Drifting into the shallows

As construction of a new lagoon and boardwalk motors ahead near Tyto HQ, a few seasonal regulars are drifting back to the more distant western shallows. Also noticeable, gradual additions to newcomer numbers.

A pair of Hardheads (Aythyla australis) turned up last month. Two became four, six, eight, 10, 12, 16, 18 in ensuing weeks. A similar process is building up the Royal Spoonbills (Platalea regia).

A solo Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) was joined today by two others and the Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) by one other. And the first Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) of the season was running about the margins.

Still no sign of sandpipers, godwits, plovers or stints. Never too many, but this year the lagoon shallows after broken weather and many showers (and rain) since May are 20cm to 30cm deeper than in a drier Dry.

It's possible the reed flats that in past years could support trucks spraying water weeds may not dry out at all in 2008. Good for crakes, rails, bitterns and many other shy species, not so good for those seeking to spot them.

Egret strikes a streak?

Almost always successful, not always tidily so!

Sat in the open at the edge of a bay in the main lagoon today waiting for a feeding Intermediate Egret (Ardea intermedia) to wander into camera range. No noble object in mind, apart from hoping for cloud, snowy white bird and distance to coincide with my photographic desires.

As with 99 per cent of such enterprises the desires went unsatisfied. But it was enjoyable sitting in the warmth, with or without the co-operation of the egret and the clouds.

After the opening five minutes or so what finally struck me was the bird's high success rate. Roughly 20 strikes for one probable miss. The figures included three land strikes - all winners, of squat insects, presumably small grasshoppers or similar - and about 17 against smaller fish and insects in and on the water - and usually swallowed in an instant.

Perhaps the bird was on a lucky roll. I can't recall in the past noticing such success. Or perhaps something that's been staring me in the face finally caught my attention. You can count on me paying more attention beside the lagoon!

And just because it's fun, here's nature bringing out the clowns. Well, circus days are what these two dangling breeze-blown larvae reminded me of. Not uncommon. Sorry, don't know species.

Tilting at lists and craning a neck

Black-necked Stork reveals inner bill colour almost matching vivid coral red of her legs. Yellow eye distinguishes females from males. Note distinctly nonblack neck. Just one of many birds done an injustice by its name.

IF birdos on the Titanic had been told of a list to port they'd have demanded to know what birds were on it.
For we do love lists: today's species; week's; month's; year's; lifetime's. One site; block; cell; state; country; world.
So those of us not physicists are all more or less Rutherford's 'stamp collectors'. Give Ernest his due, it's unlikely he was in total earnest. Those super-starched 1930s types failed to feel their legs being firmly tugged by the atom-splitting Kiwi.
Taxonomists can take all the umbrage they like, but surely one of Rutherford's points would have been: is the list real (will it stand rigorous scrutiny)?
How real are the lists many of us love to be challenged by? Not the major international and national lists. No matter how bizarrely geographic, inclusive, exclusive, lumping or splitting they may be, at least they are under serious scrutiny.
But many impressively long lesser lists seek to cash in on eco-tourism and the 'big bucks' birdos throw around. Laugh if you like, but the tourism industry appears to believe birdos are mostly millionaires. It also has an inflated idea of birding numbers (partly because most caravanners, for example, tick the box in surveys - and indeed may glance at them sometimes). The temptation all round is to gild the lily.
After puzzling over some 'optimistic' lists might I suggest birding groups work on guidelines to help tourism and local, state and federal government produce info that's both accurate and - to my point - realistic.

Catching prey and flights of fancy

GREAT Egret carves out a morning shadow as it stands poised with a small catch snapped up from among the water weed on a water treatment pond near Ingham.

Another Great Egret takes off across a treatment lagoon. Hard to take crisp shots with Panasonic FZ30 because of slow auto focus and narrow ISO range. Also a trial holding all the white tones without blowing everything away.

A digression into the world of entertainment. The lagoon treats water from the largest sugar cane mill in the Southern Hemisphere. Baz Luhrman's latest offering, Australia, features a small railway engine. That engine was puffing away at CSR's mill today, as part of an annual Italian festival in town. Small worlds?

DARTER puts best feet forward as it prepares for one of its typically clumsy crash landings into the top of a melaleuca (paperbark). Seems odd that a bird that spends all its feeding time in and under the water - using huge webbed feet - shows a liking for perching in trees whose tops are all twigs and small leaves rather than substantial bare branches. Also known as Snake Birds, Darters compete with four species of Cormorant for fish and eels.

CHANGE of pace and place with one of those shots that surprises the photographer. Intent was to capture a splash of colour and movement in Ingham's small botanical gardens. I was scarcely aware of a small family group tossing bread into the lotus pools for the resident snake-necked turtles. Only after cropping and adjusting the shot did I spot the children. Small irony: I found them, but their bread found no favour with the turtles.