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).

Click pix to enlarge  

Dragonflies on the menu

Quick look at three dragonflies, one of which didn't get away. First up, a common sight in Tyto, Graphic Flutterer (Rhyothemus graphiptera - so I'm told: not in TNQ guide: click pic to enlarge).

Less common, but called the Common Glider, Trapezostigma (Tramea) loewii.

Last, and lasting only as a brief course for an Australian Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus australis), uncertain species but may be female Common Glider. Bad luck or fatal snooze for the dragonfly, because Reed-Warblers seldom leave cover to feed and I've never seen one take such prey in the air.

Of a cockatoo and almond I sing

The Red-tailed Black Cockatoos have been raiding the Indian almonds again at the caravan park. Perch and shred them, nip them off, drop them and go to ground and shred them, makes little difference to the birds. But ground-munchers make it easier for me. Female above was happy to let me quite close in the morning sunlight earlier this week (click pic to enlarge). Still hoping for a decent in-flight picture!

Capturing things in flight comes naturally to Willie Wagtails. One of the pair in more or less permanent possession of the hide and its surrounding paperbarks in Tyto snapped up a dragonfly yesterday morning. Looked in general guide to North Queensland fauna but couldn't ID it.

Today, while creeping about looking for Bush-Hens under trees beside an overgrown creek (and being distracted by the first Spectacled Monarch seen for many weeks) this dragonfly persistently flew into the shade and posed on a dead stem. It appears to be one of the same species that made up part of the Willie's breakfast yesterday.

A closing note, on the floods and bird counts: February's 89 total species sighted was about 10 down on lowest previous tally (in past five years). This month has brought just 56 species, about 15 fewer than I'd have expected. But a solitary Latham's Snipe appeared today, a pair of Green Pigmy Geese have returned to the largely deserted open waters, and the insectivores are more visible in resurgent grassland and woodland. The signs point to a count of about 110 for March. We'll see!  

Here be dragons . . .

Here be dragons, warned ye olde mappes at the point where invention trumped geography. Fair warning here comes after intention outjumped my photography. But even failure holds merit, if only as lesson and spur.

Deep purple: late grey afternoon beside a sugar cane ditch (click pic to enlarge).

Red chews blue: feeding time as big eats little.

Two tangle: looks like this pair haven't got the hang of it.

Deserving cases find places

Male Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris) takes in the morning sun.

Themes running in recent posts left some deserving pictures with no place to go. So, here's a place for them.

Black-necked Stork (Ephippiorhyncus asiaticus) kicks up the mud as she lifts off.

Female Shining Flycatcher (Myiagra alecto) perches in the rainforest.

Dragonfly (Diplacodes haematodes) takes a rest.

Lot of nothing 'hiding' near hide

'Not much to see here, is there?' visitor one said to visitor two after a minute or so in the Tyto hide today. The second agreed and they pushed off.

Scarcely a thing, I said at their retreating backs (since some people make it very clear they don't want help).

Scarcely a thing, except for:

Drawn-out gurgle from left-front 10 metres off in Scleria. Hello, Little Bittern, nice of you to announce your presence. Yes, I know, that's it for the day. Pity the impatient pair missed it. They wouldn't have appreciated the signal? You're right.

Scolding from two metres up and a metre out from left of hide. Gidday Mr Willie and Mrs Willie, how are the two wagtail youngsters? See for myself? Of course. They look bonny!

Tinkling from paperbark three metres out in front. Morning, Crimson Finches, how are you doing? Goodness only knows how many eggs or young you've got tucked in that nest hole. You'll know in good time, they said.

Churring from directly in front of hide. Hi, Brown-backed Honeyeaters, you're proving me wrong, aren't you? Going ahead with a nest I can touch? Too right, they said, you people can't see what's right in front of you.

Don't forget us, just because we're down here on the water, called three juvenile Comb-crested Jacanas. We don't like too much movement above us, but we'll be here for an hour or so.

So will we, came nervy voices from waters right and left of the hide. Hello, Green-pigmy Geese, starting to trust us, are you? Just a wee bit, they said. Did you know you go blue when backlit? I asked. Whatever, they said.

Hey what about us? chimed in the Australasian Reed Warbler, the Golden-headed Cisticola and some Red-backed Fairy-Wrens. We turn up here most days and you're leaving us till last.

No, I'm not, because here's a Yellow Honeyeater almost at touching distance and those White-breasted Woodswallows on the hand rail deserve a mention, and I'd almost forgotten the Buff-banded Rail darting for cover as I arrived and the Great Egret who stalked closer and closer to the hide before getting hungry for elsewhere and the Magpie Geese squadrons overhead and the Hardheads and Pacific Black Ducks and Wandering Whistling Ducks splashing close by and the squeaky-cushion noises from the unseen White-browed Crakes.

Besides, you birds are beautiful, but so too are the dragonfles, the damselflies, the butterflies, and that tree frog there right in front of the hide, sunning every day low on the Scleria.

But after all that there's scarcely anything here, right? Wrong, but that's another story.

First take your dragonfly

First take your dragonfly.
Fast pounce will do the trick.
Shake vigorously by the wings.
Discard the unwanted wings.
Pick up dragonfly by the head.
Gulp three or four times and swallow.

Bad morning for dragonflies. These two captures came in less than three minutes. The Willie Wagtails have young to feed and Willies are excellent parents.

But such large prey cannot be presented whole. So the birds were in no hurry to race off to the nearby nest, in a paperbark hard by the Tyto hide. As I left the dragonflies were under further attack.

The red: Diplacodes haematodes. The other: unknown.