Focus on Retrospective

I want to concentrate my attention in this post on reasons for and methods of bird observations. I guess this introspection was prompted by a comment on my blog post last week! This comment mentioned a "computer tick" for a bird! I don't do "lists" (not even grocery lists!)  and neither do I do "ticks"!  So just what am I trying to accomplish by observing and photographing birds?
Here is the retrospective! When I moved up here I knew very little about shorebirds. I bought a kayak and started seeing groups of shorebirds roosting in various places. Simple curiosity made me want to identify what I was seeing. (And that is another long story!)  Then I learned that shorebirds (with a few exceptions!) are site specific and also that their numbers are decreasing every year. I wanted to find out if this was the same for the birds and the roost sites I was observing around here. So here is what happened.
This is where I first started kayaking and is taken from the Mullens picnic area looking out towards the roost site that we now call the Airport Roost.

This photo is looking back towards the picnic area  from the roost area.

And this photo is a small plane coming in to land on the nearby air strip and shows why we have named this roost site the Airport Roost.

The first shorebirds that I saw were Grey-tailed Tattlers and Terek Sandpipers in an old dead mangrove tree right next to the channel of the creek used by all the boats from the Mullens picnic area. This photo was taken in April of 2006 with my first digital camera - a 3 MP Kodak.

I found that these two kinds of shorebirds were usually at this roost site and I have not seen Terek Sandpipers anywhere else in all the area south of Inskip Point. So the rest of this post is a pictorial record of these two species on this site up to the present. (Of course there are other kinds of shorebirds also using this roost but I am writing a post not a book!)
This photo was taken of the birds in the same tree but with my next camera - a Canon S2 with a 12 times zoom and an extender as well. I could now see enough details to be sure of my ID. The photo was taken in November of 2006. Shorebirds had completed a migration to the north and a breeding season up there then another migration south.  (All these photos need to be clicked on to enlarge to make the details of the birds more visible. )

By March of 2007 - the end of that same summer - the tree right in the channel had fallen down and the birds were now making use of a tree at the end of the creek and just around into the bay.

During the next summer season (December 2007) I saw more of these birds than I had ever seen before and they were all standing on the sand in a large group which also included a number of Bar-tailed Godwits and even an Eastern Curlew.  (To get photos I tied the kayak behind some mangroves and shuffled along on my knees in the water using the trees to hide me from the birds until I got close enough to look through the branches and take my photos!)

Exactly a year later (December 2008) they were again roosting in one of the mangrove trees. (From this time on I have been using a Pentax K200 and a Pentax K5 with a zoom lens of 70-300. I have a longer zoom lens but it is just too heavy for me to manage on the kayak!)

I have no photos for the next couple of years. On memory I still saw some birds at the site but did not manage any photos before they flew off so have no idea of their numbers or if both kinds of birds were still there. The next photo was taken in November 2010 and the birds were roosting on mangrove roots on a not so high tide.

The next photo showing both kinds of birds is September 2011 and a few were roosting along the sand. I have a similar photo taken a little later in the season.

I have no photos showing both kinds of birds until just this month when I photographed Terek Sandpipers in the roost tree just after the Tattlers had flown off.  I know the Tattlers have been there all this time and I have taken a number of photos of them by themselves both right on this roost site and also a little further away where there are other mangrove trees where they sometimes roost.

All these photos show that this roost site has been used over a period of the last 8 years. The birds prefer to roost in the large Grey Mangrove trees with open branches where their view out is not restricted by small branches and leaves.  The count data I have recorded shows that numbers are now less than half of what we first counted. However, the population of the town has increased over the same period and there are more housing developments being planned. Possibly some signage right on this site might help and also some more specific publicity.

For more scenery from around our world visit Our World Tuesday 

and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday.

They are Still There!

I managed to get one good kayak last week without too much wind and without the clouds rolling in just when the tide would be right. I went out to the Airport Roost to check what birds were there. The sea looked beautiful and calm until I came out from behind the trees and rounded the point and then little waves started to lift the kayak and I wondered if I could take any good photos at all with that much movement in the kayak. A Gull-billed Tern flew low over the mangroves where the Grey-tailed Tattlers were roosting and up they flew and off to the other side of the bay. However, when I looked closer there were still some sitting in the trees so I let the wind and waves drift me in and sat still with the camera ready. When I looked closely at the photos I had taken I realized I had photos of Terek Sandpipers instead of Tattlers. These birds look very similar in color and size but the Tattler has a straight bill and the Terek has an up-curved bill. This is the only roost on the southern end of the bay where I have seen Terek Sandpipers but I haven't seen them for a couple of years so wasn't sure if they were still there or not. I am sure (now!) they must have been, but when they all fly off quickly I have not been fast enough to ID the two species in flight.

There was a Little Egret sitting up in a dead mangrove and looking very beautiful against the blue sky.

There must have been a lot of water washing over the sand when the tide was very high and the winds were pushing the waves in even further. Some of the mangrove trees that have stood on the beach for at least the last 10 years had the sand washed out from around their roots and have lost their leaves. It will be interesting to see if they manage to survive or if they wash right out in a few more months.

I decided to enjoy the rest of my kayak by paddling up the creek where the winds would not be blowing. I always enjoy the scenery and the quietness in this area.

There is one place up the creek where the swamp grasses grow down to the water and on higher tides even get covered with water. Shorebirds often come to this area when they have been disturbed on the other more open roosts. This morning there were a number of Pacific Golden Plovers. Some were beginning to show black blotches down the front which will eventually become the solid black of their full breeding colors.

As I turned to go down the creek towards the open sea the black clouds had again rolled over and turned my perfect blue morning into a very dark day again.

This is a photo of my car with the kayak loaded on top and standing right where the fisherman was standing in the very high tide photo that I showed on the blog last week.

For more photos from around the world visit Our World Tuesday

and for more bird photos visit Wild Bird Wednesday. 

Very High Tides 2

This post is to show the high tide from last week around the Tin Can Bay and Cooloola Cove areas. It was a grey and overcast day with even less sunshine than the previous day so there are no really spectacular photos, however, it is always interesting to see just how high the king tides come at this southern end of the bay
At Norman Point the water was well up over the rock wall and even splashing over the stones at the top. The only birds were Silver Gulls which seem to be out in all weathers.

This is a series of parking bays at the Point. The notice says that people should be aware that high tides and very wet weather can flood the area!

This photo is taken down at the Crab Creek end of the bay and is the easiest place to see just how high the king tide is for this year. Back in 2009 on the king tide the water came up and over the concrete path. That is the only time I have seen it as high and this year was certainly nowhere near that record.

Down at the Mullens Creek Picnic area the water was into the parking area.

Where the man is standing fishing with water up to his knees is where I usually park my car when I am going kayaking here. 

I am including photos of Terns which I saw on the previous day out at Inskip Point. I regularly see 6 different kinds of terns in this area and I photographed 4 of them that morning.
This photo shows the two largest terns seen around here - the very large Caspian Tern and the slightly smaller Crested Tern. The Caspian Tern has a large red/orange bill and the Crested Tern has a yellow bill. Both of these Terns stay in Australia all year although they move around during the breeding season. Crested Terns have recently been breeding. The bird on the left still has most of its breeding crest but the one of the right is beginning to get a slightly "scruffy" look!

Terns always seem to me to have long wings and this Crested Tern coming in to land in front of me seems to have extra long ones. The bird in the front with its wings half spread is a juvenile Crested Tern born only a few months ago.

In this group of terns there are Caspian and Crested Terns and right in the middle a Common Tern and a Little Tern (both of these particular birds are migratory species although there is a Little Tern that stays in Australia all year).

This photo shows the size difference between the Little Terns and a Crested Tern.

For more scenery from around the world visit Our World Tuesday

and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday.

Very High Tides

I haven't posted anything for a couple of weeks because the heat was bad and I retreated into the air conditioning. Then when I could have gone kayaking out on the bay the winds were too high to make it at all enjoyable. I go kayaking for enjoyment - NOT to get a very heavy work-out paddling against winds and swells!
The end of last week was the highest tide for the summer and even though the wind was still very strong I decided to get what photos I could from the land. I haven't been out to Inskip Point for some time because last time I was out there I found there was just not enough sand on the point for people and birds - and in a situation like that people always take precedence!
I arrived out at Inskip soon after 7am and found no people on the point at all and big waves washing over most of the sand. Also the sky was mostly overcast and I knew I wouldn't be getting any bright and beautiful photos! The barges to Fraser Island hadn't even arrived - they must have known they would have no vehicles to take over to the Island. The wind was very strong and the sea was quite rough. Without people or traffic around the birds were roosting wherever they could find a bit of higher sand. (All photos enlarge when clicked on and much more detail is then seen.)

The sand island that is usually crowded with birds was completely under water so the birds from there must have joined those on the point.

As the tide got even higher the birds began flying as a wave washed over, and then settling down again as the wave retreated. 

 Right out on the end of the point there were bigger birds - Pelicans, Cormorants, Eastern Curlews and Pied Oystercatchers - as well as the Bar-tailed Godwits which will stand wherever the water is not too high.

The birds gradually had to move away from the far end of the point and I could get some closer photos of Bar-tailed Godwits and Great Knots. Most of these birds showed some breeding colors on their plumage and a couple of the Godwits in this photo have the lovely bright red color right down their fronts. Before they leave on their northern migration all the colors will be brighter and more completely covering them.

Red-necked Stints and Red-capped Plovers were roosting close to the end of the trees at the very start of the Point.

The sand here was still dry when I first arrived but as time went on the waves were washing over even this area.  These little birds also flew up and settled down again several times but eventually took off across the channel in the direction of Fraser Island. This photo gives good views of the in-flight plumage patterns.

I will show more photos of the very high tide around other areas of the bay in my next post.

For more scenery from around the world visit Our World Tuesday

and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday. 

Too Much Wind

Yesterday looked like a perfect day for kayaking - early high tide, no rain around, and not too much wind - or that's the way it looked at my house! When I got down to the bay I found that the wind was much higher than I had expected - or that the early forecasts had predicted. It would have been very unpleasant if I had any great distance to paddle. I decided to check on the "airport roost" and leave the rest for another day. This roost is the closest to all the activity at the picnic area and I wanted to see how the birds had managed with all the Christmas and New Year holiday makers.
I have been kayaking passed this roost for a number of years but never made an effort to count the birds I saw - it was enough to just watch them, photograph them, and enjoy them. However, I realized that without count data no-one else would know the importance of this roost,  so for the last couple of years I have made an effort to count what I saw and then pass the data on to the Queensland Wader Study Group. 
Shorebirds favor this roost as an early morning high tide roost and it was no different yesterday. I counted 60 Bar-tailed Godwits, 15 Eastern Curlews, 16 Grey-tailed Tattlers, 9 Pacific Golden Plovers, 4 Greenshanks, 4 Little Egrets, and 2 Pied Oystercatchers and 1 Red-capped Plover.
The wind was quite strong out along this exposed stretch of sand - it was NOT the kind of weather to take my camera out of the water-proof case while I was out on the water! I drifted into the shoreline and climbed out to walk back towards where the birds were roosting. A lot of foam had been whipped up by the wind.

A fisherman went out to the other side of the bay in his "tinny" (which is the name given to small aluminium boats). I could hear the slapping sound as it hit the waves even from the far side of the bay.

The only birds that let me get close enough for any photos were the Pied Oystercatchers and the Pacific Golden Plovers.

This is only a distant photo so I am including a photo I took of the Pacific Golden Plovers when I was out here last time. It was a calm morning with almost no wind and I was able to drift close to shore and get quite close to the birds without disturbing them. They just walked a little further along the shore away from me.

For more scenery from around the world visit Our World Tuesday

and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday.

Hibernation...

...in Reverse!  I know that hibernation describes escaping the extreme cold - but I wonder if there's a word for escaping the extreme heat! The last couple of weeks have been very hot - mid to high 30's and once even tipping over 40 (40 degrees is 104 F).  Add to this the humidity from living on the coast! I did not grow up with heat like this so I retreat into my house and turn on the air conditioning! If/When these temperatures abate I hope to resume my normal lifestyle.
I think even the birds dislike these extreme temperatures. They are active early in the morning and then make lots of noise as it cools down in the late afternoon. In between they find somewhere to sit it out! One of their favorite places is this tree in my back yard. Right now it is in flower but I haven't seen birds at the flowers so I don't think there is much nectar available.

This is a Leopard Tree (Caesalpinea ferrea) which I planted 10 years ago. The trunk and branches reach high and then there is quite a dense canopy of small leaves. The birds sit right up high just underneath the leaves. It must be lovely up there - sheltered from the sun and catching any breeze that comes by. I can hear the birds up there but only see them as shadows against the light when they move. The trunk of the tree always has this pattern of dark and light.

The other morning a flock of small birds flew over the house. (I was sitting beside an open door with a good cross draft.) Their call was not one that I usually hear around the yard so I watched to see where they went. Most flew into the Leopard Tree but one sat on a branch of another tree where I could get a good view of it. A Tuckeroo tree (Cupaniopsis anacardioides) which has not grown so tall.  It was still early in the morning (6:30) and the sky had that washed out color. The birds were White-cheeked Honeyeaters (Phylidonyris nigra). I have only seen them in my yard one other time and they didn't stay around long.

For more scenery from around the world visit Our World Tuesday 

and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday

Update: The hot and dry weather broke last night in spectacular fashion! - a BIG storm with lots of thunder and lightning and 50mm (2inches) of rain!  That is the most rain we have had for more than 5 months so it is very welcome. The weather bureau is predicting several days where the temperature is not going above 30 degrees (86F). What bliss!!

End of the Year

Queensland's weather is hot! This makes the winter delightful but sometimes the summer becomes a bit excessive! Yesterday was one of those days - 38 degrees (100 degrees F.) under my verandah and 33 degrees (91 degrees F.) in the family room before I turned on the air conditioner. Added to that we have had no decent rain for five months. I have watched thunderstorms build around me - (and taken lots of cloud photos!) and then move somewhere else before they started dropping rain.

Nevertheless, I would rather it remained dry and the clouds moved elsewhere than have the troubles that have happened close-by in the last couple of days. Two days ago a thunderstorm had been hanging around the south of Fraser Island. There was one very big lightning strike on the Island and then without any warning the lightning struck right in the middle of a group of holiday makers on Inskip Point. One man was killed instantly and his son was tossed up and thrown down a few meters away. Here is a link to the news article and a video from the site. Then last night something similar happened on the Sunshine Coast but this time the lightning struck a caravan and two men were lucky enough to only need taking to hospital.
(I frequently post about going out to Inskip Point to see shorebirds - but NOT between Christmas and New Year! I don't know how many campers are there this year but it was reported a couple of years ago the numbers were going to be limited to 3,000! That must hardly leave room to walk! AND I have heard that there is always a BIG party for New Year's eve! I don't think any birds would stay around with that kind of noise!)
The bush around here is also very dry. I don't know how the fruit-eating birds are managing. This male Koel came down and tried to make a meal of cherry tomatoes that had self-seeded in a weedy patch of garden.

I have a number of these hibiscus shrubs in the garden. They are the old fashioned kind that grow if you just poke a cutting into the ground! They are also the only things that are flowering at present. These little White-throated Honeyeaters (Melithreptus albogulans) were on the flowers the other afternoon. These birds are only 13-15cms (5-6 ins.) and some of the cutest that come into my garden.

For more scenery from around the world visit Our World Tuesday

and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday.