Latham's Snipe lands picture perfectly

Been spending more time lately stalking birds around edges of drying lagoons in the Townsville Town Common. But nothing will come close to sharp pic of Latham's Snipe splashing down at Melaleuca viewing area. Rare instance of absolutely everything going right for just the one frame in a high speed burst. Best pic ever for me. I don't enter comps, but if I did . . .

Nothing too much wrong with one or three others this month, starting with Bar-shouldered Dove.

Rufous-throated Honeyeater out in the open has some merit.

And couple of Radjah Shelducks up close rewarded a patient approach. Now to just wait patiently for several years for something to come close to the Latham's! 

 

More to mangroves than honeyeaters

Giant Mudskippers are big on taste - bathed in clean water for a few days - so they say. Dried and served for breakfast, they'd then become mud's kippers, I suppose. But what do I know? Only this week did I discover that 'St Peter's Fish' is the dreaded scourge of our waterways, the Tilapia. Idle thoughts while chasing Mangrove Honeyeaters along the banks of the Ross River mouth, Townsville, recently.

Silver Gull probably not too interested in name of small silver fish it chanced upon nearby.

Whimbrel came along to stalk same stretch of sand soon after. Too late. It's not only worms that go to the early bird.

Grey-tailed Tattler more at home chasing after sand worms but bridge breakwater makes safe high-tide refuge.

Also brief base out in the open for Bar-shouldered Dove before a return to the mangroves.

No Mangrove Honeyeaters (previous post)? Later . . .







 

Catching a kingfisher; losing a digit

How to catch a Little Kingfisher. First train spiders to spin super strong line ... Nah. See bird on bridge wire. Shoot dud pictures today against harsh morning light (the rain stopped Monday: sunshine ever since: who sez season should change with equinox?) Start to delete pictures. Notice strand appearing to tether bird. Sneaky wee bit of cloning adds to illusion.

It's a little better than Brown Falcon caught briefly from rolling car yesterday.

And much better than Bar-shouldered Dove caught at start of flight early in week.

February counts: 91 bird species in Tyto: 89 in 2009; 94 in 2008.


Last word: Telstra and Tyto Tony tangle and tango no more. tonyashton1 AT bigpondbastards DOT com loses a digit (bit like Frodo in a way) and gains freedom as tonyashton0 AT gmaildonoevil DOT com. May the satanic $249 modem melt in the fires of hell, or Mordor.

Honeyeater sees, seizes sawfly

Yellow Honeyeater (Lichenostomus flavus) nabs a Paperbark Sawfly (Lophyrotoma zonalis) outside the Tyto hide today (click pic to enlarge). Don't often capture honeyeaters in such an insectivorous moment, but no surprise about the prey, considering the hide is ringed by three Melaleucas.

One honeyeater feeding leads to another. White-gaped Honeyeater (Lichenostomus unicolor) comes up with a bill full of wild passionfruit flesh. Plenty of birds and insects are drawn to the passionfruit flowers. Can't recall seeing birds previously showing fondness for the flesh. The dwarf fruit has a thin, soft skin, and is full of smallish black seeds.

Also with thin, soft skin - and not long for this world - was an unidentified caterpillar, plucked from a part-flooded grass track today by this immature female Magpie Lark (Grallina cyanoleuca). Young Magpie Larks can be quite trusting. For several minutes I trailed close behind as this bird grabbed small morsels. Didn't do so well in encouraging it to stand still and eat slowly! 

Elsewhere in the wetlands today (and two days back), came upon three Black Bitterns, two at one end of the lagoon system, the other at a favourite (for the bird) shaded spot by a culvert outflow. All three, as previously, headed for distant trees and vanished into them.

As did a Collared Sparrowhawk, disturbed in its flight across a corner of the lagoon by a Masked Lapwing, which thereby put paid to any hopes I had of getting the small raptor in flight. The bird has been a presence more felt than seen for about three weeks. It's almost got me shouting: 'Come on out! I know you're in there.' But I'm sure it knows a bluff when it hears one!

Finally, after so much feeding, a Bar-shouldered Dove (Geopelia humeralis) poses perfectly as an end piece to the post!