Geoff Rakers contributed this recent sighting and photos: While travelling along Shark Point Rd., I noticed a group of birds on the Northern riverbank, near the large inlet bridge to Orielton Lagoon. A Royal Spoonbill was preening itself, closely and apparently warily scrutinised by three White-faced Heron "attendants". Not long after, the Spoonbill entered the river and began sifting in the shallows. The herons mysteriously dispersed. I wa
s able to photograph the feeding bird from the bridge and thought; "What a coincidence! Viewing a 'Royal' on the Queen's Birthday holiday.[Ed. comment: The Royal Spoonbill is a rare species in Tasmania and this bird (I think) has been about the Orielton Lagoon/Sorell area for sometime. I've seen it on a number of occasions, but never able to find it in a photographable position. Thanks Geoff, I hope you'll become a regular contributor.]
4 comments:
Good shots, Geoff.
We saw and photographed this bird near the Shark Point Swimming School last year, and, thinking we were very clever to have found a rarity in Tassie, immediately phoned Bill Wakefield to let him know. He gently informed us that this bird had been around for about 18 months prios to that! Still a great bird, though. And as Alan says, it's often not in a reasonable location for photography. Congratulations!
And another Post-script:
It looks like its' been feeding in muddy water, byt the stains on its neck in the upper shot. When we saw it last year (3/11/05) it had very prominent Nuptial Plumes, and yellow eyebrows.
PPS,
We have also seen it - presumably the same bird - down on the Carlton River on the road between Dodges Ferry and Primrose Sands on May 25th this year.
(hopefully, this is my last post-script)
Nice shots indeed, I have see it once, in a flooded field a bit further up the road from the bridge, but the light wasn't as nice, nor was it close enough.
Hope to see more of your shots on here Geoff...
Felix
Post a Comment