Beach & Bush 3 (June)

This third and final June post focuses on a walk out the north wall at Ballina (that's the "beach" part) and finally a visit to my brother's Meerschuam Vale farmlet (that the "bush" part). No new sightings this time, but some wonderful ones and very willing poseurs and excellent portraits ...

I begin with a pied butcherbird peeking around a trunk. While in shadow, the light offers a splendid profile for that hook on the beak.

Next is the beautiful, sleek and graceful Australasian gannet in full glide. A future aim is get one in full dive - now that is a sight to behold.

The great egret (extra long neck relative ot the body) is a regular stalker of these reed beds during lower tides and is being none too stealthy parting the reeds on this hunt.

The next two photos feature a couple of common smaller birds on this walk. First is the brown honeyeater - nearly always "spotted" by following the melodious tunes of its call. Second the effervescent willywagtail, this time perched on the guide wire just having a curious peek out the corner of its eye.

Next up are some more wading birds on the forage. First, the white ibis poking about under the reeds in the mud. Then two photos highlighting a pair of white-faced herons with breeding plummage. Each offers the pair in unusual positions as they explore the crevices around boulders near the water edge.

Next offering is a series of portraits from some friendly and gorgeous superb fairy wrens. As always with these special birds the environment offers a wonderful sense of just how tiny they are. This day, they allowed me special close access, so the grip on their various perches shows their toes in full action too. Such a series of images are a special treat for me 😊

The sacred kingfisher has been elusive on recent walks so it was encouraging to see this one in full sunshine showing off that wonderful blue plummage as it surveys the kingdom from the throne!

Here is another follow-up of one of the young masked lapwings just to show you even more definition as it continues to forage successfully.

I decided during my review to include this shot of the cloud formations on this afternoon - it struck me as a really good example of the type of day it just might be really great to have that ability to fly & soar above our wonderful world 😋.

And now for three photo portraits of the common (love their soft "cooing") and under-rated spotted turtle dove. Their palette is simple and complex in both colour and pattern - subtle, sharp and yet soft. The enigma that is birds. You be your own judge though.

Next two photos are of the ubiquitous magpie lark with the well known "pee-wee" call we are all so familiar with. Always willing to approach, so often photogenic. Those eyes are eerily glasslike at times, but clearly very sharp.

Now for the "bush" part, a special treat sighting this pair of tawny frogmouths roosting up in a fork of an old avocado tree. Several alternate views offered, some with eyes more open than others, and especially notice those John Howard (or Robert Menzies if you prefer) eyebrows most prominent in first and last photos 😠

And finally a grey fantail reposing on a fine shady branch between sweeps seeking flying insects and twittering in flight (real twittering!!).

Sacred Kingfisher study (July 2020)

Around here we are blessed with mostly very mild winters. Regular readers will be aware a favourite spot for me is the north wall in Ballina. So, even in winter it is a pleasant walk, better still when it is not too windy and the tide is quite low because the "fisher" birds tend to be most active then.

The great pleasure of this particular afternoon is given away by the title of the post. No secrets ... BUT ... it would be remiss of me if I only focused on that singular pleasure for this day. So a few other delights to get you in the mood 😎.

First up we have some crested terns relaxing the afternoon sunshine on a rock on the river side of the wall. Always easy to tell the wind direction with birds. The middle photo of this set is a close up of the back most one in each of the group photos. Shows the crest very clearly and sharp bill curving slightly downwards.

Next there was a curious pelican glancing back towards me over the right shoulder in case I had anything to offer - alas, just the camera lens. Even on a relatively choppy river they manage to look very calm and relaxed.

 

I wanted to include these two shots of a darter because I reckon they accentuate just how flexible their necks are - I appreciate it is a point I perhaps labour ... but some things just fascinate, and this is one of them to me! 😋 While it is challenging enough to lower your chin onto your chest, try scratching your lower back a la the second photo of this set!

Next on the Shaws Bay side in the lee of the wind is the egret - stealth hunter extraordinaire! I love the first photo for the slight translucence of the bill and the feathers along the back in partial cloud cover. The second photo was slightly later, with adjusted settings and in full sun on a different angle - the translucence is much brighter and less "moody". The reeds it is wading through under the still surface are much clearer too.

OK, OK ... thank you for your patience, and by now you can better appreciate that this was one of those walks where the treats had been liberally presented 👍. So, to the main event of this post, a "study" of the sacred kingfisher.

The real treat, the real pleasure of this afternoon winter walk was not just a single sacred kingfisher, but several pairs and singles that were out scouting and hunting in the same area - sharing the space. I managed to get quite a few individuals and a couple of the pairs. The few photos you see here are "few" because they are chosen from the 65 I took in my excitement. Ah, the joys of digital photography I say.

I hope you enjoy taking your time admiring this oh so gorgeous little bird and the variety of shades and settings that allow their plummage to shine. Several shots allow a context to see just how tiny they are.

Yes, hard to top that - and not trying to. However, a final treat on my way back to the car was capturing an Australasian gannet in full battle flight. These birds have the most magnificent buff head and chest feathers. They are just amazing to watch as they glide above the water looking for their prey, then dive, tucking their wings into the swept back perfect entry position before breaking the water head first and disappearing until breaking the surface and flying off (usually) with something to devour. Glorious to see in action.

I headed home a very contented bird photographer!

Sacred kingfisher delights

A long time since a walk along the Ballina north wall, mainly due to the restrictions of the Covid 19 pandemic. While we have been very fortunate in our country, and even more so in our local region, it has been encouraging to see how seriously the vast majority have taken the threat, and suggested steps to minimise our risks.

So today was a(nother) lovely winters day and the word is the whales migrating north have been very active and plentiful. We decided to head for a long delayed walk along the wall. I was looking forward to having the camera pointing somewhere other than our yard (not so bad there, but gives our local birds a break!). Initially the birds were scarce and the tide right out and just on the turn.

There was a darter preening and drying itself (first photo below) after some successful fishing among many terns and Australasian gannets (second photo below) who were enjoying active schools of fish at the river mouth.

This egret had Shaw's Bay all to itself ...

Or so it seemed :) ... there was a familiar blue/green iridescent flash and then the sacred kingfisher landed on a rock to keep surveying the bay for more morsels. Ah, they so gorgeous!

Suddenly there were more familiar flashes of that familiar blue/green iridescence and I was struggling to know where to point my lens ... over the next 30 minutes or so, it was such a late afternoon delight to witness atleast a dozen sacred kingfishers chirping away to eachother and variously fishing morsels from the bay as they skimmed across the water and back to another rock to keep scanning. What a  joy!! The most I had seen previously was two. It seemed this may have been a couple of families out passing on their hunting (fishing!) skills to their youngsters.

Enjoy this glimpse of what I was privileged to observe.

Hopefully you even noticed the younger ones?

So, after so long in something of a hiatus, this was a really nice little impetus to another stint of LSL about to begin. I look forward to exploring again, and also to being active getting this "up to date" so I can hopefully just feel I will be able to add to when I have days like this!

Stay tuned.