Pigeons and Doves

Crested Pigeons (or Topknots as they are sometimes called) have been in my yard ever since I moved here. I think they have been nesting in some thick shrubs in my neighbor's yard. They have foraged around the yard and perched up on the electricity wires. I would certainly miss seeing them if they were not here.
A few years ago a new bird started perching and foraging in the same places. It is a Spotted Turtle Dove which was introduced into Australia from the 1860s onward and is expanding its range all the time. In the last few weeks I have been seeing fewer Crested Pigeons and more Spotted Turtle Doves and it even seems that the Doves are taking over the shrubs where the Pigeons formerly nested.
Introduced species always change the balance of the environment. Unfortunately our native species don't seem to compete so well. Of course, all introduced species are more carefully managed now but we are still left with the problems created by earlier introductions which were allowed before it was realized just how delicately balanced the environment is. I hope the Doves don't push the Pigeons out of my yard!
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Morning Dazzle

My first post on the Watery Wednesday page.
I love being beside - on - or in - the water - and often take photos of it just to try to capture the beauty of the moment. I can't concentrate on the birds ALL the time :-) This photo was taken yesterday morning from Norman Point.

Gull-billed Terns

While walking along the Tin Can Bay foreshore the other morning I watched quite a number of Gull-billed Terns. It was especially interesting to see one bird showing some juvenile plumage. This one is possibly not more than 3-4 months old. These terns are resident here but they go to inland waters to breed when the conditions there are right. Exactly where the ones from this area go is apparently not known. A couple of years ago I saw a young bird with this much juvenile plumage, but never with more than this.
Juvenile Gull-billed Tern
This photo shows two birds in adult plumage on the left, the one in the middle has some white showing in its cap as it goes into non-breeding plumage, and the bird on the right is a Caspian Tern.
This photo shows a Crested Tern in non-breeding plumage and behind it a juvenile (or maybe a non-breeding) Gull-billed Tern.
Crested, Caspian and Gull-billed Terns are the three terns resident in this area. All of them spend a short time away in other areas of Australia during their breeding.

Whistling Kite

Yesterday morning I decided to go for a walk along the foreshore at Tin Can Bay to look for waders as well as whatever other birds were around. I was at the southern end close to Crab Creek and was trying to find a Kingfisher which had briefly flashed across in front of me when I heard the distinctive sound of Whistling Kites somewhere overhead. Usually these birds glide overhead and then out of view but this time I spotted two birds sitting in the sunshine and preening. These two saw me but then decided they could ignore me and get on with the important task of putting every feather into place. They looked rather different from their usual sleek selves with their feathers all fluffed up.
Ten minutes later they had both left their perch and I saw one gliding overhead.
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Mullens Foreshore

I walked north along the foreshore from the Mullens Creek picnic area the other morning. The Paperbarks are in flower right now. Of course they flower every year about this time, but some years they produce a very heavy crop of honey and this must be one of those years. There were birds everywhere among the flowers and so busy that they seemed to ignore me and my camera. The Wattles were also flowering - more pollen than nectar from their flowers. Even the Mistletoe was in flower.
The tide was low and I walked to the saltmarsh flats and along the southern edge where the trees meet the saltmarsh plants.
Looking the other way the bay was totally empty of any water. Its hard to imagine that at very high tide the water here is 1-2 meters deep.
I have never seen and heard so many birds in this area. The flowers must have also attracted all kinds of insects and the insect eating birds were also making the most of the feast!
Mangrove Honeyeaters were everywhere - not worried how close I came as long as they had a few leaves to hide among.
Brown Honeyeaters were also making the most of the nectar - but not quite so easy to get close to.
Grey Fantails perched on branches and then flew off with a dive and a flutter after the insects.
Mistletoebirds were making similar swift darts high in the trees.
There were Rufous Whistlers around but only the female came close enough for photos.
A Varied Triller came down close for a short time.
There were numbers of Scarlet Honeyeaters high in the trees but they would not sit still for more than a rather blurred photo!
A Striated Pardalote was in a low tree close to where I had left the car. A very nice finish to an exceptional morning of bird watching.
I went back to the same place the next day and took more notice of the larger birds. I saw Noisy Friarbirds, Little Friarbirds, Little Wattlebirds, Rainbow Lorikeets, a Restless Flycatcher, and a Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike.

Straw-necked Ibis

Over the last few weeks a small flock of these birds has been wandering through the vacant blocks around my house. In pasture land such as these vacant blocks they will eat grubs and insects. They also feed around water where they will eat small aquatic creatures and even frogs or small snakes. Something disturbed these birds the other afternoon and they flew up over my house.
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Rainforest Workshop

Last week I attended a rainforest workshop presented by Marc Russell from the Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee. In the morning Marc explained how to ID rainforest species by using the key in the book "Rainforest Trees amd Shrubs" by Harden, McDonald, and Williams. He then set small groups the task of ID'ing samples that he provided. This was definitely challenging!
In the afternoon we travelled to the Bymien Picnic area and walked around one of the trails through the rainforest while Marc ID'd trees and shrubs and commented on their growth.
There were a number of these fungi growing close to the picnic tables where the forest was a little more open. (Can anyone supply an ID, please?)

Kauri Pine

Picabeen or Bangalow Palm

Lillypilly

Staghorn growing high in a tree (I am told that this is possibly an Elkhorn!)

This was all new to me so I did not get as much benefit as those who came with a lot more knowledge to begin with. I must admit that part way through the walk I heard birds in the distance so went off by myself where I could see and hear them away from the noise of the conversation. There were birds feeding high in the canopy which I could not ID, a number of Fantails swooping through the rays of sunshine - I assume for insects - and on the forest floor a very small bird busily hunting around in the leaf litter. By this time it was late afternoon and the light was too dark for the automatic focus to work on the camera and I was too slow with the manual focus!