July jaunts

Sometimes exploring "new" places that have always been there (just unexplored by you) and revisiting regular locations offer unexpected delights - always have that camera handy 😁.

Between Link Avenue and the Coast Road there is quite the expanse of bushland that you just always seem to "drive past" and not give a second thought to. Probably because there are no obvious entry places or designated parking bays. Lately I had been noticing it more, so yesterday was the day of my first relatively brief explore ... I shall be back for a more extensive wander around Allawah Bushland Reserve for sure (god willing, of course!).

Loads of birdsong on my wander, but I was not trudging too carefully as I was not sure where I was heading along various paths. However, a couple of photos below provide some indication that more patience and a less intrusive presence by yours truley would likely be very fruitful.

Bar-shouldered dove

Lewin's honeyeater

On the way home I decided to brave the wind and head over to the wall for a walk. Alas, just as I reached the wall at the Marine Rescue tower to begin, a rain squall arrived and that was that ... but not before the brahmini kite soared overhead into the teeth of the sou' easter.

A reminder ( I have not provided one for a while now) that clicking on a photo will open all the photos of the post in a larger view window and they often look much better in that view.

This morning, after a regular coffee gathering, I decided to brave the wind again and head over to the wall for a walk that eluded me yesterday. Same starting point, but the action this  morning was on the Shaws Bay side.

First time I have sighted an azure kingfisher at this location so this alone made the decision worth while! Even better it was a very co-operative poser and the rich palette it presents is very clear in the plumage. Easily my best shots of this delightful character in the kingfisher family 😁.

And just before heading back to the car park, along came this silver gull gliding quite low into the strong sou' easter. While its position is quite high in the frame, it is nice and clear and floats wonderfully above the cotton wool cloud bank on the horizon.

The road less travelled home (June)

We decided that our trip back from Sydney would take the road less travelled rather than simply follow the freeway as normal, or head back up the NE Highway (bit cold and potentially treacheous this time of year when not used to winter travel). While mostly about taking in the magnificent coastal scenery along our route, a few opportunities were taken to enjoy the birdlife.

This meant we followed the old Pacific Highway to Newcastle on our first day, ending up at Fern Bay, not far from Port Stephens and Fingal Bay. My wife wanted to explore those areas which her family had frequented for childhood holidays. The trip was very pleasant because there was very little traffic and a reduced speed limit most of the way, so it was easy to take in the scenery so often by-passed using the freeway.

After exploring that very picturesque but rapidly developing area, next day we headed to the other side of Port Stephens and stayed a night at Tea Gardens. The afternoon of our arrival we went for a short exploratory drive and came across quite the mix of water birds sharing the spoils of the shallows as the sun begun its evening descent. Pelicans, an egret, silvergulls, little black cormorants and a white-faced heron. Each seemed to get their share!

Next morning we headed off through Mungo Brush to Buladelah. Nice coastal rainforest and heathland then farmland. We intended to take the Lakes Way to Forster via Seal Rocks and Boomerang Beach, alas a bad car accident led traffic in both directions to be turned around. Still we made Forster for the night and enjoyed sunset and sunrise over the main beach and ocean pool from our seafront room.

Next day after a brief drive around we headed north to Black Head, by-passed Taree and then into Harrington and Crowdy Head. We took the dirt road through the Crowdy Bay National Park to Dunbogan, Laurieton and North Haven to stay the night - my turn to reminisce from our childhod holidays in that location. The stay was cool, and a visit up North Brother Mountain {Dooragan} lookout next morning a highlight.

We went for a walk out the Dunbogan sea wall on the cloudy and windy afternoon we arrived and were treated to the following three sightings.  First up a Brahmini kite hovering into the strong wind.

Next, this young darter was (it turned out!) straining on a boulder, and the second photo captures the "surprise" as it examines what it had just excreted - "did I really just do that?" And they say photos never lie!

The final treat for this little excursion was a pair of sooty oystercatchers flying in for a rest and brief explore on the boulders down near the water edge. That water offers a nice backdrop to the birds on the boulder and serves to highlight the striking red/orange of their beaks and eye ring. Like the "plain" white of the cockatoo in the previous post, the "plain" black is very dressed up with that red/orange and the pink of the legs.

From here we headed further north via Port Macquarie and a drive through Limeburners Creek National Park to Crescent Head and on to South West Rocks for our final night before heading home. Both final days were simply fantastic weather and we were treated along the way to many whale sightings at stunning coastal locations. Have to include these two shots for some substantiation of the claims - SW Rocks beach lookig to Trial Bay and a pod of whales heading north from the Smokey Cape Lighthouse.

Set out below are some photos from around various locations near SW Rocks - the birds in each are identified under the photos. This is a location we are returning to for a more extensive stay and explore in early August - here's hoping the weather is still as spectacular!

Pacific black duck

Pelicans (and chestnut teal butts)

Chestnut teals foraging

Chestnut teals resting on the bank

Young black-winged stilt foraging

Black-winged stilt pair in disagreement

Same pair foraging after resolution

The ubiquitous white ibis

Young pied butcherbird

Pair of crested pigeons seeking seed

Pied butcherbird in full voice

Later that same sunny day

Where else to head on a lovely sunny autumn day after a visit to the sewage works than the beach 😁. A walk along the north wall in Ballina did not offer much variety this day, but certainly an up close and personal one with an osprey in three different locations as it scouted along the wall. Alas no prey was caught during my visit, but as you see below, I was a happy photographer to be able to take advantage of the osprey's attention being very much on it's hunt. That wonderfully clear blue Australian sky is such a wonderful background (highlighted again later with silver gull in flight) - how fortunate we are for such natural "blue screens".

Such fabulous and majestic creatures. I love that with their wings starting to spread that sense of power just oozes, and then you can see the disproportinately large talons in a couple of the later shots in this portrait set as it perched atop the light shade.

What a treat this was. While certainly repetitive of several photos in earlier posts, the power and majesty on display just commands sharing again. Enjoy - and remember, click on the photos for an even better view.

Not so willing to be out in the open was this little pied cormorant happy to be preening and drying off perching on the branches and among the leaves of the mangroves. That black and white primary combination again, just offset with a touch of yellow beak.

And finally, what visit to the sea would be complete without a silver gull. Here travelling with one set of landing gear up and one down as it was gliding into a souwest breeze over the river. Just another reminder of how clever birds are!

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.