Monday 31 May 2010

Silver Gull & Black-winged Stilt.

Stradbroke Island again. This time the weather was less than perfect, this Silver Gull must not have much feeling in it's legs as the water was quite cold.

Click on photos to enlarge

Silver Gull (Larus novaehollandiae)

But more like our "Sunny Queensland" the last day was perfect. Near the end of the final beach survey for this trip as we approached the Jumpinpin Bar, we came across this trio of Juvenile Black-winged Stilt. They did not seem to take much notice of the 4wds going past, for as I was taking the photos a couple of vehicles went between us and the birds, but they stayed for more photos.

Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)

Not sure if they were blown off course during the bad weather the day before as we had not seen them over the previous three days.


Koala (Phaskolarctos cinereus)

The couple of time I have been over to Straddie I have seen the signs saying about Koala's in the area but have not had the time to go and look for them, not that this time was any different. As we walked down a track to the beach one of the locals who came down to walk his dog asked us if we saw the Koala in the tree and he pointed it out to us.

Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus)

I always find it interesting to watch kangaroo's when they are on the beach as I am not used to seeing them there, being more likely to see them in a paddock somewhere. These ones were picking at the seagrass that had been washed up during the high tide.

During one of our trips down the beach we watched this rainbow.

6 comments:

Larry said...

Great shots Neil. The single Black-winged Stilt with its feet covered in sand looks like he's stuck ;-)

I really enjoyed seeing the Koala and the Kangaroos too, having never seen either one in their natural settings.

mick said...

Great birds - great photos and a truly great place to visit!

eileeninmd said...

Wonderful photos of the birds! The Stilts re cool looking and remind me of our Black Necked Stilts. The Koala and Kangaroos are cool looking critters. Thanks for sharing.

MaineBirder said...

Excellent photo series Neil! Love those Stilts!

Snail said...

You can certainly see why they're called stilts!

Neil said...

Thanks everyone for your comments