Showing posts with label Pacific Golden Plovers.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pacific Golden Plovers.. Show all posts

Sunday, February 6, 2011

What we do ...

...for a bird count!
This morning was the day for the mid-summer count for the Queensland Wader Study Group - so definitely not a day to be forgotten . When I woke it was overcast and had been raining. The radar on the Bureau of Meteorology showed a broken line of showers coming down from the north-east so it was doubtful that we could get a count done without getting wet. Oh well, in Queensland even the rain is warm!
The birds were very flighty and several flocks were wheeling around in the air before we got anywhere near the roost area. I wish I knew what was disturbing them. We counted a total of 189 birds of 7 species: Bar-tailed Godwits, Eastern Curlews, Whimbrels, Grey-tailed Tattlers, Common Greenshanks, Pacific Golden Plovers, and Masked Lapwings.
The only birds I got close enough to photograph were these Common Greenshanks and Pacific Golden Plovers and by this time it was raining again - although it was only light spits! However, as we paddled back to the cars on the other side of the creek it was getting quite heavy. Oh well, I was wet by now so what did a little more rain matter!
Common Greenshanks
Pacific Golden Plovers
For more bird photos visit the Bird Photography Weekly.