White-throated Honeyeaters

This post is for World Bird Wednesday

Because I have a number of Grevilleas planted in my garden I have a number of honey eating birds all year round. However, the White-throated Honeyeater (Melithreptus albogularis) only comes intermittently and I am never quite sure when they will appear in the garden again. More recently they have been coming whenever it was wet and windy - definitely not the weather to take the camera outside! So when they came into the trees the other day and it was fine and sunny I dropped what I was doing and went outside. They stayed just long enough for me to get a few pictures and now - once again! - they have gone.

A Morning Walk

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

I had another set of bird photos all ready to post for World Bird Wednesday - but - after an early morning walk down at the shoreline this morning I decided to try and show why I keep watching shorebirds.
I didn't get any great clear or close-up photos. It was just a beautiful morning and great to watch shorebirds going about their "birdy" business in a peaceful environment.
The sun came up and then disappeared behind a bank of clouds for a while.
The tide had been full before I got down there and as it started to fall the shorebirds flew in from their roost and began hunting for food in the shallow water and the soft sand. The first birds I saw were Bar-tailed Godwits.
I heard numbers of Eastern Curlews but these birds are never easy to get close to. This one flew in to feed close to some Godwits.
Further along the shoreline I could see a smaller bird busily dashing through the shallow water and then stopping to peck up whatever it had disturbed. I eventually got close enough to see that it was a Marsh Sandpiper.
This soldier crab ran away just ahead of me and then decided it would be safer to dig under the sand for a while.
The bush at the edge of the bay looked clear and crisp in the early morning light.
It was a great start to what promises to be another very hot day.

Massed Shorebirds

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

I went out to Inskip Point soon after sunrise this morning. At that hour of the morning I was lucky to find shorebirds and terns all over the point and no people to disturb them. Even the car ferry for Fraser Island arrived after I did.
I estimated there were 1000+ shorebirds strung out along the water line on the southern side of the point and flocks of terns and small shorebirds roosting in the dry sand of the point in among the flotsam that is always washed up and left by the tide.
At first it seemed that there were only Bar-tailed Godwits in the flock on the southern side. Some of them were getting a faint wash of red breeding color down their frontsGradually it was possible to see others. There were Common Greenshanks roosting a little away from the Godwits and standing in slightly deeper water.
Then I saw slightly smaller birds in among the Godwits and I focused in on that part of the flock.
It was easy to see Great Knots. Some of them were getting their more heavily marked breeding colors. (Great Knots and one Bar-tailed Godwit in the rear.)
There were also numbers of Curlew Sandpipers.
They are never as easy to see as they like to roost even more closely among the Godwits. Sometimes all you can see is a smaller set of legs and part of a small bird in behind the Godwit.

Walkways

This post is linked to Scenic Sunday.

Tin Can Bay has several kilometers of well made walkways that go along beside the bay. The walkways are well used by everyone from "oldies" on motorized scooters, to children on bicycles and everyone in between - but especially walkers! A number of different bridges cross the streams that flow out into the bay. This is one of them.

Terns at Inskip

This post is for World Bird Wednesday.

While I was out at Inskip Point yesterday afternoon I saw a small flock of terns roosting on the sand at the point.
Crested Terns have been away nesting on islands off the coast but this flock had a mixture of birds at all stages. Some were in scruffy looking non-breeding plumage, there were a few that had almost full breeding plumage and there were some very noisy juveniles as well. I also saw two Little Terns which looked extra small standing in among the much larger Crested Terns.
I always think that Crested Terns are extra noisy and this flock was noisy and unsettled. Birds kept flying off and then coming back to rest again. This is a juvenile bird.
This photo shows why the flock was so disturbed. I was focused on the bird that was closer to me but the one in the background has a fish in its beak.