Galahs

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Galahs are quite common around here and yesterday a group flew in to the vacant land next door and started feeding on the seed heads. When I approached with the camera the adult birds flew off but the juveniles obviously didn't see me as a threat so I was able to get some photos of them. The birding book describes juvenile plumage as being 'suffused with grey' in the pink areas of plumage.

Bad Weather - Beaut Birding...

...and after all, what enthusiastic birder would let a little thing like rain put them off looking for birds! In one direction the clouds looked rather threatening -
- and in the other direction the rain was falling.
However, we only had to run back to the kayaks once to quickly find rain proof cases and covers for cameras and other gear.
The birding was certainly worth it. There were the usual large numbers of Bar-tailed Godwits and Eastern Curlew, but we had come out especially to see what smaller birds were also there. We found quite a large flock of Great Knots. This was the first flock we had seen here this season but it is such a large site that it is certainly possible we had just missed them. There were also flocks of Greater Sand-Plovers, Lesser Sand-Plovers, Red-necked Stints and Red-capped Plovers. The birding books give all the fine details to distinguish Greater from Lesser Sand-Plovers, but the best way is to watch them side by side as we were able to do today.

A mixed flock of Great Knots, Lesser and Greater Sand-Plovers, and Bar-tailed Godwits

Counting a mixed flock like this is a special challenge. Today we were just looking.

Red-necked Stints and Red-capped Plovers are such tiny birds but let you get quite close
before they show signs of being disturbed.

Ground Parrots

Season's Greetings to all who read this blog! The photo on the top of this post is a Christmas Bell (Blandfordia grandifloria) which I thought was rather appropriate for right now. I photographed it yesterday afternoon on an afternoon trip into the Great Sandy National Park with Kelvin and Amelia and their family. We were going out to try to see and hear the Ground Parrots (Pezoporus wallicus). This is a very special bird and certainly not one you see very often. First you must know the right habitat – then I think you have to have a good amount of luck! Of course it helps to have good friends who know the area well and have often seen the parrots.
We set off in the late afternoon with plenty of time to look around the area. It is a little late in the season for there to be a lot of wildflowers out but we did see a few of the yellow form of the Christmas Bells. We also saw some of these tiny grevillia flowers (Grevillea leiophylla) – the flowers are 6-8mm and the racemes 1-1.5cm. (My thanks to a very helpful young fellow who showed me a lot about photography in a very short time!)
There were a lot of tiny birds calling off in the very bushy heath. We caught glimpses of White-cheeked Honeyeaters, and Red-backed Wrens. It was impossible to go far off the tracks as the undergrowth was just too thick so I had to be content with distant photos for ID only.
We stopped and boiled the billy on a little camp stove for a cuppa and sat around in camp chairs and just enjoyed the quiet sounds of the bush and the feeling of space and emptiness out there.
To cap off a great afternoon I saw a Ground Parrot! Now I must admit that it was only a very brief glimpse before it dived back down into the scrub and I did not get a photo – but even a brief glimpse was great! Then we waited quietly as the darkness came, to hear the Parrots call. They only call for a very short time at dusk or dawn but it is a hauntingly beautiful call. The sound is not a bit like the usual harsh parrot call but is a series of clear ascending notes There were calls from six different directions so we assumed at least six birds in the area.
I wish I could find a way to give a better impression of the magical quality of the light and the space as night came down. A big 'thank you' to Kelvin and Amelia and family for a great time!

Parrots

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I was about to post about what a lucky day yesterday was - I finally saw and photographed a male Red-winged Parrot. However, it has turned into two lucky days in a row!
Some weeks ago I photographed a female Red-winged Parrot but there was no male with her. Last night I heard the sound of parrots in my grevillia bushes and when I went to look it was a whole family of Red-winged Parrots. I got good close looks at the male this time and was very pleased to get some good photos also.

Male Red-winged Parrot - and like all parrots he is climbing in and around and over.

Juvenile Red-winged Parrot - the sounds of a juvenile demanding food are unmistakable.

Tonight I again heard parrots in the backyard and once again it sounded like juveniles demanding food from their parents. I could see green in the bushes but when I got close enough I realized that this time it was Australian King Parrots. They are green colored but with much more red on them. This time they were sitting up in my banana palms and moving in and out of the late afternoon shadows. There were a number of birds - I would guess again a family group but I only managed photos of the male and a juvenile.

Male Australian King Parrot.

Juvenile Australian King Parrot. The Juvenile is very similar to the female in colouring but the eye colour in
the juvenile is brown and in the female is yellow.

Summer Solstice Birding

The people over at Birdstack suggested that the world birding community might make some bird observations and share them. It was suggested that 12 hours on either side of the solstice would be OK for observations so I started at dawn this morning. I could hear the usual dawn chorus even before I opened the door - a Brown Honeyeater, Rainbow Lorikeets, Noisy Friarbirds, a Common Koel, and Peewees (Magpie Larks) Once again it was overcast with a threat of rain but also areas of broken cloud.
I decided to risk the rain and take one of my favorite walks down at the bay. Driving down I saw Galahs, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Masked Lapwings, Crows, Kookaburras, Blue-faced Honeyeaters, Figbirds, and Crested Pigeons.
The bay was as beautiful as it always is! The sun was shining directly across the water and the shoreline was in silhouette. The sky was still cloudy. The tide was in so the walk was close up under the paperbark trees, the she-oak trees and the mangroves. Mangrove Honeyeaters were calling all around but mostly hidden.
It was not a very high tide and around at the roost the shorebirds were strung out across the bay. I saw Bar-tailed Godwit, Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel, Common Greenshank, Grey-tailed Tattler, Red-capped Plover, and Silver Gulls. (I have left these photos large to show the size of the roosting shorebirds. )
As I rounded the end of the bay I saw an Osprey sitting high on a dead branch of a tree. A couple of Willie Wagtails first scolded me and then spotting the Osprey decided to chase it off. Even an Opsrey doesn't like these little birds attacking and it soon flew off.
A very nice start to the day - and I am sure rather different from the solstice in the northern hemisphere.

Noosa River Birding - December

Monday was a great day for the Noosa River survey. The morning count was interesting with a very high tide and most of the sandbanks underwater. Later in the day there were holiday makers everywhere! except, that is, for the one sandbank that has been completely closed during this summer period when the resident birds are breeding and there are large numbers of migrants around. It was pleasing to see the Beach Stone-curlew still on this island but no sign of any breeding from them. Now that really would be special!
We were fortunate to see two Sanderlings - birds not commonly seen here. We saw them on both the high tide and low tide survey although on different sandbanks. This photo shows one of the Sanderling with a Red-capped Plover immediately behind it and a Red-necked Stint on the left of the photo.
In the evening we did a count of terns coming in to the sandbanks for the night. Most were juvenile Crested Terns - the adults are breeding on off-shore islands right now. There were very few migratory terns - another puzzle to which we have no answer at present. I am only learning about tern migration and behavior, so am very grateful to be with experienced birders from whom I can learn. This photo was taken from the south bank of the river where we sit and count the terns in the evening.

Shorebird Count - Again.

On Sunday I kayaked around to the Mullens Creek shorebird roost with Kelvin and Amelia and did a count of the birds. It was a very high tide and we found an increase in bird numbers from the lower tides that we have been counting recently. This is a much larger roost site and there are always more birds here than on the Crab Creek Site. We counted about 2,300 birds (I don't have final count numbers yet). Most were Bar-tailed Godwit and Eastern Curlew. The Eastern Curlew flew right after we had counted them but then re-settled on the other side of the bay and we checked our numbers there again.
There are always interesting birds in the car park where we launched the kayaks. This Mangrove Honeyeater was sitting in a tree with its feathers fluffed up, but let me get a photo showing its blue eye.