A day at Sandon River (Apr 2021)

One sunny autumn day with some temporary and welcome relaxation in covid restrictons I ventured to Sandon River. A location I had heard of often but never visited. Down the freeway to Brooms Head and head down a dirt road a little further south. The tide was out, the sun was shining, the wind was blowing and I got to witness and enjoy photographing some wonderful bird behavious. Life continues to be full of treats.

On the way I made a brief detour via the Broadwater beach lookout to see if there were any whales about - alas no. However, the first set of photos allows you to see some birds that were about. Enjoying the beautiful winters day.

The first photo of the set shows a noisy friarbird (check their "noisy" sound) in the process of scratching its head and bill. The second photo shows it telling anyone within several kilometres (😉) that whatever was in need of the scratch has been successfully relieved! The third photo of the set shows off the forked tail, sleek lines and shimmer of the spangled drongo (sound here). The orange eyes gleam against the sheen of the feathers in this favourable light.

Arriving at Sandon River, the first thing I notice is the ineffectiveness of the protective spikes for a navigation light from birds perching and pooping on the solar panels. I guess the positive was the galah facing the wrong way to inflict damage on the panels! But the galah does look very comfortable 😊.

Next were two new treats for me! Even if only in the distance on the low tide shoreline across the river, the distinctive long curved bill of a very shy eastern curlew is a give away.

The second new sighting for me, although again the photo is not too clear, the gorgeous and melodious rufous whistler was heard and then spotted in the branches and foliage of a casuarina. A very common bird, but one I had not yet encountered. This really was a day of treats!

The remaining photos in this post were taken right at the river entrance and beach side. Beautiful setting for capturing a range of behaviours by several different bird species. Generally playing nice together, but sometimes a little testy too!

Here is a crested tern just landed with a decent catch doing its best to avoid being harrassed to share the spoils - it prevailed to savour the catch on its own in the end 👍.

Lurking along the waters edge was a young white-faced heron eastern reef egret - dark morph (realised this much later by accident while reading a little used bird book) practising stealthy habits. While I did not witness any success, I find the way it blends extremely well from the weed clumps to the changing palette of the water really fascinating - masters of camouflage to admire.

This set shows off the fantastic natural environement the birds enjoy. The first two photos highlight the breaking waves across the sand and rocks as the crested terns and silver gulls rest, reposition and preen on the foreground rocks soaking up the sun and sheltering from the wind. The second photo highlights a younger crested tern preening its chest.

This set features a pied oystercatcher seaching the shallow pools. The first photo highlights the tip of the bright red bill submerged in the water feeling in the sand. The second photo a striking capture of the full palette the bird offers in repose between forages. The third photo was shared to illustrate an even broader co-existence than the ones earlier.

Co-existence

This next series features pairs of birds. It is included to show-off some behaviours of the terns as they enjoy frollicking, splashing and preening in the shallows (first, third and fourth photos), while the silver gulls are content (second photo) with a more sedate approach out of the water.

I decided to finish with another photo of a wading pied oystercatcher because I just really felt a good deal of satisfaction capturing so many good clear shots of these striking birds in action 😁