Tuesday, November 30, 2010

White-browed Crake stands out

High water levels mean fewer sightings of White-browed Crake (Amaurornis cinerea) because many of the birds quit the lagoon scleria for the surrounding flooded bladey grass.


But not all. Bird above ( and, top, on sedge) at lagoon's edge today squeaked and hissed in company with shyer partner for about 20 minutes, mostly, of course, half-hidden by sedge, grasses or other weeds.


Even showed off this small unidentified beetle? reward for all its foraging.


MISSING: Many birds. Species count of 93 for wet November almost 30 below average previous five years. And numbers low within many species.        
Click pix to enlarge

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fantastic shots of the W-B Crake Tony - love that tail-flick!

Tyto Tony said...

Thanks Barbara. How go bird numbers up your way? Good to see Shinings nesting: my pair lost eggs near hatch, possibly driven off nest by incessant rain, and/or tree snake victims.

Anonymous said...

Bird numbers around our overflowing swamps are certainly much less - Egrets prefer the cane fields!

Head up for dragonfly, head off for fish head . . .

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