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!
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