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!

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.

Sluething along the Serpentime (Apr)

I had a little time to kill while waiting for my wife to do some shopping so I headed over to the Serpentine to a small park I had driven past but not had a wander around before. The tide was out. Not too much activity, but what there was presented enough interest and entertainment to fill my waiting period 😁.

First up was a striated heron, quite unusually out in the open though still very well camouflaged among the reeds on the mudflat! Initially, the nearby australian white ibis was stalking the nearby sand bar among the soldier crabs and then crossed over to the reedy mudflat to graze in closer proximty to the striated heron. The third photo of this initial set shows to striated heron alone among the reeds - easier to spot once you are aware of what you looking at 😆.

Then a very lonely looking sacred kingfisher was spotted on the sandbar - its looks like a desolate environment to be searching for a morsel but it did peruse in stillness for quite some time!

Back to the park now, and while walking along the path to the nearby residential streets the antics of a magpie family demanded my attention. First, the young one showed off  the reward of a successful hunt; second, the parents watching from nearby looking rather proud that their tutelege had paid off this time! To complete this set there are nice clear portraits of one of the parents and then the young magpie not too far from the edge of the path. Handsome birds with their strong pointed beak - we are right to not want to be pecked by one of those!

Once the path reaches to top of an incline to meet those residential streets I caught this "bat-like" activity of some rainbow lorikeets, and not to be out done, a noisy miner as well! They all look very at ease hanging so acrobaticly from their various perches - certainly if not for the distinctive plumages, it is not hard to imagine a bat reposing like that 😏. The afternoon light and the upside down poses offer quite a different tinge to the rainbow colours than normally seen.

Back down the path and a final look along the water/sandbar edge before the carpark offered two more glimpses worth sharing. 

First up, the striated heron was still exploring and this time on the nearer edge of the reedy mudbank. This set offers a chance to see three different profiles highlighting the potential to extend its neck, and also the ability to take quite rapid and long strides with apparent little disruption to the water surface.

Second glimpse was a close-up showing off some "opposing" battalions of soldier crabs (sure ... not birds I know, but I tried to capture the formations as they were moving about the mudflats squaring off for whatever their battles may have been).

And finally for this post is this cute photo of our lone(ly) remaining chook who seems to have decided to follow the lead of one of the ornamental bluebirds on our BBQ table in the outdoor area. Quite the companions! Like they say (???) art imitates life, though with our chook I think it may be the other way round!