name Glasswort. (This species used to be called Halosarcia but has recently be renamed.) There are three kinds of Tecticornias and I still cannot ID the two that we have growing out on these flats. The one in flower right now is a little low growing shrub not more than 300-400mm high. It stands out from the other plants which grow low and spread out on the sand. I have just had this plant ID'd for me as Tecticornia inidica. Thanks Moyra! I am intrigued that so many of these plants are flowering when they look so dried and burnt. Those little white dots may not look like flowers but they certainly attract the bees and other insects.

Smaller Shorebirds

A couple of weeks ago while out at Inskip Point I took some photos of a group of Ruddy Turnstones (Arenaria interpres), Sanderlings (Calidris alba), and a Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis). I have only seen Ruddy Turnstones and Sanderlings at Inskip - not further south on the bay. A group of 5 of both were walking along the edge of the water out on the far side of the sand island at low tide. The photos that I took give a good opportunity to compare the sizes of all 3 species of bird. In the first photo the Ruddy Turnstones are the darker colored birds at the rear of the photo and the Red-necked Stint is right in the foreground - and unfortunately a little out of focus. It is also interesting to see a range of plumage on the birds as they had recently returned from their breeding areas up north and were still changing into non-breeding plumage. All photos enlarge when clicked on and I have left the photos quite large. No Red-necked Stint in this photo.
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.

Flowers and Birds

Yesterday, I went for a walk along the path beside Schnapper Creek that is often called the flower walk. Everything down there was very wet but also very green with all the recent rain. The most beautiful flowers that we found were these little Christmas Candles (Burmannia disticha) which were growing right where I had found some a couple of years ago.
I also saw a number of Native Lasiandra shrubs (Melastoma malabathricum) which were making a beautiful splash of color among the Paperbark trees.
There were birds everywhere - but unfortunately most of them did not have time to sit and have their photos taken. The only ones that came close were a couple of Peaceful Doves (Geopelia striata) that were walking along the path towards me and were very busy picking at seeds from the side of the path.

Kangaroo Paw

Kangaroo Paw is the name given to a flower that comes from south western Australia. Kangaroo Paws are from the genus anigozanthos. They have become very popular as a garden flower. The ones in my garden are very tall with the flower stalk being well over 2 meters. The flowers are a green color, although other colors are also common. These flowers are not nearly so bright or spectacular as others in the garden but the birds love them. Honeyeaters - especially Blue-faced Honeyeaters and Noisy Friarbirds - come and grab at the flower stalks and then swing them over and walk over the stalks to get to the flowers.

Backyard Bird

Once again there are good high tides early in the morning which should be great for kayaking. However, once again we are having some very bad weather - high winds and quite a lot of rain. So the best I can do is post photos of a Kookaburra that sat on a low branch in my backyard. I walked quite close without it moving at all - it just watched me with a very bright eye! The second photo is a crop to show that bright eye!
For more bird photos visit the bird photography weekly.