Some mornings hold extra magic

Some mornings come full of extra magic. Today started with Little Bronze Cuckoo snatching Tussock Moth caterpillar from foliage above the road.

Soon after, what's on the road but another Tussock caterpillar, probably same species, but with tan coloured tussocks on its back rather than the white of the cuckoo's victim.

A few paces down the road, the Eastern Ospreys were seen changing places on the nest where the female mostly has been sitting for about three weeks. I think she's pictured returning to the nest later in the morning. Hard to tell, since the pair are almost identically plumaged.

Further walking up the road brought wayward frog into view. Seemed content to be rescued from near certain death as roadkill and sat sedately in safer surroundings for photographs. Efforts to ID species brought up hundreds of pink-spotted items of kitsch online, but nothing that looked anything like above. An expert has been consulted. Juvenile Cane Toad. See my pink blushes?

To top things off, Brown Snake - after crossing near same stretch of road - stuck around for closeups. Asking for it to make a kill for the camera was possibly pushing the morning's magic a bit too far.

Who needs a flash new camera?

Had to trot out with old Panasonic camera today at Tyto after brain fade yesterday deleted some great pix from my Canon CF card. Will try using Media Recovery (after buying external CF card reader tomorrow) to get pix back. Anyway, today's Little Bronze Cuckoo (Chalcites minutillus - above) almost makes me wonder why I needed flash new camera and lovely 300L IS lens. Just joking, good old FZ30 seldom this sharp (because I was very close to bird!).

Here's something more like typical effort. Whistling Kite saw mature Black-necked Stork seeing off this maturing stork, and decided it also should play the bullyboy.

Earlier in week almost got a decent Fairy Gerygone shot.

Found this Northern Fantail looking up.

And chased after this Varied Triller, without getting a clean background.

More rain, two more sunnier birds

More heavy rain today. More tomorrow. And the next day. But we've cleaned up almost all the caravan park. No danger of huge reflood, but Herbert River rising slightly, delaying any concerted start on work in Ingham. Now it's time for sunnier images. 

Golden-headed Cisticola (Cisticola exilis) perky and chirpy. The picture's a bit soft, disguised by the sharply alert eye. Lefthand branch retained to help frame bird. Two distracting out of focus branches cloned out from behind the head.

Not much risk of this bird being taken for much rarer, whiter Zitting Cisticola, but Tyto visitors are prone to wishful thinking. No record of a Zitting near the wetlands in almost five years.

Little Bronze Cuckoo (Chalcites minutillus) also suffered background problems. The black bill was lost in the darkness.   Isolated the bill and darkened it to obtain some extra separation and so gain a little more definition. Heavy branch cloned out from across back of bird. The beauty of the plumage in morning light made the effort worthwhile.