Good times for Cormorants

Pouring down, minor flooding here and  there, more rain coming, so good time to feature water-loving Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris), on the rocks at Jourama Fallls ...

... and sticking to a Tyto branch.
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Chewing on insect problems

Insects move more slowly than birds. So pictures should be a snap. If they weren’t so small. Or so long and thin. Or so hard to see. Or so hard to identify. In the meantime ...

Mantis, and same chewing moth.

Stick insect.

Beetle or bug.         

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Male quail sticks to trail

They usually ... um ... er ... quail when seeing me coming but this male Brown Quail (Coturnix ypsilophora) in Tyto today quietly went about his business for quite a while before quitting the track.  

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Tidying up with four from Tyto

Bird numbers down everywhere so time to tidy up the Tyto holdovers, starting with Red-browed Finch (Neochmia temporalis), on guinea grass stalk – since whipper-snipped - near the lookout.

Rarer sight, White-throated Gerygone (Gerygone albogularis) sitting still in a paperbark near hide.

More common, Rufous-throated Honeyeater (Conopophila rufogularis), also in paperbark near hide.

To finish off, Chestnut-breasted Mannikin (Lonchura castaneothorax) pauses during feeding.

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Minor scuffle and feather ruffle

Minor scuffle and a few ruffled feathers today outside my caravan. Not a lot of love among birders for the Common Myna (Sturnus tristis). But it’s a bit late to send them back to India and Afghanistan after 130 years of being invited to tag along with our urban sprawl and copious waste. Besides what other species picks up huge amounts of litter and tucks it away in nests?

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Dragonfly with passenger?

One or two more dragonflies whizzing about lately but not many seen carrying passengers, as above (Neurothemis stigmatizans) appears to have on right forewing. A mite?

No visible stowaway aboard this Tyto regular (Ictinogomphus australis).

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Nightjar sits tight, Skink gets tyred

Seldom come across Large-tailed Nightjar (Caprimulgus macrurus) sitting around so openly as above (on very low branch), at Jourama Falls this week. More often, they sit unseen on the ground by day, and ‘chop chop’ through summer nights.

Recent rain means Riverview Creek at Jourama is running high, but the rusty Camry has given way to a bit more Toyo (T. troopy) grunt and clearance. 

And, happy link between road and nature, Striped Skink (poss. Ctenotus Spaldingi) checks out an old wheel that floated into Tyto on floodwaters last year (NB: editorial restraint on puns).

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Starling savours cheese extract

Metallic Starling (Aplornis tallicame) about to swallow caterpillar extracted from Cheese Tree leaf.

Many of the trees have lost all foliage. Others seem likely to, yet some remain almost unscathed.

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Owl reveals feel for steel

Young Barking Owl (Ninox connivens) paying a few return visits to the caravan park on recent nights – made more notable for the absence of possum dance comps on our roofs.

Though seen once on the road, bird seems to have developed a liking for steel underfoot, certainly safer than asphalt.

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