My wife was heading to a weekend pamper getaway with our daughter. We had arranged to meet in Woodburn for my wife to transfer to our daughter's car for the remainder of the trip to Yamba. Continuing my good fortune this month with birds, there was a flock of royal spoonbills inhabiting the riverside park in Woodburn.
Enjoy the moment.
Some were content to roost in the poinsiana tree, others feeling more relaxed on the grassy bank by the reed beds. You will notice on some the distinctive red patch in the centre of the forehead flanked by two yellow eye shades - these are the adults. Those patches and their plummage are a little dull and do not have the same lustre and brightness when they are breeding (see this example for comaprison). Also distinctive in some photos are the dimples and pitting on the bill with the shape of a spoon. Their powerful legs and feet catering for wading and ripping up underwater foliage are evident when they are standing or sitting on the water-edge pavement.
Oh, in addition to the spoonbills, there were a few little corellas frollicking in the palms. Here is curious one checking my photographic positioning out.
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