Clinch Gouldian finch - aviary sneaky cinch

Hard to get close to Gouldian Finches in the wild. Very hard to find any close to Townsville. Except ... except for rare escapee, or - shudder  - inmate. But let's swiftly bypass arguments for and against aviaries (I'm mostly against) because they're too vexing. Let's just stare at a beautiful bird and hope it's happy and as healthy as it appears to be behind the fine-mesh enclosure at Queen's Gardens, Townsville. This bird had a red-headed and four black-headeds for company. Nothing sophisticated about photographic technique, determine best settings, then press 100-500 zoom lens firmly against metal mesh and shoot. 

No such ethical questions attaching to shot of Plum-headed Finch, one of up to 200 flocking here and there at north end of Townsville Town Common Conservation Park lately. Biggest flock of the seasonal and only sometime visitors to the park in recent years.

Zebra Finches haven't been making many prominent appearances in the Common lately, but can usually be found year-round nearby in Belgian Gardens Cemetery and Mundy Creek grasslands. Pictured bird was surprise bonus as I sat waiting for Little Kingfisher to appear at one of its favoured feeding spots. 

Twitcher's twiggy twists need tweaking

Not often the birds line up for same 'natural' perch beside the road at eye level with the trusty Troopy but busy Rainbow Bee-eater and fidgety Willie Wagtail couldn't get enough of landing spot and feast of insects in air close to northern arm of Mundy Creek on Old Common Road, Townsville, this morning.

'Natural' because on first photographing the Rainbow two annoying side twigs kept getting in the way. So, naturally they were sneakily removed and birds were left alone for 10 minutes or so. On return from hunting other action further along the road both birds were still at it. 

Why not remove the other bits so out of focus? So intent on the birds I didn't twig to intruding debris. Sometime drive for perfection needs a lot more work, I'm afraid.

Second thoughts overnight. Quick tidy-up with Gimp to clone away most obvious OOF bits - and wee extra sharpen. Far from perfect, but better.

Some just stand and wait . . .

Blue-winged Kookaburra waiting to pounce . . .

Others let others do pouncing for them . . .

But most must pounce for themselves.

Tough to stalk the stalk-carrying Black-necked Stork

Here's Mr Sneaky, whose nest is just behind us - somewhere. He's sneaky because he takes different routes out and in on flights to collect grass for nest lining. And he always carries the grass so it covers the left side of his head. How sneaky is that? Tough to stalk the Black-necked Stork.

Nor is it easy walking through high guinea grass and swampy sedges to say good morning to Black-shouldered Kite. Bird considered the friendly greeting, shrugged the black shoulders, and delivered the old cold shoulder.

Much friendlier, fast-maturing Australian Hobby. Gidday, I shouted from Payets Tower in the Town Common. Gidday yourself, bird said. Well, maybe it didn't. But it did cast careless look at me before going back to ignoring efforts by Whitebreasted Woodswallows to move it on.

And old mate White-bellied Sea Eagle put up with considerable inane conversation before letting loose with an excretive expletive and departure as I got too close to perching place near locked gate at turnoff to Bald Rock.

Just across road on the same morning, Rainbow Bee-eater shows at its best in cool early light. But - always a but - it ignored the two perches free of distracting foliage. Easy, sez you, clone em out. Now, there's the problem. All that lovely background is full of subtle colour changes, making cloning nigh impossible to conceal.

The question seldom ever arises with Tawny Grassbird. Here's a bird that delights in tormenting. Pops up for a split-second, dives back into thick grasses. Or emerges from tangle of twigs and poses against the messiest of backgrounds.

Often in the same habitat as the grassbirds, Red-backed Fairy Wrens oblige by moving through trees and clearer foraging spots. Not too sneaky. Not too shy. Not too quick. Only ... only the red and black males don't oblige near so often. However, all things come ...

Mungalla days not all about Yellow Wagtails

More chasing Yellow Wagtails at Mungalla for the last week, without notable capture of the species in the camera.

But it's not all about the flighty migrants. Rainbow Bee-eaters are breeding in their sand tunnels and watching for food passing on the wing.

A Royal Spoonbill pauses in the mopping up of prey in a fast-drying pool of mud and dying water hyacincth.

One Intermediate Egret shows out from scores of others atop nearby trees and drops in to feed.

An Australian Pipit has the hunt for food down pat.

White-breasted Woodswallow takes up higher vantage point.

One of the hundreds of sources of Pipit pedestals enjoys an extended scratch in an ear (probably not uncommon behaviour but something new to me).

Nearby, tight-coiled Carpet Python rests motionless, unconcerned as camera closes to within a metre.

Not so still, Gould's Monitor caught away from boltholes and trees to climb considers its situation:  cautious walk away proves the right answer.

Seeing and believing swallowed up

Bit of love and sharing between species? Nope, just an ambiguous picture. Sacred Kingfisher pounced on grasshopper and flew up to cottonwood branch. Rainbow Bee-eater turned casually to eye the newcomer. Grasshopper vanished down kingfisher gullet in a flash. Birds flew off a few seconds later.

Close by, my toothy mate at Mungalla Station begins a leisurely descent to the security of his or her waterhole:  3-3.5m of Saltwater Crocodile menace looks unthreatening. Another case of appearances being deceptive.   

Another breezy day, another shot of male Leaden Flycatcher clinging to a fence. Missing pieces? Bits of steel cloned out. Another picture doing a bit of fibbing.

Catch and catch again

Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops ornatus) plays catch and catch again. Too far off and lousy angle, but typical handling of tricky prey by many bird species.

Click pix to enlarge 

Rainbow Bee-eater prrps into place

Plenty of Rainbow Bee-eaters (Merops ornatus) 'prrpping' about the place these days. 

Not too many posing on low points.

Pity the pallid light in Tyto today played down bird's colours.
Click pix to enlarge

Red-browed Finch hard to pin down

Crafty Red-browed Finch (Neochmia temporalis) gathers nest material near Tyto hide today.

Hard to spot nest because bird enters one tree and then sneaks across high into another, where the nest is hidden.

Good chance, however, to get bit closer to the wary species.

Yesterday, chased in-flight images of Rainbow Bee-eaters (Merops ornatus) in high winds along my favourite country road.

But couldn't shoot fast enough in the cloudy conditions.


Anyone else finding their multiple picture uploads no longer working properly?    
Click pix to enlarge