Slurpee time for Magpie Geese pigging out

It's slurpee time for the Magpie Geese in the Townsville Common - thanks to the unstinting industry of the feral pigs ploughing into Bulkuru sedge (water chestnut) for the tubers relished by both species.

Birds swooped down in recent early morning chills to follow up the snorting good work by about six sturdy pigs, five of which logged off at 7.15am today.

Not interested in tubers but enjoying fringe benefits, Yellow-billed Spoonbills,  two photobombed by Masked Lapwing.

White-necked Herons another bird turning up to snap up anything showing life on the mud.

Nearby, solitary Red-kneed Dotterel joined scores of sedentary Black-fronted Dotterels on an area abandoned by the tuber brigades.

No fairy tale finish for young Magpie Geese

Can't help thinking of the Ugly Duckling in reverse when chancing upon family of Magpie Geese. Cute start quickly turns to gangly 'teens' and conky-honky adulthood,

But they carry a certain grace through the air and on the water. (Low numbers in Townsville Common and I've seen only one young, so above images all from suburban Anderson Park.)

Wandering Whistling Ducks waltz in

Five hundred Wandering Whistling Ducks waltzed about on the water at the Melaleuca viewing spot in the Townsville Town Common this morning

That's 492 more than the total for several weeks, when a family of two plus six persisted on the Borrow Pits - the only pools of any size - even after the young were mature enough to fly off.

But Magpie Geese numbers are falling off. Seems many of the birds that rushed in after recent rains have moved off the open pools and into the wide expanses of flooded grasses, or even to pastures greener (or tastier). Above bird appeared to join some ducks just for the company.

Got a bit closer to this pair over the weekend. Big bump on bonce reveals male in front.

Fancy flight and flight of fancy

Fancy flights and a failed flight of fancy stock the pre-Xmas blog stocking. First up, Green Pygmy Geese (Nettapus pulchellus) take off - trailing a few drops of water - across a scleria backdrop at the main lagoon yesterday.

Near perfect group of Magpie Geese (Anseranas semipalmata) flukily fills the frame. Lucky, uncropped shot offers range of wing variation and positioning. Not something to plan for. Unlike shot below of MG cruising over the lagoon.

Hard to plan for in-flight shot of immature Nankeen Night-Heron (Nycticorax caledonicus). Just the one bird, probably, and no set routine or favourite roost. But something spooked this bird the other morning and in its flap it scarcely noticed me watching an Oriental Cuckoo nearby (yes, the one that I missed in flight).

And here's a Comb-crested Jacana (Irediparra gallinacea) passing beneath me at the Tyto lookout. Plenty of to-and-fro always with the species, but usually too far off.

Finally, today's picture that's just plain off. You can possibly see the plan, but nothing quite panned out. Didn't persist because parent Bush Thick-knee (Burhinus grallarius) was getting a bit toey. Season's grittings ...
  

Stacking up some aerial shots

Stack of Magpie Geese (Anseranas semipalmata) about the place at present. They don't always present so obligingly stacked as this shot from earlier today. Nor have too many presented overhead as did the one below.

Also caught in midair, an Intermediate Egret (Ardea intermedia) sets off beady-eyed to drive another away from its patch near the centre of the main lagoon (parts of which are again drying after last month's unseasonal 250mm of rain).

Plenty of Purple Swamphens (Porphyrio porphyrio) lately, though proving difficult to sneak up on. Seems they always have the odds stacked in their favour. For the present ...