Inskip Point

All set to go kayaking. Good tide early morning, only one problem, the wind was blowing a gale. Plan B, go for a drive instead to Inskip Point to see what birds were around.

Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia)

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)

Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii)

Little Tern (Sternula albifrons)

 Not very often you get a clear photo showing different species nicely lined up, in this case four terns.

 Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica) 

Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae)

Great Knot

Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris)

 A large flock of Pelicans and Godwits were on the little sand island out from the point.

Australian Pied Oystercatcher (Haematopus longiristris)

Red-capped Plover (Charadrius ruficapillus)

Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis)

For more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday

Wader Count Time Again

After having a month of not counting waders it was hard to get back into the swing of things. Because it is Winter, we were not expecting many birds, but were surprised to see so many at Norman Point with 10 species for a total of 330 birds. We have only ever recorded Great Knot at Norman Point once before in June 1998. When we went to our second site at Mullen's we only got 11 species for a total of 131 birds.

Some of the 280 Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica)

Caspian Tern (Sterna caspia) 

Gull-billed Tern (Sterna nilotica) Bar-tailed Godwit & Great Knot

Can you find the Great Knot among the Bar-tailed Godwit ?   

It was interesting to see just how many Bar-tailed Godwit and Great Knot still have breeding colour on them.

Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris) & Bar-tailed Godwit.

Tin Can Bay - Cooloola Cove.

Just a selection of birds we came across during a recent wader count at Tin Can Bay and Cooloola Cove, not all that many in number as we are waiting for the waders to return from their Northern breeding grounds. Not too much longer to wait.

Click on photos to enlarge

Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia)

Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva)

Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae)

As we were walking back from the count site we came across a fever of stingrays feeding close inshore. We do not normally see this many, there must have been a lot of food for them in this particular area.

Stingrays

Caspian Tern

Came across this flock of Caspian Terns while waiting for the ferry on Stradbroke Island. There was also a large flock of Pied Oystercatchers with them. As we got closer to the flock, Eastern Curlew and Bar-tailed Godwit flew off. We thought that maybe they have not long arrived back as they were not at this site two days before when we checked it out.

Click on photos to enlarge

Caspian Tern (Sterna caspia)