The day before winter

Way back in 2015 when I was first starting to use my new FZ200 I was fortunate enough to get a couple of good photos of a sacred kingfisher on the ocean side of the Ballina north wall. You can review them here. This was before I even had an interest in photographing birds and was much more intersted in just trying out the camera.

Any reader with even a passing interest in this blog will know Shaws Bay and the Ballina north wall is one of my favourite walks and sites for checking birds. This post is another from that location. However, the reason for the recollection is since those first photos of the sacred kingfisher, I have longed to see another on the ocean side. Until yesterday my longing had been forlorn. 

So my first study in this final post for autumn 2023 is a sacred kingfisher near the end of the wall on the ocean side, perched on a rusting iron ring allowing me to exercise a limited artistic eye taking advantage of the mand-made elements among the boulders. Clearly not the first bird to perch on the iron ring, but together with the shadow and rust stains on the cement block a nice context is provided. For me, it was worth the wait 😀.

Heading back along the river side of the wall was another familiar siight - a darter drying out on a boulder in the full sun. This next study tries to capture (as is often the case) both the flexibility and elegance of these dangerously sleek pointed creatures as they stretch their necks to preen their backs ... we can only hope when we get an itch!!

A trip along the wall without a willy wagtail trying to get your attention would be a walk without hope for our environment. This one was more than content to allow me close.

Next was a white-faced heron stalking the draining channels and sand flats on the final ebb of the tide in the bay.

My decision to take this walk in the middle of a gorgeous late autumn day was rewarded again as I continued along the river. On the bay side I was privileged to photograph different sacred kingfishers and the white-faced heron downing morsels from their patient vigilance and successful hunts.

The first two photos here show the tiny size of these very efficient hunters. This was on a rock on the sandy side of the bay. The distance and the boulders show the relative size of the kingfisher; the first photo was after it swooped the hapless prawn on the sand flat and just as it alighted back on the boulder. The second photo shows the hatch open as the prawn heads down to be savoured! Despite the distance, it is a treat to have captured nature in action like this.

Next was the same white-faced heron from earlier downing a small fry it had just caught in the shallows. Different type of patient stalking, but equally efficient!

I have included this next sacred kingfisher sequence in an effort to convey the way they scan their environment from their perch, notice something, fly off & swoop and head to a nearby perch to savour their successful hunt.

First photo is the bird looking across the draining sand banks; second photo is the head swivelled to the left as it scans. Like the photos at the beginning of this post, you again might notice the power of the poo to indicate where some patience may be rewarded! As I was refocusing it flew off to the RIGHT and perched on the rock in the final two photos. When it settled for the third photo it had swooped on a crab and was in the process of devouring it. The final photo I couldn't resist including as it seems to have noticed me and turned to ask if I had noticed just how clever it was while showing off that beautiful plummage... well, that I most certainly had 😁!

On the final part of the return journey to the car two more treats awaited. 

The first of these was a pair of sacred kingfishers on the wall side fo the bay perched on some dead branches. The treat here was their proximity and the light being almost overhead affording an excellent showing of their iridescent plummage. Sometimes the day just keeps on giving!

Finally, and just when you thought the day could not get better, this superb fairy wren came out to play 😃. So wonderful when these delicate birds decide it is OK to share their space with you. You can only admire them. Here you can see the blue of the young male starting to emerge. If the posing on top of the fence post does not convince you how tiny they are, the one on the wire most certainly will! 

And so autumn ends on a high for this happy bird photographer. 

All I need now is for NSW to win a State of Origin game to close it out!

Forgotten days (Feb)

Just when you think you have it all under control and cataloguing up to date 😒 ... I noticed during my latest back-up a break in sequence of file numbers (bloody auditors!). Turned out to be a couple of days from February that I had not copied over from my camera memory disk. Some rather memorable shots too, especially an unusual up close and personal encounter with a striated heron.

These were taken over a couple of different days just after our return from Mount Barney. 

First up a couple of alternate angles of a soaring white-bellied sea eagle hunting from on high. Even from a distance they are majestic and effortless gliding across the vacant blue sky.

Back on terra firma this little corella was showing its dexterity while enjoying a nut in a casuarina pine.

This next set shows the many different flexes of a darter as it sunned itself drying off on a boulder down by the swirling river. Quite the statuesque pose while taking in a 360 degree view of its environment! The set shows the value of a decent zoom, even how it can dramatically alter context.

While resting on a bench in Meldrum Park after a walk along the river and back along Norton Street, we were about to head back to the car and I ventured right to the edge for a glance across the creek.I startled this striated heron who had been wading directly under where I stood to peer across the creek. Fortunately it only flew a short distance along the creek towards to coast and there was some orange barrier webbing I was able to use as a partial hide and take advantage of being rather close. The light was favourable too. 

As with some earlier posts showing several poses for this bird, it is fascinating to note the range of extended and contracted neck positions and crouches it has in its repetoire. At times looking so "sad" and others very alert and strong. The very clear eyes remind of smaller versions of such clarity in the eyes of an osprey, so no doubt they are also effective in locating their prey. 

Always been something of a favourite, so a close encounter like this was terrific 😉.

And finally from these forgotten February images is this wihite-headed pigeon perched on the upper branches showing off its meaty white breasts and red eye. 

A journey to Whian Whian falls (May)

After many promises to ourselves to visit Whian Whian Falls, the day we finally actioned the trip it was raining. On and off ... so we decided to tackle it anyway. First, however, it turned out I needed to visit my brother at Meeschuam Vale to organise some things for the following day.

As I have admitted to in several earlier posts (over several years now!) when the birds are about and I have my camera on hand I am not very social 😒. The birds are a very powerful magnet! So while Deb enjoyed the hospitality and conversation on their verandah I was treating myself (and now you!) to a lively display by small birds enjoying the insect activity between rain showers and intermitent periods of weak sunshine.

First a rainbow bee-eater perched proudly in the bare branches between sweeps across the yard after insects.

Then a small flock of chestnut-breasted mannikins swept along the fence lines, pausing just long enough for me to photgraph a few of them catching their breath.

This next set are more rainbow bee-eaters, the first three individuals offering a reasonable clarity against a very buysy verdant background that both highlights their fantastic iridesence and effective camouflage. The final photo of the set captured a pair perched close enough for fair clarity.

 

Eventually we did make it to the falls. Just in time for the heaviest rain we encountered for the day 😁. Nevermind, still worth it and as you can see quite a pristine environment. There have been several earlier posts based on visits to Rocky Creek Dam and the walks around there. These falls are downstream from the dam and the flow influenced by the overflow from the dam. The rainy day, of course, is entirely fitting for the surrounding rainforest. Why expect anything else? I imagine we will return to experience this on a sunny day.

The first treat was this mistletoebird. The first two photos in the set show it enjoying some berries with the distinct red breast plummage and dark satin wings being clearly contrasted in the wet green foliage of the creeper vine. Really surprising to have been so close for this interaction 😀 and allowed a wonderful clear third photo of the set.

Just before the rain really set in we were fortunate to see the lewin's honeyeater and the grey fantail perched on dead twigs among different piles of debris along the near shore that was still there post the floods of last year.

A really good couple of days featuring small birds covered in these last two posts.