Zorry! Zose Zittings zey izn't zere

Longish walk for bung knee today in quest of info from the field after hearing of purported Zitting Cisticola sightings in the Town Common. Four kilometres, four hours and 54 Cisticolas (yep, 54!) later and nothing but Golden-headeds. Zip Zittings. Zilch Zittings. Zero Zittings. Okay?

Not much room along the bund between Freshwater and Bald Rock given the hordes of Cisticolas, but Little Pied Cormorant spied chance to drop in on two pals.

Also crowded with action, paperbarks and eucalypts at walk's outward end (for me), with both Helmeted (above) and Little Friarbirds prominent, though neither species calling, unlike plenty of honeyeaters and others.

Bit of luck too, catching the only Australasian Grebe seen, coming up with green frog. Probably regular enough part of the diet, but I can't recall any similar sighting. Sorry about image; long way off.

Getting on board without ducks

Great  times lately at Mungalla Station near Ingham trying for pictures of seldom seen ducks. Without success. But there are always compensations, including close encounter with Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae).

And here's a Pallid Cuckoo (Cacomantis pallidus) paying one of its infrequent visits to the area.

Sometimes a passing Brolga (Grus rubicunda) gets close enough to fill the frame.

Not so often seen up  this way, Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides). So-so image, but immature bird shows species' long throat hackles. 

The ducks stay on the list.

Getting sneakily technical with wee Grebe

Sneaky way to sneak up on Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae) in Tyto this week: (tech alert!) attach Kenko 2X converter to 100-400mm F5.6 lens. So what? So Kenko somehow tricks Canon 7D to retain some autofocus, which it won't allow with Canon 1.4X converter, let alone 2X. Image quality suffers a bit, but even at ISO1600 above picture not bad (tech ends). 

Nothing technical about Australasian Darter (Anhinga novehollandiae) closeup. Bird surfaced in small Tyto pool but wouldn't risk emerging fully to fly off, so ducked and dived for several minutes until I walked away.

Long-distance noisy 400mm shot of Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides) on fallen tree near Orient Station this week was to be paired with 2X image, but bird put breakfast ahead of posing.   

Soft image high-angled Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus axillaris), near Orient Station, also put food first and took off before tripod could be deployed for steadier picture.

Sacred Kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus), in Tyto, sits still, too far away for sharper detail. No 2X at hand at time, but nothing technical fixes things if the bird is simply too far off.   
Click pix to enlarge

Grebe goes it alone on lagoon

Male Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae) busy on main lagoon lately, sticking close at first to pair of Green Pygmy-geese, striking out alone mostly in past few days. Perhaps he's unaware of grebes on ponds across the other side of Ingham. 

Never wanting for company when small schools of fish are being herded, Little Black Cormorants (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris) are mainly hunting alone recently. Pickings have presumably dropped off after the Wet's aquatic breeding flush.       

A few more Intermediate Egrets (Ardea intermedia) are jumping into action on the main lagoon as outlying ephemeral pools in the area start to evaporate, though coastal showers are slowing the process.
Click pix to enlarge