Good news, good sense put sparkle into the day

Just the thing to brighten our Covid-19 days. Sparkly treasure from the not so sparkly Common Crow butterfly.

Down in the mouth? Cheer up. Good news is burrowing frog got to live another day when tree snake lost grip of things.

Woe is the Bush Stone-curlew's lot? Course not. Sun's shining and that's a happy look. Unhappy stare can curl the toes and turn the unwary to stone.

Are you washing your hands and staying socially distanced? White-bellied Sea-Eagle knows what's good for it.

As does Intermediate Egret. Wouldn't come within 10 metres, let alone two, in the Common this morning.

Don't be a goose. Play it safe, is the way to go. 'Coz we've got a long way to go yet.

Young Brolga stands out from the rest

Looks a bit lost in full frame image from Pandanus viewing point in the Town Common but maturing Brolga more trusting than the few others to be seen roaming in the distance.

Walked up on bird yesterday morning and ended openly close to it and chatting about this and that.

Of special interest, much younger bird lately seen with parents more than twice its size. Can't remember ever seeing Brolga near Ingham with any but flying juveniles. Got no help with this question.

Also in the area, returning pair of Bush Stone-curlews. Problem: heavy traffic at their preferred site, hard beside road. Compare distrusting look above ...

... with relaxed pose of one of 24 sunning recently in the city's Anderson Park.

Also on ground for a few days, scruffy parasite-afflicted Magpie Lark. Mud-grubbing species appears subject to both more unwanted passengers and facial diseases.

Not such a risk for Horsfields Bronze-cuckoo, which will feed on and near ground but spends much time calling from atop highest tree in the area. Bird above teased for a week before coming within shot.

Similar story with Sacred Kingfisher, another more often seen flashing off into the distance.

Australian Raven alights to lighten the gloom

Bit of biz in the big smoke today so headed off in the dark for spot of birding soon as automatic gate opened at Townsville Common. Lot of light cloud and light drizzle and dark unidentifiable birds in the early gloom. And things stayed dark - but in a good way.

Australian Raven dropped on to pandanus beside the Troopy and proceeded with fussy morning toilette. ((Bird didn't budge at my presence, or flinch from low-power flash. Because ... and this is point to note, I was there first. In other words, it chose to enter my space.)

Bush Stone-curlew little less unconcerned at having photographer approaching. But stopped for a bit before walking quietly into deeper cover, along with its mate (imagine second bird out of focus to right of picture as you look at it).

Four birds in flight

Bush Stone-Curlew looks down as it passes overhead in Tyto yesterday. The birds usually stand quietly for most of the day before walking off on their nocturnal feeding rounds. In common with many larger species, the birds normally go out of their way to avoid flying low over people, but I'd by chance been hard for the bird to see till it was right over me. And here are three other birds-in-flight from the not-so-sharp folder:

Little Pied Cormorant 

Nankeen Kestrel

Whistling Kite

And a sharper Welcome Swallow to finish with. 

Not quite up to the mind's eye

Best laid plans . . . ! Rain overnight put paid to crawling up on Bush Stone-Curlews today. Yesterday's back-numbing effort didn't quite do the trick. Bird walked towards me as I lay down and got so close I couldn't fit all the legs in, and  - propped on elbows - couldn't regrip camera in steady position for a vertical shot. As it is, picture's a bit soft, and back still aches. Pity, as the background is as I wanted.

Comb-crested Jacana was casting perfect reflections on still water reflecting the blue-sky morning yesterday - till I stepped forward at the lookout knoll. The bird stayed close, but never got into the desirable position on the lotuses leaves and stalks. However, while waiting in vain for something better I spotted the first Little Bittern I've seen since January 22, flying between Scleria islands.

Masked Lapwing, from a few weeks back, looked spectacular in late afternoon light as it poked about in a drainage ditch. And the back plumage is striking. But even after cloning some messy background, and selective sharpening, the bird's head refuses to stand out as it did when first sighted. Though pictures may well be worth a thousand words, they frequently fall short of the image in the mind's eye.

Who's going to ground?

Bush Stone Curlew spreads out after being caught unawares over the weekend. It wasn't the only one caught out lately.

After a lashing load of rain late last week came a deluge of laptop meltdowns. The upshot - apart from a large bill - is a chastened systems operator (me) and a vow to never ever ever again uninstall software without counting to 100 first.

Second, to never, never, never ever again try to System Retore-Unrestore-Rerestore. (Because it led to something akin to a time travel paradox, besides scrambling software, cocking up hardware and baffling so-called experts). Oh, and it wiped Windows out!

Can I vent for another par or two? Please? I now have software such as Photoshop Elements 6 and Canon Eos Utilities that cannot be opened or uninstalled. Since PSE6 proved less than promised for $169, that's not so bad. Gimp is a great fallback.

Canon's software is a largely useless gorilla at 550mb. But to import anything from my Canon I've had to install Picasa3, the best of a rather bossy bunch of (freeware) picture editors. But I do have my DVD/CD back. And loads of software I got rid of months ago (part of the System Restore time travel paradox).But things are moving again.

Not moving at all at the weekend, was this young Pheasant Coucal. It stayed motionless after I first spied it at the edge of some much longer guinea grass. In fact, it remained so still I started to consider the shape might be vegetable rather than animal.

As I snuck in close the bird turned and spotted me. Without much haste it walked into the long stuff. A rare sighting. Coucals keep their youngsters well concealed. The juveniles in turn learn to stay well hidden.

Gone to ground, as they say. Like some of my programs!