Wooed by Wooli

This is a long post. It tries to reflect a level of excitement and joy that comes from exploring a new location at leisure, especially when it deigns to throw up so many good sightings! I hope you get some of that sense if you read the post. Of course, remember, click on a picture and you will be able to just flick through all the images on the post (and ignore the verbage 👍).

A colleague departed work several years ago. He and his partner bought the real estate agency in Wooli. Several times I have nearly made the journey to catch up, and to have a(nother) look at Wooli. I recall dropping in many years ago, but have very little memory of what we saw.

The time to visit had arrived. A Friday. Deb was having coffee with friends. It was another beautiful spring morning and we had just emerged from another snap lockdown by virtue of having visited Lismore briefly. Not to be put off any longer, I headed off bright and early (for me). 90 minutes later, I had driven to the river entrance, doing a quick scout of an old fashioned and still largely unspoiled coastal village. Not too many of these left. A servo/shop, estate agency, bowlo, cafe, marine rescue centre and water tower. And houses, a couple of caravan parks and campground.

My former colleague was not in the office (on Friday) though he was expected later in the day ... and they say university staff don't know how easy they have it! So, I decide to head off to explore Diggers Camp and Minnie Water just to the north, come back have some lunch and then go for a walk along the river to the entrance and back. 

Here is what wooed me about this area.

The drive out to both (Minnie Water and Diggers Camp) track through Yuragir National Park. First, down past Lake Hiawatha, the local drinking water source to Diggers Camp, provided evidence of one of the several creatures featuring on raodside signage to be aware of in this area - the goanna. More specifically in this instance a sand monitor (I am reasonably sure). Taken from inside the car!

On the way back from Diggers Camp I called into The Wilson's Headland picnic area. Unfortunately the walk was closed for renovations, but the rainbow bee-eaters and brown honeyeaters were having a great time! The first two photos in the set below show off the way the plummage colours of the bee-eater can have quite different tones depending on the bird, light and specific perching location. The final two in the set contrast nectar eating positions of the brown honeyeater among the prolific flowers they were feasting from.

After driving out to Minnie Water and back, I had a great coffee with a bacon and egg roll for lunch. I headed down to the river near the Caravan Park and water tower to set off on the pathway out to the river entrance and wall and back again. A wonderful day for my walk with the tide beginning to recede from its peak. I hope I had the stamina after the several kms put in at South Ballina as well - should be good for me!

First up, a new bird for me and I was lucky to even notice it just as I was wandering along the river mangroves before reaching the pathway. I photographed the bird on the left of the log - that was the one I noticed (not even seeing the others to the right!). It was not until I moved along a little further and looked back that I noticed the others and so included the second photo below.

I will label each photo in the next set. These are a selection of highlights from many taken along the walk out to the entrance. I was really soaking up the variety and the relative peace and quiet of the walk (despite many holiday makers enjoying the delights of the river). I really felt spoiled being able to get so many close photos.

Magpie

Rainbow bee-eater

Little wattlebird

Young little wattlebird

Noisy friarbird

White-breasted woodswallow

A brief comment is warranted for these next two images. I had heard the noisy squawking of young birds nearby. Without too much difficulty the sound was traced to this pair of young little wattlebirds - they look so cute in a couple of different poses and clearly their proximity was a comfort to eachother!

White-breasted woodswallow looking right ...

... looking left!

Then three huddled on a perch together.

Getting close to the entrance is an impressive new boat ramp and parking area. I share the following set of ubiquitous water birds. A silver gull floating effortlessly and gracefully on the beautiful crystal clear water of the river (further out was more teal, more dull now than the gorgeous turquoise of the incoming tide when I first arrived in the morning). Then a triology of pelican portraits sharing their unique characteristics and beauty - certainly all four do justice to basic black and white imagery (though the value of the background should not be under estimated).

You will by now have a very good sense of the variety I was referring to earlier in the post. If my recent visit to South Ballina was entrancing, imagine how I was feeling today 😁. 

Welcoming my arrival at the river entrance was a young brahmini kite keeping an eye on me from above. Some welcome this was, and it turned out to be just the "beginning" of the next phase of this walk!

There, searching the rocks on the receding tide was my next treat. I often see pied oystercatchers, but not so often the sooty oystercatcher. This day I was presented with two pairs feasting on their preferred diet (see photo 1 in the next sequence specifically). I have shared a few photos more than usual in this set because this was a rare treat for me and the photos were nice and clear in the light and so a challenge to choose 😀. Black is black but wow if looks great set off with the sharp orange/red eyes and bill and pink legs! Enjoy. 

 

Now, out the wall and even more satisfaction to be had! 

An osprey with prey underfoot atop the light on the south wall; a silver gull caught in flight and on a boulder both showing off different parts of the national park habitat in the backgrounds; and a noisy friarbird keen to pose and show-off its wonderfully quirky profiles and full frontal glares - the second one highlighting the bump on the bill and the hollow (hole through) in the bill!

And to get me through the walk back to the car the rainbow bee-eaters and magpies were still about (an adult magpie keeping an eye from above on the younger one practicing hunting on the grass) - fortunately no swooping!

Quite the visit. I did catch up with my colleague on the way out. We are heading back soon to spend a few days in one of his cottages - as you might imagine, I am very much looking forward to that! I took the road to Ullmarra on the way home, just to see how it got there ... a final treat for the day was this black-shouldered kite perched out in a paddock in the late afternoon sun.

Rewards on a well worn path

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.