Ahhh, I feel like I am on top of my blog now. Caught up.
As October kicks off I have three posts (including this one) to contribute and I am in a position to hereafter add a post as things happen. Of course that also requires some diligence and discipline, so I will not get too far ahead of myself 😉.
This post covers a couple of days in September. Starting with a few photos from a drive returning through Meerschumvale and our garden again, followed by a drive I enjoy a lot to South Ballina via Pimlico.
The initial photo shared here is a white-necked heron on alert in a paddock with some cows. It had clouded over quite quickly and was just beginning to rain but I managed to sneak this photo before the heron took flight and landed much further off in the paddock. I like the way the cows offer a sense of serenity and also scale to judge the size of the heron as it grazes with the cattle among the long grass heads.
A little further along, but now in a paddock to the west of the main Wardell Rd., I was watching a black-shouldered kite hover over a potential prey. It was near the limit of my zoom, but I thought it worth sharing this photo just as its descent was abating before it alighted on the prey in the grass. Soon after it found a branch in the tree to enjoy its meal.
This particular morning over a cup of tea (very covid civilised!!) on our front verandah I photographed this noisy miner enjoying some seeds and then taking a bath before perching on a nearby vacant branch to dry itself. Sometimes goos to use the still photos to share a sense of occasion 😊.
One lovely spring morning I decided to head off on a favourite drive. The South Ballina road had been closed for several months for bridge repairs so I had not ventured in that direction. I like to detour through Pimlico. The fallow cane fields and remnant forest as well as the riverside drive provide a range of habitat that often presents a variety of birds. This was one of the "often" days!
First up, indeed right up in a pine was a familar profile of a black-shouldered kite. Below is a photo heading east approaching the perch, and second from under the tree looking slightly westward for a frontal perspective. Always majestic looking creatures are birds of prey.
On the opposite side of the road from the kite, without needing to move my car, there was much activity and chatter of grass birds in the fallow fields awaiting their next ploughing. I caught glimpses of red-browed finches but they disappeared too quickly for me to photograph. I was more fortunate with some chestnut-breasted mannikins. This was a delight because I have not seen these little guys for some time. Last time was along Emigrant Creek on the Old Bangalow Rd near Tintenbar - a road I regularly drive without another sighting success 😞. So it is good to be able to share a couple more nice clear photos of this delightful bird that does much to enhance the colour brown (chestnut).
Further along, on a powerline beside the river, was the first of two new sightings for me 😁. Several times I imagined I had photgraphed the forest kingfisher, but closer examination has always shown them to be a sacred kingfisher with the buff head marking and the duller blue-green plummage. In the first photo below you see the bright white body feathers and the sleek shiny blue of the wings. This encourages me it is the forest kingfisher. As if to confirm that, about 200 yards further down the road was a sacred kingfisher, not quite in the same light as the line was on the other side of the road. However, the duller plummage (only by comparison!!) and the more distinct collar are evident. This was turning into a good day 👌.
Having reached South Ballina, what is not to enjoy about the joyous palette of the rainbow bee-eater. Always proud to show-off their finery it was a real treat to capture this first one right beside the road (these were actually taken from the driver's seat parked almost under the tree). Great to be allowed the privilege to get so close.
Walking now - and it was good to get out of the car and strecth the legs on such a gorgeous spring day. An improvement I notice at South Ballina now they have closed the beach to 4 wheel drive vehicles is the old tracks to the beach are closed off and to get to the beach and the wall, you need to walk along the river bank and wall. This was an option before BUT vehicle traffic often made it a dusty and noisy experience. Not so now 😁. This greatly enhances the habitat and the sense of peace and quiet as you walk. That heightened awareness had its rewards this day.
First up was a majestic brahmini kite, imperiously lording over its territory - well, probably having a rest on this perch between soaring flights over its territory. I share three photos below from various angles of the perch as I headed east along the road towards the wall. A grand creature.
Next treat was seeing a nesting pair of pied oystercatchers. Used to seeing these on the beach or in shallows, they were in a dried out swampy depression to the south of the wall road just before reaching the south wall proper, near the old car park. Both photos showing one bird on the nest, the second catching the partner bird hovering close by in protective mode. Impending parenthood - many of us can identify with that feeling 😘.
On my return walk, I was blessed to photograph a brahmini kite soaring and searching as it rode the thermals eyeing potential prey. Then, a short time later and approaching much lower was what I thought was an osprey. I managed a good photo (second one below) and a poor one because it was gong so relatively fast at a low altitude. And then it was gone! Only later having a review did I notice it was not an osprey, but rather a whistling kite (atlest I am reasonably sure it is 😉. I think I have an earlier snap of one, but this is MUCH clearer. So it seemd to me like a "first" positive identificaton. My second for the day. While the different colourings underwing are noticeable, it is cool to see the heads and eyes are both focused in the same direction, the wing tip feathers both spread the same way and the tails straight out backwards ... makes sense when they are both "doing the same thing" and are both kites. One notable difference in the wings is the gap near the body of the whistling kite ... looks like a few are missing.
And to finish this gorgeous outing one more posing rainbow bee-eater just before I reached the car to head home. A contented (very contented!) smile, some sweat and several kms under the belt were my rewards.
