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

BACK IN QUEENSLAND

Back on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, while we wait for repairs to our caravan which threw a wheel in our haste to get home last month. Our insurance company, as well as paying for the repairs are accommodating us for the duration. So a chance to do a bit of local bird watching had us wandering along the foreshore at Golden Beach where the opportunity to photograph a few was too hard to resist.

Little Egret

Little Pied Cormorant

Not being a wader expert I had some difficulty identifying the bird below, but after consulting my field guides and comparing my photos and movie footage with some internet examples, I'm thinking Grey-tailed Tattler. I have seen them before but only in groups with other roosting waders. This one was a loner and quite actively feeding. Any thoughts?

Grey-tailed Tattler?

Sacred Kingfisher

Willie Wagtail

We are currently residing in a small holiday house at Bli Bli not far from the local attractions of Mt  Coolum and Maroochydore and only a short walk from the Maroochy Wetlands Sanctuary where we strolled along the boardwalk to the sounds of whistlers, honeyeaters and gerygones. 

Mt Coolum

Maroochy River & Maroochydore

These Ibis were about the most conspicious birds in the wetlands, the smaller bush birds staying mostly out of camera range. We also got a glimpse of a lovely female Shining Flycatcher, a resident of the mangrove wetlands here but not always easy to find.  

White Ibis

The flycatcher photos below are courtesy of Ian Montgomery's wonderful website: http://birdway.com.au/index.htm.  To the uninitiated they seem like two different species, so pronounced is their sexual dimorphism. Besides being found along the coast of Queensland their range also includes New Guinea and Indonesia.  

Shining Flycatcher - female (photo - I.Montgomery) 

Shining Flycatcher - male (photo - I.Montgomery)

Close by to the Sanctuary is a small lake that usually has a few waterbirds on it and this day, besides the Black Ducks, Chestnut and Grey Teal were a couple of small groups of Whistling-Ducks, giving me a great opportunity to compare the two species at close range. Both are fantastic birds that always give me a thrill whenever I hear and then see a large flock flying overhead. They seem to have become a lot more prevalent on the Sunshine coast over the last decade. 

Plumed & Wandering Whistling-Ducks

Wandering Whistling-Ducks  

Wandering & Plumed Whistling-Ducks