Hacking Sea-eagle shows off healthy tongue

Probably not a smoker, so White-bellied Sea-eagle's hacking cough from dead bough on nest tree in Townsville Common may have come from something bony only a big scavenger would eat.

Diet must be healthy enough, given colour of long tongue.

Coughing at an end, almost time to head off and see what's on morning menu.

Also busy hunting overhead these days, adult Brahminy Kite and immature offspring.

Magpie-lark sees off screaming Koel

Male Eastern Koel (Eudynamys scolopaceus) screams  after being seen off by Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca) anxious to avoid being parasitised, though few female Koels seen yet. 

Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles) screams toward the camera as a pair of the aggressive breeders defend a patch of footy field near Tyto Wetlands.

Brahminy Kites (Haliastur indus) too pretty to scream.

Even when one approaches their nest near Dungeness the response is merely a mew.