Dusky Woodswallow

I am posting a photo of a Dusky Woodswallow I took a few weeks ago. I know its not a great photo but I was lucky to get one at all – and there's a story behind the photo.
Whenever I walk in the bush I have my dog Misty with me. She's a little 'Smithfield' or 'Stumpy-tailed Blue Cattle Dog'. Her senses are all much sharper than mine and I trust her instincts in the bush. She's five years old and I have had her since she was a little pup. She has always been made to drop back behind me when I see a bird to photograph and she must not move or make a noise. As to the noise bit – I have never known her to bark outside my yard but inside the yard she is noisy and very territorial. This day I was out photographing wildflowers and was only looking for them. She was ahead of me as usual but then dropped back in behind me. I was still looking for flowers and took no notice so she came close to me and started nudging my leg with her nose. Then I saw what she had seen and I hadn't even noticed. In the trees just ahead there was a group of birds. I am sure she thought I was a bit slow at getting the camera out and taking photos.

White-breasted Woodswallow

I was on an early morning walk along the bayside when this White-breasted Woodswallow (Artamus leucorhynchus) obligingly posed on the branch of a dead tree. At this hour of the morning the sky seems such an intense blue but without the glare of later in the day.
I frequently see these birds in this area although they don't always sit where I can get photos.
Have a look at the Bird Photography Weekly site.

Kayaking adventure or mistake

Sarah called it “an adventure” but that was after listening to me saying it was too much like “hard work” and definitely a “mistake” to listen to the weather forecast! We had just returned from kayaking around to the Smoogers Point bird roost. It was warm and sunny and the water was great but the wind kept on picking up and we ended up by paddling back approximately 3 kms into what the report had said would be “light to moderate” winds. Well “light” they were not! And if they were “moderate” then it was on the upper end of the scale! My shoulder and upper arm muscles are sore this morning to remind me. Added to all this was the frustration of seeing the birds fly before we had a full count. We saw numbers of Bar-tailed Godwits, Whimbrels, Grey-tailed Tattler, Eastern Curlew and a few Common Greenshank.
So the only bird photo I have to show for the morning was a little Red-capped Plover among the saltmarsh plants and mangroves at the edge of the water.
We had time to walk right around the saltmarsh and find out how far back it extends behind the mangroves. Some of the mangroves in the drier parts had died and this lichen was hanging off the branch of one. (Can anyone supply a name for it?)
This saltmarsh plant was quite extensive although I have not seen it on the saltmarsh at Mullens Creek. It was showing new growth and the photo is taken with the tide water around it. (Again, can anyone supply a name?)
Paddling back to Carlo Creek where we left our cars is this great view up the Great Sandy Straits toward Inskip Point. Fraser Island is in the distance on the right of the photo.
Carlo Creek camping area looking towards Tin Can Bay with the kayak up on the car ready to go home.

Pelicans

I usually see Pelicans wherever I kayak around the bay. (For the benefit of readers outside Australia this bird is the Australian Pelican - Pelicanus conspicillatus.) I find them fascinating - as I guess you can tell from the photo on the top of this blog. I also keep taking more photos of them. Here are a few:
Floating and swimming over the water they look so graceful.
Standing around on the sand banks they get into some most unusual poses. Their beaks look enormous however they are holding them.
They give a harsh grunt when they don't want to be disturbed – and the eyes look positively evil.
Even a pelican's neck needs scratching sometimes.
A juvenile bird grooming its feathers.

Have a look at the Bird Photography Weekly site.

Frogs in the Garden

I found this little frog early this morning on the leaf of a Gymea Lily. Up here we are overrun with cane toads so frogs in my garden are unusual and special. I took photos and came inside and looked up the Frogs Australia site which I had read about on Esperance Fauna blog site. Then I went outside again and gently touched the little frog with a piece of grass so I could see a bit more of it. I think it is possibly an Orange Eyed Tree Frog (Litoria chloris) but would be happy to have this checked. I know very little about frogs but just wish there were more of them in the garden.

I've just had a conversation with a local frog expert and he agrees with Snail's ID that the frog is Litoria gracilenta (Graceful Tree Frog or Dainty Green Tree Frog) - not the one I had thought. Apparently Litoria gracilenta does not always have the blue color on its legs but the texture of the skin makes the ID definite.

Birding in my Backyard

One of the things I find most frustrating about birding in my backyard is the number of birds that come down briefly into my yard and fly off again very quickly. They just don't like the area! That's understandable of course as in the process of turning this into land suitable for housing all the large trees and shrubs have been taken out. Since coming here I have planted things as quickly as possible but none of the trees are very large yet.
Last year I had brief views of Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes but none stayed long enough for me to even get the camera out. This year they have been back briefly and I was able to at least get a few photos. I hear them fairly often but I think they are possibly over the road from here in an area of National Park.
In May I got photos of this bird – an immature bird.
In late June this one came and sat on the electricity wires on the roadside and looked things over for a while.

A couple of months later again and quite a group of birds were next door in the big pine tree. I was very interested to see the way the birds were moving their wings as they sat and called to each other. I have been told by an experienced birder that they used to be called “Shufflewings” for this display. I have now also found this name listed in the Readers' Digest Book of Australian Birds. This little video clip shows this action but was taken handheld and is a bit shaky!

Ospreys

The other day I kayaked down the bay to see if the Osprey nest was being used this year. This nest is in a different place from the one I wrote about the other week. There was an Osprey sitting on a branch close to the nest but instead of taking a distant photo I decided to get out on the bank and get closer. However, by the time I got there the bird had flown off. I took a photo of the nest just for a record and when I examined it at home I saw the other bird's head sticking up from the nest.
I was disappointed I had not got photos of the bird on the branch, but yesterday certainly made up for it!
Yesterday I was down on the Noosa river for the monthly bird survey. As we were boating along the side of the river we spotted this bird sitting in a tree overlooking the water. The bird was not at all disturbed by the boat edging closer right underneath where it was sitting and I got closer to an Osprey than I have ever been!
It felt secure enough to even preen a little for us!