Tassie VII - road south to the end

A little cryptic, perhaps. Less so if you have toured some extremities in Tassie. One day we drove as far south as is possible in a normal vehicle - to Cockle Creek. While we struck some drizzle and wind when we got there, we did find a coffee cart 😁! Along the way and back we saw a range of birds among the many wonderful views across waters and bays and villages of shacks. Well worth the drive.

A pair of pied oystercatchers

Kelp gull walking on water?

Pair of black swans doing what they do.

Both for a fuller context!

A wading white-faced heron on the hunt.

A single sooty oystercatcher on one leg eyeing me.

Our other big drive for a day was to Bruny Island. Here is a selection of birds we sighted along the way to, and at the lighthouse. Another exploration we enjoyed, though the island deserves much longer than a single day look around for sure.

A juvenile pacific gull

A flock of very juvenile pacific gulls figuring it all out!

Not to be outdone, a large flock of floating silver gulls.

A Richard's pipit

Finally, willingly and often posing atop the pushes astride the path to the top of the lighthouse and return were several new holland honeyeaters. Glorious in such a setting.

A road well travelled

A early winter wander at Broadwater, turned into a drive back along Tuckean Island Road and through Meerschaum Vale. My intention had been to take a walk along Hind Dune Trail in the Broadwater National Park where I had not ventured for some time. However, that end of the Park had been recently severly singed by a bush fire and the remnant smoke smell was quite off-putting. It was clear some time was needed for mother nature to apply her healing salves and I decided I would return after some more time has elapsed and new shoots and life have re-emerged.

I did manage to spot this couple of pied oystercatchers resting on the ocean shore looking out for each other as the waves gently ebbed across the sand. Then back at the car I had the good fortune to hear and sight a noisy friarbird perched nearby. It allowed me time to photograph mid-call and post-call before it fled further back into the cover of the heathland.

Driving back I decided to cruise along Tuckean Island Rd where I had not ventured for a while. Great cruise as no other car sighted so was able to drive nice and slow and allow my vision to wander with very little risk. Nice still day, so I might be fortunate. I was😉. First up, as I rounded a bend to pass through a young macadamia plantation, a black-shouldered kite was perusing its domain from the top of a dead tree. It was kind enough to take time out of its hunt to look directly down my lens (not once, but twice !!) as I moved vantage points for my photos. Lucky photographer!

Then, as I was about to get back in the car, I noticed a couple of magpies land in the tree over the road in another paddock. Between them, alas looking into the distance with its back to my position, was a young wedge-tailed eagle. It flew off just after this photo and my next photo (not included here as it was not that clear) caught an adult soaring in the background that it was heading towards. 

A drive worth taking, as it turned out!

Waterbirds by the wall (May)

After my semi-regular Tuesday coffee catchup chatter, I headed to Meldrum Park for a bit of peace and quiet to do some reading. I had my camera just in case. I was very fortunate. Just glancing up for a break and casting my eye over North Creek I noticed some activity in a nearby gum ... a pair of scaly-breasted lorikeets in a nesting hole! A really nice set here showing one on lookout, then the second head just peering over the lip of the hollow and finally both perched on the edge of the hollow. Like I wrote ... a real treat before getting back to more reading 😁.

Enough reading, the day cleared a bit more, so I decided to head over for a wander along the wall. Predominantly water birds this day but a few other treats as well. Starting with a photo of some of the good sized prey you often see in the clear waters of Shaws Bay - this time some mullet, fortunate I feel that no sea eagles were about this low tide!

Next, as noted above, predominantly water birds as identified on each photo below.

Little pied cormorant basking and drying in the sun.

Same for a young darter.

Sacred kingfisher luminous in the sunshine.

Australian white ibis stalking it's shadow?

Pied oystercatchers wandering the sandy shore.

White-faced heron hunting in the shallows.

Moving on to some birds near the water but not "waterbirds" per se.

Next is two photos of a small bird flitting around the branches of the mangroves. Although  good clear shots, I took a while to identify this one. I'm pretty sure after my research it is a brown gerygone, so a new one for my archives.

 Always keen to be seen AND heard, I managed to catch this willy wagtail just as it was alighting on the boulder and then in all its glory being still upon that boulder!

And back near the carpark a browsing brush turkey popped up in a nice environment for a photo ... 

Finally for this post, a couple more of the australian white ibis offering a more majestic and commanding view than we are perhaps accustomed. These are roosting in the same tree on different days ... you marvel how they balance so easily on such precarious perches but the positions also highlight just how delicate and light these magnificent creatures we collectives label "birds" really are (especially the second photo with the single bird) ... these photos at Summerland House Farm.

Remaining random sightings (October)

A few photos taken here and there just because I had the camera with me during the rest of October ...

This laughing kookaburra had a piece of grass hanging from the beak after digging around in the red dirt in our yard. I think the beak looks even more powerful when it is pointing toward the camera in the second photo. Always looks good in the frangipani - even when foliage and flower free.

This pair of superb fairy wrens were spotted in the brush behind Shelly Beach in Ballina. The male was keeping lookout as the female flew back and forth dropping decorations and necessities in their nest which was just to her lower right in a clump of thick long grass.

This next sequence shows a lone silver gull drinking from a draining water source dribbling its way across the sand to the ocean. The third photo in the sequence was taken a while later and offers a wider view of the water course between pandanus palm branches and shows a pair of silver gulls, with one drinking.

The ubiquitous Australian white ibis living up to one of its nicknames - bin chicken - as it snaps up a leftover chip from the grass near a picnic table.

This pair of rainbow lorikeets are showing off their colourful iridescent palettes as they gorge on a fallen avocado in our driveway - one always making lots of noise while the other eats to ensure intruders do not encroach!

Next I include a "study" of a pied oystercatcher. The first three photos show one of a roaming pair scouting the rocks looking for a juicy morsel. Each one offers a striking view of the red (at times I could easily write orange!) beak and eyes and the paler pink legs. 

The next four photo sequence shows the morsel has been found, the oyster shell being opened (for those of us who have ever done that, just ponder the ingenuity and specialisation of this bird to be able to do it with their beak 😉), the feast that is the oyster being devoured and finally the contented stance of a full belly for the time being. First time I have actually witnessed one open an oyster shell.

For a change I was able to sight and get a good photo of a little pied cormorant on the surface between dives while it was fishing. Looking very much more sleek than perched in a tree or on a rock sun-drying.

And finally, a superb fairy wren on a roadside barbed wire fence. Really makes the fence look special.