Early Morning Birds

There was a heavy shower of rain just before I went for a walk along the shoreline the other morning. All the trees and bushes were still very wet and it seemed that the birds had used the rain as an excuse to delay their early morning preening. This Mangrove Honeyeater was intent on getting every feather into place.High up on a tree a male Mistletoebird also completed his morning preen.Out on the saltmarsh flat this Willy Wagtail was catching insects that were hovering over a puddle of water in an old vehicle track.The Scarlet Honeyeaters were already busy in the tops of the trees.The only shorebirds were small dots far out on the sand flats.

Unexpected.

I was out photographing LBJ's the other day when this one perched high up in a rather open casuarina tree. It was only when I got home and put the photos up on the computer screen that I realized I had another photo of a bird I had not previously seen - this time a female Mistletoebird. Apart from the red undertail coverts it is indeed another Little Brown Bird.
These birds eat the fruits of mistletoe plants as well as nectar, insects, and other fruit/berries.
Mistletoe plant hanging from a tree
But! Uh-oh! I had read that these birds excrete the seeds of the mistletoe plants as a sticky 'package' - but I had certainly not expected to photograph this! That looks as if it would stick to anything!

Shoreline Birds

I went out today with friends to do the July wader count for the QWSG. It was a nasty blustery cold day (for southern Queensland that is!) Along the Tin Can Bay foreshore there were very few waders as it is mid-winter and only juveniles and some old birds over-winter here. Gull-billed Terns are back after breeding in inland areas during the summer.

There was also a small flock of Bar-tailed Godwits with their bills tucked back under their wings. A Caspian Tern and some Silver Gulls stood at the edge of the water with them.

Winter flowering Gums and Paperbarks were still in full flower and the small nectar feeding birds were all among them. However, with the blustery conditions they were very hard to see in the tops of the trees.

Coastal she-oaks (Casuarina equisetifolia) line the shore at a number of places. Today we heard Mistletoe birds and then found that the mistletoe plants in these trees were also in flower. These plants mimic the host tree so that they have have similar shaped needles (leaves).

The little male Mistletoebird (Dicaeum hirundinaceum) came down quite close but the trees were short and shrubby and there was plenty of cover to keep me from getting good photos of the bird. In the end the only clear photos were ones taken looking up and against the light. I shall try again later and hope for better conditions.