Tasmania,island state of Australia. Alan Fletcher's occasional blog about the enjoyment of birding in Tasmania.If your interest is images, visit my pbase site (see "links"). All images are copyright owned by their authors. If you wish to use any, please ask E-mail: tassiebirds@iinet.net.au
Thursday, May 29, 2008
The Bread Run
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Little Swanport Melee
can see from the accompanyi
Back down the inlet, some of the pelicans and cormorants, now joined by Crested Terns and the odd Kelp and Pacific Gull, were fishing close to the boat ramp, so I made another quick drive to close on them. Most of the Great Cormorants were now drying out on the sandbanks, probably having had their fill of fish, leaving only an odd bird or two fishing, along with tens of Crested Terns and a few pelicans. It's always a somewhat frantic scene, as some of the hapless fish, in this case mainly Garfish, come up to the surface, giving the birds their chance of a feed. It's an all in melee, often only for a few minutes, before the fish are sighted elsewhere, causing another frantic chase. Whether caused by frustration or perhaps a reaction, I noted the confrontation photographed at lower left. A Gr
I had only been at Little Swanport for about an hour or so, and by now the pelicans were fishing well down the inlet, in much shallower water, better suited to them, and the weather was closing in. Time to leave. A well worthwhile trip, my only regret was not arriving sooner. I stopped off briefly at Rostrevor Lagoon, near Triabunna, on my way back. The water level is very low--both Orford and Triabunna have water restrictions at the 'critical' level, and perhaps not surprisingly, the lagoon is a refuge for waterfowl, and there were some hundreds there. Of particular interest was the presence of 24 Blue-billed Duck and 17 Hardheads, both species uncommon in Tasmania, although Rostrevor Lagoon is one of the more reliable venues for seeing them.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Tasmanian & Brown Thornbills
There appear to be a few obvious differences--easy when you have images and not looking at birds in the canopy or against the light. The Browns are much better marked on the breast, and they have noticeably larger bills. The undertail coverts are light brown in the Brown, and white in the Tasmanian--t
his has been one of my diag
So if you're looking at 'brown' thornbills i
The Tasmanian Thornbill images were shot in the Wielangta Forest, and the Browns in the Peter Murrell Reserve.
NB.If you're interested in looking at the Tasmanian Bird images that I'm currently inputting, you may find them at www.pbase.com/tassiebirds , I will eventually put a link in. The site is still under construction.
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