Wet scenes swamp the dry season

Water, water everywhere - and it's the dry season! Recent Tyto scenes. Green Pygmy-goose (Nettapus pulchellus) pair on the main lagoon, close to capacity.

White-browed Crake (Amaurornis cinerea) steps down scleria toward water that would usually be at least 30cm lower at this time of year.  

Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys) pauses between terrorising passing dragonflies, on perch that should be over drying mud.

Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles) shows wing spurs on flight past the lookout.  Nothing unusual here, watery background simply suits the theme.
Click pix to enlarge   

Ulysses continue to flutter by

Ulysses (Papilio ulysses) butterflies close wings upon landing and thus hide their startling blue colours. Their erratic and swift fluttering makes photography difficult.

Almost got the full blue image in Tyto yesterday, only to have butterfly turn and offer underside view as it left tulip tree flowers.

More Grey Goshawk chasing but this Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles) the only usable picture after five clear sightings. Lapwings sped down main lagoon, tailed half-heartedly by the goshawk, which had probably been chasing other prey.

Also in the air over the lagoons, White-bellied Sea-Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster), and an Eastern Great Egret (Ardea modesta), on Saturday. Egrets and ducks all take off when sea-eagles appear. Wisely. Big raptors have big appetites. (Today, more panic with Swamp Harrier taking keen interest reed shallows at western end of lagoon.)

An earlier picture shows egrets don't offer much meat. Wouldn't want to live on pickings from those wings!

Junior Lapwing steps forward

Almost missed seeing young Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles) beside cattle road near coast yesterday.

Screaming parent gave game away. Birds settled down when car stopped.

Used passenger-side window as camera support. Sprawled from driver's seat and fought cramp and aching knee. The things we do ...

Earlier, came upon Lemon-bellied Flycatcher (Microeca flavigaster) in coastal woodland. Species used to turn up in Tyto, but largely absent for past four years.

Unhappy first sighting near Ingham (for me) of Australian Pratincole (Stiltia isabella) on cattle road. Bird ran along road. Behaviour, drooping right wing indicate fracture. Water, food and cover enough for short-term survival.

Masked Lapwing on guard

Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles) leaves no doubt about its intention to defend four eggs in a 'nest' (the merest of depressions amid short grassy weeds) beside a sugar mill road near Ingham. Spotted the breeding pair a few days ago and drove in yesterday with camera at ready.

A few moments of fuss from the bird and plenty of pictures from the car for me and we could return to doing what comes naturally. The bird sat back on the greasy-green eggs - which look as if thinly splattered with black by a Jackson Pollock wannabe. I drove off looking for anything out of the ordinary around the mill treatment ponds. Nothing!

The photographic catches at Tyto have continued to be thin, with low overall bird numbers and reduced species present. But a few birds yesterday and today fronted up for brief flights across my horizon. They all managed to looked sharper and more attractive in life than in camera. Goes without saying, of course. 

Female Black-necked Stork teased me into contemplating crawl closer (on swollen bung knee!) as it poked and prodded at the western end of the main lagoon. Luckily it eased into the air and headed east before I committed to the almost certainly fruitless effort to catch if off guard. Its presence back after the floods is, however, a favourable hint of other impending returns.

Magpie Geese have stayed in the general area, though not in large numbers. Even these big birds can be difficult to sneak up on, the more so since they've taken to the tree tops more frequently since the floods and are flightier.

One noteworthy sighting yesterday came when a pair of Shining Flycatchers darted up a creekline just as I was puzzling over the disappearance of a Common Tree Snake from a footbridge. Seems I was victim of divided attention disorder (DAD, as in you're getting old, Dad!): trying to watch three things at once led to losing all three! It did mean a rare tick, the male flycatcher being the first in five years for me at Tyto. Even females, less enamoured of the shadows, seldom venture into Tyto.

Also standing out from this week's sightings: a White-browed Crake and four large young just beginning to grow out of their black plumage. Should prove to be the first of many families begun when the floodwaters receded. 

Another nesting pair also showed out. Earlier in the week watched from 40 metres away as a Comb-crested Jacana alighted directly on top of its partner in the middle of open water with just a few scraggly lotus roots and leaves forming a precarious platform. Missed the picture! Could just make out the upper outline of two eggs today. Progress will be easy enough to follow and report, near to impossible to photograph effectively.

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.