Shorebirds at Low Tide

  I had another post ready to go - but at this time of the year I don't get too excited about bush birds! There are thousands of shorebirds around the bay just waiting for me to find them and photograph them! So! - this morning I went out to Inskip Point to see what was around at low tide  - which was a bit before 8am. Even if there were no birds close enough to photograph I could have a look at what the tides were doing to the sand around the point and see if there was any recent build up to make up for all the sand that was washed away in late winter. It looked as if the steep edges were being rounded and filled in but no other return of sand that I could see.(Nothing exciting enough to photograph!)
The weather forecast said mainly sunny - but the clouds were coming over and the sunshine was only intermittent. Looking east along the channel to the open sea.

Looking west out to the sand island - there were numbers of pelicans out there and lots of terns.

I have recently seen lots of jelly fish in the bay and there were a few washed up on the Point.

There was a single Pelican roosting out at the end of the Point but it decided to swim off rather than let me get close.

The wind was quite strong and all the shorebirds that I could see were moving around quite fast as they fed in the soft sand. This Whimbrel and Bar-tailed Godwit were busily feeding just below where the bush track comes out onto the Point.

Further out along the sand this group of shorebirds were feeding quite close together - 2 Godwits, a Crested Tern resting, a Red-capped Plover and ?? I needed to get closer photos to ID the other small bird.

With very slow movements I managed to get close enough. Red-caped Plovers are always so inquisitive that they seem to convince other shorebirds that it is safe to stay where they are. The other small bird was a Sanderling which seemed just as interested in me as I was in it.

Further out on the sand flats I could see another group of smaller shorebirds. I took a while to get close to them as they were feeding and moving all the time. The first photo is of a Red-necked Stint on the left of the photo and a Curlew Sandpiper on the right. Then I managed a closer photo of the Curlew Sandpiper by itself.

To finish off the morning I got a photo of a Grey-tailed Tattler feeding at the edge of the water.

For more scenery from around the world visit Our World Tuesday

and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday. 

Kayaking along the Creek

Every now and again I enjoy kayaking along the creek - even though I know that it is not a place where I will find many shorebirds roosting. The other morning there was a little breeze getting up on the bay but in amongst the mangroves on the creek it was very still and the reflections were perfect.

These mangroves were beginning to come into flower - again a perfect reflection. (Can anyone name it for me?) (This mangrove has now been ID'd as the River Mangrove - Aegiceras corniculatum - thanks Moyra!)

The tide height determines where the vegetation changes from mangrove trees to grass and taller forest trees.

There was patchy cloud in the sky and this made a big difference to the color of the water.

The only bird that stayed still long enough for me to get photos was this Little Pied Cormorant.

For more scenery from around the world visit Our World Tuesday
and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday.

Smallest Shorebirds.

The Mullens shorebird roost is huge and although sometimes the birds all roost together they also roost in separate places that best suit their special needs. When I had finished photographing the larger shorebirds that I posted about last week I backed off and then moved to where I could come in and pull the kayak up on the sand. I had seen small birds moving in amongst the taller vegetation and I knew that if I moved behind them they would happily come out and move along at the edge of the water. These small shorebirds prefer more open spaces to places where the plants grow too tall and thick.They can often be found at the top end of the bay where the water is always shallow and the salt marsh plants grow. Salt marsh plants grow where the tide washes up and over them at regular intervals. (I wrote two pages on salt marsh plants and this special habitat. You can find these pages listed on the right hand column of my blog. There are photos and details of the plants in Page 2.)  In this part of the bay these plants are only a few inches tall and these little shorebirds feed and rest between them. I saw both Red-capped Plovers and Red-necked Stints. Red-capped Plovers are an Australian shorebird and stay here all year. Red-necked Stints are migrants that come down from NE Siberia each year. They are both small birds - about 15cm or 6 inches. The Red-necked Stint is the smallest migratory shorebird to come down to this area.
A Red-necked Stint roosting among the salt marsh plants. (Red-necked Stints only have red necks in breeding plumage.)

Two Red-capped Plovers and a Red-necked Stint on the right.

I know I have not disturbed the birds when some - or most - have their eyes closed and are sleeping!

All Red-necked Stints except for one Red-capped Plover on the right foreground.

There are usually a pair of Oystercatchers roosting somewhere around the bay. This time one was resting on a sand bank and the other was feeding further around the bay.

As I turned around and looked right out to the entrance to the bay I saw a line of pelicans swimming in.

For more scenery from around the world visit Our World Tuesday

and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday.

Mullens in the Morning

It's been a month since I was out on the kayak so it felt really good to have an early morning tide and very little predicted wind until the afternoon. When I got down to the shoreline at Mullens it was a perfect morning! I kayaked about a kilometer and a half north and only saw 3 fishermen across all the expanse of the bay. It was so quiet with the only sounds the calling of bush birds in the bush along the shoreline. I then went around into the wide shallow waters of the site we call the Mullens roost.

Entering the roost from this northern end it can look as if there are very few birds roosting anywhere but sitting still on the kayak and letting the tide drift me slowly southward I could hear Godwits on the west side of the roost and further to the south. The birds must have been sitting and preening and resting here in the shallow water for some time because I started to see feathers drifting on the surface of the water.

Eventually I saw quite large numbers of birds - mixed flocks of Bar-tailed Godwits, Eastern Curlews, Gull-billed Terns and the smaller birds in amongst the vegetation.

Something disturbed all the birds and they flew up and overhead. This photo is of Godwits and one Great Knott. (The Great Knot is slightly smaller and with a shorter dark bill.)

They wheeled above me for a few minutes then came down again in front of me.

I always enjoy seeing the beautiful under-wing feather patterns. Also, stretched out like this in a line it is easier to ID the females and males. When they are in breeding plumage the males are very obvious with a full dark chestnut color down the breast. In non-breeding plumage it is their size and length of the bill which ID's them - the females are slightly larger and have a longer bill.

As they all settled down again I saw this juvenile Godwit. The feather pattern is different in the juveniles but they moult into full adult plumage within a couple of months. It is amazing to think that these young birds have made the direct flight from Alaska at only a few months of age.

There were also a few Great Knots roosting among the Godwits. The Great Knots still have some of the spots and splashes of breeding plumage down their breasts. These will soon fade and the breast will be a creamy white until they again change into breeding plumage next autumn.

For more scenery from around the world visit Our World Tuesday

and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday.

Early Morning

I went for a walk along the shoreline at Mullens yesterday. Looking north-east the clouds were beginning to break up and the water reflected the blue in the sky.

Looking further east and south the only colors were grey and the mirrored silver of the water. There were birds strung out along the water-line and pecking in the puddles left by the receding tide.

This kind of lighting makes it very hard to ID shorebirds. Of course the larger birds are easy. A Whimbrel stands at the edge of the water and a couple of Godwits fly off.

An Eastern Curlew roosts on sand.

A Godwit wades through the water and pecks into the sand in search of food. The smaller bird is more difficult to ID.

The smaller birds further out at the edge of the water are impossible to be certain about and the ones standing on the sand and small rocks almost fade out of sight.

For more scenes from around the world visit Our World Tuesday

and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday.

This and That!

This post shows a mixture of birds photographed over several weeks. I have had the flu and haven't been well enough to go and look for interesting birds.
This first bird is a Scaley-breasted Lorikeet. It is only the second time I have seen these birds in my yard and this one was a lucky chance! I heard Rainbow Lorikeets in my callistemon trees and when I went out with my camera I also saw a couple of Scaley-breasted Lorikeets. They are a little smaller than the Rainbow Lorikeets and a bit quieter - but just as hard to photograph among the leaves.

This bird is not such a good find. It is a Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis). These birds were brought in to Australia back in the 1860's. At first they spread through the cities but then started taking over country areas. The trouble is that they displace native birds and small mammals.  They compete for nesting hollows in trees and usually win! We have not had them here where I live until very recently and this bird was one of a pair that came into my back yard last week. I opened the door and took a couple of quick pictures but when I tried to get closer both birds quickly took off.

I photographed this third bird out at Inskip the other morning. (It was a beautiful morning but unfortunately I came home and had to go back to bed! I wish this flu would go quickly!) While I was watching, it dragged itself up on the sand and sat there apparently exhausted. It is a Shearwater but I am not sure beyond that exactly which kind it is.

There have been numbers of recent reports of Shearwaters found dead and dying on the beaches in NSW and southern Qld. The birding New Zealand forum also has been reporting dead and dying birds over there. I can only imagine how many birds are dead if they are reported from both Australia and New Zealand! It is not known yet if the birds are dying from an extreme weather event or if they are starving because the fish are not around. Many people are saying that the oceans are being over-fished and it may already be too late to reverse the trend. This article is written by a yachtsman and tells of what they found on a recent trip from Australia to Japan and then over to the USA. He titled his article "The Ocean Is Broken" and gives quite horrible details. It is not a good outlook for any of our oceans!

For more photos of birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday.

 

Shorebirds on the Bay

It's been a while since I have been out on the kayak counting and photographing shorebirds so it felt extra good to go out very early one morning a couple of weeks ago. There were banks of low cloud and fog to the east.

The sea was very still and the sun shone off the top of every little ripple and threw bars of light up onto the mangrove trees standing in the water. I wish there were a way to capture this with photos but I find it sufficiently challenging to take photos from a kayak - let alone staying steady enough to manage videos!
I turned south around the mangroves which line Mullens creek and saw there were numbers of birds standing on the sand. I saw three Common Greenshank, and three Terek Sandpipers but the rest were Grey-tailed Tattlers. Some of these were still showing the remnants of breeding plumage down the front.

Further to the south I watched a Little Egret chasing small fish through the shallow water and then realized that there was a long line of other birds stretching out along a sandbar. I counted more than 150 birds - mainly Eastern Curlews and Bar-tailed Godwits. (Click on all photos to enlarge them - this one I have left very long to show the numbers of birds.)

I took a number of photos of these birds - hoping that I could maybe do a better count and ID later. The most obvious birds were the Eastern Curlews - unmistakeable with the very long bill!

As I focused on different areas of the birds I realized that there was something else moving around behind the mangroves. It was a Black-necked Stork. (Look very carefully along that long line of birds!) These birds are tall - 112-115cm or well over 4 feet tall. I have not yet been able to get close enough for good photos - and this was the best that I managed this time!

As I tried to get closer the bird flew off - but flew towards me and went quite close overhead. It is quite a thrill to see something this big fly overhead! (Wingspan 200cm! - more than 6 feet!)

For more scenery from around the world visit Our World Tuesday

and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday.