Sunday 20 December 2009

Whistling Kite & Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.

Last Wader Count for the year. Just a few birds we saw at the local sewage ponds. Numbers here are still down owing to the continuing upgrade of the ponds.

Click on photos to enlarge.



Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus)

Saw a shadow, and looked up to find this Whistling Kite overhead.



Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata)



Raptors such as the Whistling Kite sometime cause waders to fly off but not this time.

Count numbers for the sewage ponds
Whistling Kite 1, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper 36, White Ibis 49, Pacific Black Duck 4, Black-winged Stilt 17, Black-fronted Dotterel 3, Royal Spoonbill 31, Intermediate Egret 1, Purple Swamphen 2, Chestnut Teal 3, Latham's Snipe 2.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

These are beautiful shots!
Love that whistling Kite!

I guess I just figured out, why it was so new and alien to me that birds hang out at sewage ponds.
We don't have them in Germany.
Not like this anyway.
They are so "industrialized", birds don't have any advantage of going there.

Neil said...

Thanks Nicole very interesting to know you don't have sewage ponds like ours.

eileeninmd said...

Cool sighting of the Kite. They are all beautiful bird shots. I would love to see a photo of the black winged Stilt?

Redzlan aka Tabib said...

Great birds in flight, well done.
Happy holiday!

mick said...

The 'in-flight' photos are especially good! I really like the "Sharpies"!

Kelly said...

...I've never been able to photograph a Kite....lovely capture of him in flight! I also loved your photos of the Black-winged Stilts wading in the previous post. They are beautiful birds.

Larry said...

Fantastic in-flight shots Neil! I would love to see those Whistling Kites in person some day. What a great day, 49 White Ibis, cool.

Neil said...

Thanks everyone for your comments.

Bob Kaufman said...

Lovely BIF (birds-in-flight) shots, Neil! The "sharpies" are so cute.

Anonymous said...

No one other than a birder (and the birds, of course) would understand the attraction of a sewage pond.