As you can see from the photo, it was a busy day at Yorkey’s Knob. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay as long as I would like but still I got some nice snaps of the waterbirds present. The weed that is usually on the lagoon seems to have increased since the last time I was here and with it the number of waterfowl species present. The usual suspects were there, being the Pacific Black Ducks (Anas superciliosa), Green Pygmy-geese (Nettapus pulchellus) and a lone Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae). The new arrivals were some Grey Teals (Anas gracilis) and Wandering Whistling Ducks (Dendrocygna arcuata).

One thing I noticed was that as the weed increases, the number of Pelecaniformes seems to decrease. For the first time on Saturday, I saw absolutely no birds from this order at the lagoon. Amazing to see how the habitat, no matter how it changes, is utilised to its maximum potential. If there is lots of clear water, cormorants and darters will be present, if there is lots of weed, a larger variety of waterfowl are present. Here are some photos of the Grey Teal:

The Wandering Whistling-ducks have a rather strange habit of sticking together in tight groups, as can be seen from the photo of a raft of them at Cattana Wetlands posted Saturday. Their behaviour was no different at Yorkey’s although I noticed it is limited to when the birds are not feeding.

Some other interesting sightings were a lone Chestnut-breasted Mannikin (Lonchura castaneothorax) perched on powerlines next to the lagoon and this Yellow Oriole (Oriolis flavocinctus). I know the Oriole is fairly common, but take a look this photo with its throat extended while calling!

Overall it was well worth the stop. It was the first time I have seen Grey Teal in Queensland.

Another species present I haven’t seen on the lagoon before is the Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae). There was one pair present, and as the light was patchy at best, here is a crop of the best shot I got.

Species also spotted that really caught our eye were a single Darter (Anhinga melanogaster), one Nankeen Night Heron (Nycticorax caledonicus), four Green Pygmy-Geese (Nettapus pulchellus), a number of Rainbow Bee-eaters (Merops ornatus) and approximately twelve Welcome Swallows (Hirundo neoxena) that were working the surface of water with incredible speed and zest. The strangest sighting was a lone Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris) that engaged us with a long calling display from a log on the island. Special thanks to Mark Young for his help with the ID of this feral species (although I doubt this bird was part of a feral population). The photos and videos I got of it were sketchy so I think I will leave them out!

The first was a Brown Honeyeater (Lichmera indistincta), who had apparently struck nesting gold in the eye of a fig tree near the library. It so excitedly pulled the spider webbing out of the eye that a few times this little honeyeater even got itself tangled.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The second was a dried out Bird’s Nest Fern which contained the nest of a White-breasted Woodswallow (Artamus leucorynchus), the screeching near-fledging chick drew my attention. Here are a couple of shots. After 15 minutes of standing and watching the nest, I noticed a crowd of spectators had swarmed around me.

Some other interesting species seen included a lone female Mistletoebird (Dicaeum hirundinaceum), several Varied Honeyeaters (Lichenostomus versicolor) and three nesting Pied Imperial-Pigeons (Ducula bicolor).

Now today! Today, although scorching hot was much more interesting. Apart from getting some good photos, I managed to see a few species I had never seen before. This is always a thrill, although having only recently moved to Cairns from NSW, it is starting to lose a bit of its magic! The trip today was to Yorkeys Knob Golf Course lagoon.

The best shot of the day must be this one of a female Yellow-bellied Sunbird (Nectarinia jugularis). I spent 15 minutes being baked standing near this shrub trying to get this shot. This little lady was very accepting of my presence.

The best sighting of the day, albeit somewhat expected, was of two pairs of Green Pygmy-geese (Nettapus pulchellus). These birds seemed to like to stay and feed right at the edge of a large mass of green weed that was in the centre of the lagoon, so as the day went on, and the wind pushed the weed closer to the edge, I managed to get some decent shots.

I also managed to get some decent shots of some Welcome Swallows (Hirundo neoxema), a couple of Helmeted Friarbirds (Philemon buceroides), some Rainbow Bee-eaters (Merops ornatus) and a Dusky Honeyeater (Myzomela obscura). I won’t put all these images up of course!

Many, many more photos were taken, including of a fair few more species but these were the most interesting of the lot for me.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The actual point of my expedition yesterday morning was to get some good photos and videos of the local Metallic Starling (Aplonis metallica) colony, which I did, but Youtube seems intent on frustrating me by making the video choppy after processing. So to compensate, here is a short video of an Orange-footed Scrubfowl (Megapodius reinwardt) digging about in the scrub near the beach out at Yorkey’s Knob that I shot yesterday afternoon.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This was the first time I had been to Yorkeys with the specific intent of shooting some birds. The trip was arranged under the guise of visiting friends, but unluckily heavy cloud cover late in the day stopped the trip from reaching its full potential! Here are some of the clean shots I managed to get.