HORROCKS BEACH BIRDS

A couple of posts back I mentioned we may take a break from our travels, so the decision was made to stay at the little beach town of Horrocks, about 600km north of Perth, WA. We both have some casual work at the caravan park here: http://www.horrocksbeachcaravanpark.com.au/ , with plenty of time for exploring.

Horrocks Beach

These Osprey nests have been erected at various sites along the coastline for the local population to utilize, and they sure make the most of them.

Eastern Osprey

At nearby Bowes River the pelicans were lining up to feed in the calm waters of the enclosed estuary.

Australian Pelican

A new bird for us was a small group of Sanderlings (the larger two birds below) that were foraging beside the river along with a some Red-necked Stints. It made for an ideal situation to compare these two feisty little shore-bird species.

Sanderling and Red-necked Stint

The variety and movement of terns kept our heads turning and the camera clicking, as I tried to get some decent shots of these efficient fishers.   

Crested Tern

The worlds largest tern species gave us a fly by.

Caspian Tern

As well as one of the smallest.

Fairy Tern

Fairy Tern

A lone Gull-billed Tern made an appearance, a much less common species in these parts. 

Gull-billed Tern and Red-capped Plover

Little Bay

Besides the ubiquitous Silver Gulls, a pair of Pacific Gulls also patrolled the beach at Horrocks, quite often perched atop the piles of sea wrack that comes and goes with the tides and wind.

Pacific Gull

Up the road at Port Gregory various waders were using the salt marsh and ponds near town for feeding and roosting. Besides the birds pictured, there were Red-necked Avocets and Black-winged Stilts making the most of the ideal conditions.

Wood Sandpiper

A very distant shot of four different waders.

L to R: Common Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Curlew Sandpiper, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

The salt granules, in the Pink Lakes near Port Gregory, trap a type of bacteria that give them their colourful hue.  

Pink Lake 

Cheers and Happy Birding

NSW NORTH COAST

After our inland jaunt it was off to the north coast for some R&R and the wedding of my brother-in-law at Evan's Head. Spring was approaching and the weather was superb. We camped at Yuraygir National Park boasting sixty-five kilometres of undeveloped coastline, the longest stretch in the state.

Sandon Beach rock scape - Yuraygir

This reptile came close to our camp site on a couple of occasions looking for an easy meal, of course we didn't oblige. It was quite a large specimen of about 1.5 metres (they can grow to over 2 metres) and its bite is known to be mildly venomous. All the more reason to keep some distance from these beautifully patterned omnivores.

Lace Monitor

The dead fish below was also quite big, roughly 30cm in length. Much larger than the annoying and similar  Toad Fish that stole the bait or got hooked when I used to fish in the past, generally for something a bit more appetizing!

Beached Puffer Fish

Masked Lapwings

Rocky Point beach - Yuraygir

Our base at Evans Head for the weekend was the local caravan park in a picturesque setting adjacent to the Evans River. An assortment of water loving birds gave me some excellent photo opportunities. Much easier than those little brown jobs that inhabit the bush!

Pied Cormorant

Little Egret - in breeding plumage

Australian Pelican

Australasian Darter - male

After the wedding we spent a week at a van park just outside Yamba, where for a total of  fifteen hours work we received a free site. There were some nice birds to be found in the area, including these spoonbills shining in the spring sun.The one on the right was in breeding phase with its bright yellow eyebrow and funky tuft of head plumes.

Royal Spoonbills

The two species below were actually in the park right near our van. The rail was one of a pair snooping around the cabins and the babblers were a real surprise this close to the coast, roosting for the evening in a nearby tree.

Buff-banded Rail

Grey-crowned Babblers

Cheers & Happy Birding

LAKE BROADWATER & MYALL PARK

Our first stop on the resumption of our travels in mid July 2012 was Lake Broadwater, not far from Dalby in south western Queensland. One of the main reasons for our stay was to look for the Barking Owls that had been reported previously. No luck there, but plenty of other bird life around to enjoy along with sunny days and crisp nights.

Little Corellas

Australasian Darter - male

Speckled Warbler

Australian Pelican

White-winged Chough

Red-winged Parrot

Red-winged Parrot

An overnight stay at the Myall Park Botanic Gardens near Glenmorgan was worth the detour on the way to our next destination. A walk through the bushland there didn't give us a big selection of birds but the variety of plants sure made up for it. Well worth a visit if you are heading out west.

   

Flowering gum

Gordon Grevillea

Minni ritchi tree

Minni ritchi - bark on trunk

Cheers & Happy Birding

WADER WEEKENDS

I had a chance to do some wader watching while having a picnic lunch with family at Scarborough on the Redcliffe peninsula just north of Brisbane. I wandered over to some exposed rocks on the shoreline not expecting much, when I saw these birds, mainly roosting. 

Eastern Curlew

They blended in very well and without my binoculars would have been difficult to pick up.

Top to bottom - Eastern Curlew, Pacific Golden Plover, Whimbrel.

Some people exploring the rocks put the birds to flight, causing the lone curlew to join some local gulls in the deeper water nearby. 

Eastern Curlew and Silver Gull

Silver Gull preening.

A couple of weekends ago I went out specifically to do some wader watching with a friend. Our favourite place is at Toorbul about halfway between the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane.

Southern roost at Toorbul

It has a large area for the waders to rest on the high tides and is well sign posted to minimise the disturbance of this important habitat. With the on going reclamation of many of their resting and feeding sites in Asia

these birds need all the help they can get.

Assorted waders

A couple of kangaroos decided to have a sun bake on the sand between the mudflats.The birds didn't seem to mind.

Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Whimbrels.

Bar-tailed Godwits

Australian Pied Oystercatchers.

Australian Pelicans.

This little critter made itself welcome on our back verandah recently and I've been trawling the net trying to identify it. I think it is one of the Litoria species, maybe a Rocketfrog type.

Litoria sp.?