HORROCKS ODDS & SODS

After publishing my last post on Horrocks I have been out and about, with the opportunity to capture a few more images of the local wildlife and scenery. 

The creature below has many names including bobtail (which the locals use), stump-tailed skink, pinecone lizard, bogeye and sleepy lizard. Thy are the most commonly seen reptile here and we have a few that reside in the caravan park. 

Shingleback Lizard

Some short bush walks yielded a few wildflowers, but it seems the major displays in this area at least, have long since finished. 

Acorn Banksia

Starflower

Calandrinia

Walking into one of these spiders is always a danger with their strong webs strung up between the low growing vegetation. This specimen being about half the size of my hand.

Orb Weaver

At Port Gregory the wildlife didn't look at all threatening, with these Banded Stilts in the ponds across the road from Pink Lake being the highlight of another visit there. 

Banded Stilts

Pink Lake

Another couple of visits to Bowes River yielded some more waders along with an obliging Osprey and some loafing cormorants. 

Eastern Osprey

Pied and Little Black Cormorants

There are a few pairs of these plovers, some with chicks in tow, tribute to a successful breeding season.  

Red-capped Plover

Sanderling & Red-capped Plover

Red-necked Stint

Bar-tailed Godwit

Grey-tailed Tattler

If the birding gets a bit slow, fishing is always an option!

Evening at Horrocks Beach 

Cheers & Happy Birding

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

A COASTAL WALK

A couple of weeks ago I had some time after work to have a stroll along the walking paths of Caloundra and Moffat Headlands. There had been some heavy weather through earlier and although it was windy the rain had ceased, allowing me to take a few shots and check out the birdlife.  

Looking towards Caloundra from the Headland shore.  

Rockscape below Caloundra Headland.

As I wandered along looking out to sea, a large bird alighted on a branch of one of the many large Norfolk pines that have been planted along this stretch of the coast. It sat quietly preening and fluffing up it's plumage.
Being overhead it gave me the opportunity to take an unusual shot.

Headless raptor.

The bird was an Osprey and it eye-balled me from it's perch till I moved on and left it in peace.
These magnificent raptors nest in the pines and I have seen a pair attending a nest behind the control cockpit of a crane on top of an apartment block building site in town.

Eastern Osprey

My walk along Moffat Headland gave me the chance to observe some Australasian Gannets do their spectacular plunges for prey and to appreciate their mastery of the windy conditions. I watched their antics through my binos for about 20 minutes before the showers came back with a vengeance.

View from Moffat Headland.

Australasian Gannet.

The following day the weather had improved dramatically, the sun was out and these lorikeets made the most of some fresh seed in our backyard feeder.

Rainbow Lorikeets

And this fantail was still hanging around even though most of his mates have started heading south as the weather slowly warms.

Grey Fantail