Hibiscus Harlequin females flashest

Here's a bug. A Hibiscus Harlequin Bug. On a Coastal Hibiscus at Freshwater in the Townsville Common. And unlike birds, bug females get the flashest colours.

But he doesn't look too bad either. Much more on bugs here:

Back to birds. Sharp-tailed Sandpipers prominent at Pandanus viewing area.

And Black-necked Stork showing out from hundreds of Pelicans, Herons and
Egrets and Stilts at Melaleuca viewing area.

Flashback to those walls of flying ducks

Flashback to the '50s today at Tyto Wetlands with Cotton Pygmy-goose (Nettapus coromandelianus) trio flashing across the main lagoon like a middle class home lounge decor feature.

Do think though nature does the decorating better than the plaster kitsch plants.

But a bird doesn't have to flash over some picturesque stretch of water to enhance the natural beauty of a scene. Who's a pretty Plumed Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna eytoni) then?

Less pretty as a picture, but pretty true to nature is the alarm of Pied Heron (Egretta picata) as it realises vehicle along Orient Station has come to a stop on road beside its fishing sspot. Adding insult to you-know-what, the driver and his mate then leapt out and began wholesale capture of heron's fish with big circular baitnet.

Same spot, but with lens swivelled 90 degrees and here's a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata) showing typically less concern about people close by. Pretty, but not really possessing that '50s look.

An afterthought: whatever happened to all those pink flamingos embedded in lawns?

Looking sharp before El Nino takes over

Looking sharp and nicely balanced, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata) stands poised in the disappearing water at the western end of Tyto Wetlands.

Looks likely with deepening El Nino there'll be no rain for three months so long before Xmas the Sharpie won't be hanging around this part of the lagoon.

Nor will this Royal Spoonbill (Platalea regia) be able to stand around with wet feet in this side pool along the northern boundary of the wetlands.

And Sacred Kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus) on branch overlooking a deeper section of the main lagoon may also be facing a dry outlook by December. Interesting times ahead ...

Australian Pratincoles dig life on the road

It's not only Dharma Bums that dig being on the road. Australian Pratincole (Stiltia isabella) likes nothing more than dropping in from on high and cruising the Orient station scene ...

... or grooving in the mud in nearby Cassady country (Mungalla).

Less often seen on the road, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata) creates optical illusion: being wholly on road but seemingly in water from ankles (where our knees are) down.

Standing in water rather than on a road is more their go.