Monday 5 October 2009

Black-winged Stilt and Royal Spoonbill

A visit to the local sewage ponds is one of the few places where Black-winged Stilt and Royal Spoonbill can be found on a regular basis. During our last bird count at this site we had 11 species of birds - Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal, Chestnut Teal, Little Black Cormorant, Cattle Egret, Australian White Ibis, Royal Spoonbill, Purple Swamphen, Black-winged Stilt, Black-fronted Dotterel and Masked Lapwing.

Click on photos to enlarge



Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)





Black-winged Stilt and Royal Spoonbill



Royal Spoonbill (Platalea regia)


Black-winged Stilt, Royal Spoonbill and Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca)

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah, documentation for your comment that the ibis hang out at the local sewage ponds. Species vary, but bird behavior is consistent the world over.

Great photos - my favs are the first one of the stilt, and the spoonbill in the tree.

Bob Kaufman said...

Great photos, Neil. Interesting that sewage ponds attract a lot of birds. Same thing here in the U.S.

Neil said...

Thanks Wren, Bob and Cynthia. Present major upgrade of the sewage ponds has removed a lot of the habitat. Hopefully the bird numbers will come back.

Redzlan aka Tabib said...

Beautiful pictures.
Now is the start of migratory season here with a lot of shore birds.

Kelly said...

Ahhh....love those little mucky-mucked feet in the first photo, and the spoonbills are gorgeous. I love the contrast between the white feathers and the black of the face/bill.

Neil said...

Thanks Tabib and Kelly not the most enjoyable place to go wading but the birds seem to enjoy it.

Larry Jordan said...

Oh yeah, those birds love the sewage ponds don't they? Nice captures Neil. I liked the last two shots with the Spoonbill in the tree and the 3 species together.

Neil said...

Thanks Larry a good spot to go birding.

Nicole said...

Amazing shots and birds.
The Spoonbills are great!
I heard about the sewage thing first time here in Egypt.
I yet have to go and find that place though.
Traveling there by myself is maybe not a smart move ;)
Sigh.

Neil said...

Thanks Nicole
Probably not wise to go on your own.
Thanks for your comments.