Mungalla mob masses amid mud

Massed Egrets and Spoonbills crowd Mungalla Station wetlands for final feeding flurries before the shallows become fast-drying mud, probably  within a fortnight as the dry season intensifies.

Some migratory visitors are more than happy to see more mud. Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva) numbers lower than in past seasons but starting to rise.

Also showing up to spend time on the mud, Red-capped Plover. Nonbreeding plumage gives only hints of the birds' breeding colours. 

From an earlier, rather colourless day, pair of White-browed Crake (Amaurornis cinerea) poke about among blue waterlilies.