Archive for category Swallows and Martins

A brief look at the Knob

Nov 28

My partner and I made an impromptu visit to the Yorkeys Knob Golf Club lagoon this evening just to see what was around. I spotted two Bush Stone-Curlews (Burhinus grallarius) on arrival in the field across from the course.

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!

A Happy ‘Nade Day

Nov 27

Posted by Sebastian | 4 Comments

Some days just come with a birding omen. I was awaken today by the booming calls of some Pied Imperial Pigeons (Ducula bicolor) in the Bleeding Heart Tree outside our bedroom window. While common bordering on abundant, it is not often that this species presents you with a nice clear profile to photograph. So, naturally, off I went full pelt down the stairs in my underwear.

I think it was worth it.

After work I decided to take a brief (3 hour) walk along the Esplanade and mangroves. Once again, I was greatly rewarded. I managed to sight many shorebirds including the Lesser Sand Plover (Charadrius mongolus), Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii), Whimbrel (Numenius Phaeopus), Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis), Little Curlew (Numenius minutus), Pied Oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris) and by far the most exciting, a single Beach-stone Curlew (Esacus neglectus). Many more shorebirds were sighted but at the moments I haven’t finished going through the images and those are the ones that came to mind! Here are some shots.

Lesser Sand Plover

A Greater Sand Plover. It’s amazing that when taking this I failed to notice the 200 or so crabs in the image.

Pied Oystercatcher

Grey-tailed Tattler (Heteroscelus brevipes)

Beach-Stone Curlew

I took countless photos of this bird. I had actually left the mangrove edge to head south down the Esplanade when I realised I had forgotten my sunglasses, only to return to find this treasure! It made my week! It wasn’t all waders/shorebirds today though. I managed to sight a single Gould’s Bronze Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx russatus), a White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike (Coracina papuenis), a couple of Mangrove Robins (Eopsaltria pulverulenta) and got some cracking shots of the White-breasted Woodswallow (Artamus leucorynchus).

Mangrove Robin

White-breasted Woodswallow

Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena)

And finally, to top the day off, an adult female Forest Kingfisher (Todiramphus macleayii) sitting in a dead tree by the mangroves.

I got many more photos and interesting videos, but I think I should limit my media per post!

One Lazy Weekend

Nov 15

Posted by Sebastian | 2 Comments

Finally some beautiful weather! Unfortunately, I was unable to capitalise on it as much as I would like, due largely to factors beyond my control. I did get out for a few hours on both Saturday and Sunday, unfortunately however on both Saturday and Sunday the time alotted was in the middle of the day. Saturday involved little more than a lazy stroll along the Cairns Esplanade, but it did produce a couple of nice surprises.

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.

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.