Osprey gobbles Tilapia gobbet

Large red gobbet of Tilapia for male Osprey today in dead tree near recently vacated nest beside road into Town Common, Townsville. Partner vanished swiftly at my approach in long grass and tangles of fallen trees. And no sign of juvenile, only 10 days or so since it was perched above one of the pools from which today's Tilapia almost certainly came. 

Also in the area, Little Pied Cormorant, on fallen tree in fast-evaporating pool. Bird allowed uncommonly close approach - walk and talk has its merits.

Life in the sticks stacks up for birds

Sticks. Some birds need stacks of them. Whistling Kite returns towards nest after seeing off cheeky young Brahminy Kite that ventured too close. But on the way home, why not stop off for a bit of extra for the relatively modest nest high in eucalyptus?

Young White-bellied Sea-eagle not so long ago stood upon stack of sticks vastly outweighing the kite's. Parent birds lately heard honking from their massive creation in Townsville Town Common Park. Be no surprise soon to see them carrying fresh stocks of sticks to the nest.

Then there's those that stick to standing stock still on sticks. Nankeen Night Heron, in early morning light, for example. Or Little Pied Cormorant.

Pheasant Coucal not sticking totally to the theme, half on, half off.

White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike goes one better, all on and all off.

Little Friarbird, meanwhile, sticks to daily preening routine, stock-in-trade for all birds whether from the sticks or the heights.

Catching up in black and white

Cyclone Yasi didn't blow White-browed Robins (Poecilodryas superciliosa) away from Tyto but did change their behaviour. They now spend more time higher in trees because of stripped and sunnier undergrowth. Today's distant sighting sets black-and-white theme.

Black Butcherbird (Cracticus quoyi) caught out away from shadows at Macknade (near one of my crocodile sites).  

Spangled Drongo (Dicrurus bracteatus) sparkles on pandanus stump in Tyto.

Little Pied Cormorant (Microcarba melanoleucos) in morning sunshine by roadside pool near Toobanna.
Click pix to enlarge

Bigger fish catch on

Commented a bit back that Intermediate Egrets (Ardea intermedia) usually take very small fish. Naturally, along comes an exception.

Poised motionless for some time before jumping into action.

Quick return to Yasi debris tossed to lagoon margin by shire cleanup team.

Near head-first positioning of fish, ready for fast swallow.

More distant, and a Little Pied Cormorant (Microcarba melanoleucos)  matches the egret's catch size. 


Footnote: Fishing world full of ones that got away, but only rarely would such stories be told in the bird world! 
Click pix to enlarge

Pictures less than perfect

Picture perfect is an ideal often leading (as ideals do) to perverse extremes. Fear not, no tirade follows against the ism of your choice, not even perfectionism. Of which, to my knowledge, I've never been accused, rightly, given lack of any evidence. But I do wish birds wouldn't besot with their beauty before hiding their lights behind bushels of bushes and branches when the camera comes out. Above picture of Little Bronze-Cuckoo (Chalcites minutillus) gets bird looking awkward on wrong side of perch; tail part obscured by branch.

Little Pied Cormorant (Microcarba melanoleucos) at first almost seemed to be wearing necklace, then shifted and rather ruined (my mind's eye) picture.

Wandering Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna arcuata) gets one feather out of place over face and image should have been waved goodbye.

Peaceful Dove (Geopelia striata) looks okay, but lifts a foot and develops case of the shakes.

As always, there's always tomorrow...

Cor, cormorants and blurry bittern

Interesting bits later, the one decent picture first. Little Pied Cormorant (Microcarba melanoleucos) in solo pose near a Tyto lagoon. Little Pieds stand alone, in contrast to Little Black Cormorants (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris). Any fish the solitary hunter Pied takes brings no threat of theft from a fishing companion.

But Little Blacks hunt in packs. The advantage appears to be a 'herding' of fish ahead of the swift swimming pack. The disadvantage is an instant challenge against any bird that takes a fish too large to be immediately swallowed. Side note: 50-60 Little Blacks in Tyto overnight the only large group of the species to spend much time in the wetlands in six years or more.

Worst for last. Australian Little Bittern (Ixobrychus dubius) disappears across scleria in Tyto today. Male, but you'll have to take my word for it. My only flight picture in six years. Saw male and female yesterday, without even bad picture. Tomorrow ...

Heron hot-foots it for food

White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) stalks through a shallow pool at Tyto. All that muddy water must make it hard to see prey. But the heron has a sneaky secret. It sometimes wiggles a foot forward and back, feeling through the mud for food.

Little Pied Cormorant (Microcarba melanoleucos) gives some wing feathers a brisk airing as morning sunlight floods its paperbark perch. The cormorants spend much of the day defending their stretches of lagoon from rivals ofthe same species, but ignore competition from the resident Snake-necked Darters.

Catching a few on the wing

Rufous Night-Heron

Masked Lapwing

Welcome Swallow

Little Pied Cormorant

And one that didn't fly: White Ibis