Ralph's Bay Curlew

On recent high tides, the 2 Eastern Curlew that frequent the Ralph's Bay area, have roosted on the Lauderdale Spit. I've always found curlew fascinating, but rarely managed to get even close to them, save for one early morning encounter some years ago. My son and I had been mist netting waders at Orielton Lagoon all through the night, with moderate success, and at first light we were about to call it quits. My son, then in his early teens, made one last round of the nets. As he walked back I watched as he appeared and disappeared in the early morning mist, and, confusedly, he appeared to be carrying something quite large under his arm. From a distance, and in the mist, it appeared to be a chicken! As you can guess, it was indeed an Eastern Curlew, not a species we had expected to catch, and the one and only I have ever handled. From memory it was a female, and had fattened up for the long haul back to the breeding grounds in Russia and North East China. It weighed in at around a kilogram. These days, sadly, the numbers of visiting Eastern Curlew have drastically declined. In Ralph's Bay the decline has been from around 20 or so birds, 30 years ago, to just two in recent times, and if the proposed development takes place in the bay at Lauderdale, it will be zero. Very wary birds and amongst the most difficult to approach, their presence on high tide roosts is one of the few opportunities to photograph them. However, undue disturbance at these roosts is a "no-no". So it was with some trepidation that I attempted the accompanying shots. As you may see in the the shot of a curlew with Pied Oystercatchers, while the oystercatchers weren't too concerned with my presence, the curlew certainly was, and it took flight while I was still a good distance away, taking some of the oystercatchers with it. I retreated, and the oystercatchers quickly returned. The curlew, however, continued flying around, which at least enabled me to take a few flight shots. It then briefly alighted next to the second curlew (which had continued to roost a little further down the spit), and somewhat surprisingly, a brief skirmish between the two broke out, resulting in one taking refuge back among the 100 plus oystercatchers. The above episode was over in a matter of minutes and I was anxious to cause no further disturbance, so I was happy to just stand and watch them from a respectful distance, and enjoy the moment.

Wetland Gymnasts....... Little Grassbird

The Little Grassbird is often described in terms that allude to the difficulty of finding them. Elusive, skulking, and wary spring to mind, and I've used those terms myself. But after spending several hours watching and trying to photograph them, mostly without result, I think they might alsol be described as gymnasts! I hadn't really considered it until recently, but their World is almost completely made up of vertical perches (at least for those that inhabit the reed beds) and that in order to get about, they really do have to resort to a form of gymnastics, much as the juvenile pictured at top right.
I took the accompanying shots at Gould's Lagoon, and were the reason for my recent visits, but in the event, I was rather sidetracked by the presence of both Spotted and Spotless Crakes. I
gather the crakes have been twitched by a number of local birders, some at least, having great views.
I can give a passable imitation of the grassbird call, which consists of 3 or 4 rather tuneless notes, often described as plaintive. I say it's passable only because, occasionally, a grassbird replied. Listening over some hours, I realised that different birds had quite different calls, perhaps essential given their environment. Some had 3 notes with equal spacing between notes, some 4. Others added a last note at a different pitch, others varied the spacing. All appeared to be consistent enough to believe that individuals had different calls.
I rarely see them out of the reed beds at this lagoon and I'm beginning to realise why. While I waited patiently for them to emerge and feed on the fast drying mud, I could see movement of the reeds as they neared. They would then watch me, sometimes from less that a metre away, but still concealed in the reeds. Very galling! Well I managed a few shots, some of youngsters, nothing flash, but I did get a whole lot better acquainted with them.

Cameo Performance..... Satin Flycatcher

On a recent overcast morning, I set off in the Meehan Range to look at the status of the waterhole. Last Summer, it dried out completely, and as conditions weren't particularly conducive for photography, it seemed a good opportunity to recce this spot, but I took the camera just in case! I always get that feeling of excitement as I approach the waterhole, mixed with apprehension. Will it or won't it have water in it, and as the approach is from below the small dam wall, it's not until the last moment that you know. Well, in the event, there was water, albeit obviously in need of replenishment soon.
This waterhole, is a magnet for birds, and this morning was no exception. The first bird I noticed was a female Satin Flycatcher, sallying forth over the water, before plopping down in it at a chosen spot and returning to a perch to preen. Shortly after that I was surrounded by Grey Fantails, many of them this year's youngsters, mostly hawking after the numerous small flying insects. I suspect that the presence of these insects also drew in the stars of the morning, Satin Flycatcher males. In general, the male flycatchers only occasionally visit, whereas the females are frequent visitors. I noted three males, and from previous experience here, expected a 'verbal' battle to commence. I was not disappointed, and this one lasted several minutes, during which they gave me the opportunity to take many shots, a few I've published here. It was quite a morning! Although I've witnessed these battles before, I hadn't noticed the extreme posture in which the calling bird elongates its body, as in the shots at left. I must say that they do get very worked up, so much so, that they often flew extremely close to me, I'm talking centimetres, as they pursue one another. It's unfortunate that you can't hear their rasping calls, which is very much part of the display. As many would know, one of the habits of these birds, is the vibrating of the tail whilst perched, and in many of my shots, the tail is a blur, due to the slow shutter speeds needed in the overcast conditions. I had a quiet chuckle at the lower shot, in which the bird is giving a passable impression of a woodpecker.
I had a great morning, and I hope you'll get some enjoyment from the images too. (I suggest clicking on the images to enlarge them, may help).

Time of Plenty......Musk Lorikeets

If you've ever aspired to photographing birds, you could do worse than try your hand at photographing the many Musk Lorikeets. At the moment, at least in my suburb (Bellerive), they're feasting on the profusely flowering eucalyptus ficifolia, a native tree of Western Australia, and widely grown in gardens and parks. From a photographer's perspective, these gums have one great advantage, they have large showy flowers carried on the outer branches. This causes the lorikeets to feed in, relatively speaking, full view. Close to my abode, there must be in excess of 20 of these trees, and the local flocks of lorikeets, totalling around a hundred or more birds, make full use of them.
I've often wondered where the local muskies breed, as I've found no obvious signs of nesting or young birds. There are a few birds that lack the red colouring on the bill, and they are probably immature birds, but I haven't noted any obviously juvenile birds.
As you watch the feeding flocks, it soon becomes clear that it's largely made up of pairs. Squabbles frequently break out between pairs if they encroach one another's 'space', which, together with the constant, screeching, contact calls, results in a clamorous racket. Occasionally, one of a pair, I'm presuming the male, will splay its tail at an neighbour, in what I suspect is a 'keep off the grass' warning, this may be followed by a chase.
The tree that I photographed these birds in, is within a few feet of a school classroom, so it's probably just as well that the flowering will be just about over, by the time the local pupils return from the Summer break.
As I stood by this tree, the muskies eventually ventured to within a few metres of me, feeding with indecent haste, often inverted, making difficult 'targets'.` Despite photographing them several times in recent years, I still delight in this annual event.

Gould's Lagoon "Chicks"

This morning,I tried yet again, to get some meaningful shots of the Little Grassbirds at Gould's Lagoon. I had noticed that at the moment, there are good numbers here, largely boosted by this year's youngsters. They're really frustrating birds to see, let alone photograph, and this morning's outing was nothing different. They were coming out to feed on a strip of newly exposed mud, which gave me some hope. But it was while I was concentrating on the Grassbirds, that I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a movement among the reeds to my right. On closer inspection, I could see that it was a very dark, very young chick, which after briefly looking at me, scampered back into the reed bed. I decided, wrongly as it turned out, that it was probably a newly hatched Purple Swamphen chick, a common bird here. The size should have been a giveaway! Back to the Grassbirds. Ten minutes or more later, it reappeared, this time with a parent--an Australian Crake. What a great surprise! For the next quarter of an hour, the adult and two, or possibly three, chicks fed around the margins of the swamp, never far from the saf
ety of the reed bed. The chicks foraged for themselves, but were quick to accept food offered by the adult. Passing vehicles often caused them to scurry back to cover, but they were equally quick to re-emerge. However, the excitement wasn't quite over yet. As they continued to feed, they were coming ever closer. Eventually, the adult walked into the very small patch of reeds that I was in.(I was going to say "concealed in", but in fact I was standing up, head and shoulders above the reeds). Feeding as it passed among the reed stems until no more than a foot away, followed later by one of the youngsters. Great stuff! (absolutely useless for photography, but a great experience). After feeding for five or so minutes, they walked off down a narrow passageway in the reeds and disappeared from sight. As you can see, I managed a few shots, which, more than anything, are a personal record of a memorable encounter. [There are few Australian Crake breeding records for Tasmania]

Resourceful Fairy-Wrens

I persuaded the family to make a small detour to Pirates Bay at Eaglehawk Neck, while on a recent outing to the Tasman Peninsula. As there was a strong, cool, northerly wind blowing, I was hopeful of perhaps seeing some interesting seabirds from the lookout. In the event we saw 20 or more Australasian Gannets, fishing well offshore, and a constant procession of Black-faced Cormorants, probably from their nearby breeding place on the Hippolytes, but little else. Next, wandering down to the jetty, we were confronted by the full force of the northerly and took shelter behind the Tuna club building. Two passing Oystercatchers caught my eye, one a Sooty, the other a Pied. The Sooty alighted among the nearby rocks, and I followed, hoping for a "photo-op". As I did so, a male Superb Fairy-wren passed me, battling into the headwind, to land behind the bull kelp covering the beach. I watched for a while, mainly to see what had brought it out of the nearby cover, to a non-typical fairy-wren habitat. I soon realised that it was very actively chasing small flying insects, and soon had a bill full. It was joined briefly by a female, before flying off into the scrub, returning shortly afterwards. Obviously, it was feeding nestlings. Trying to photograph it feeding among the kelp, proved challenging, with an active bird and a strong wind, but, aided by the bird being inured to the presence of humans, I managed a few shots. I briefly turned my attention to photographing the Sooty Oystercatcher feeding among the rocks, before deciding that it was time to pay more attention to my family's needs! Something, at times, I am apt to overlook.

Season's Greetings

May you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Stay safe people!





Forty-spotted Pardalote. An iconic and endangered Tasmanian endemic bird. Recently photographed in the Peter Murrell Reserve at Kingston.

The Young Ones

A call from Trevor Hanlon of New Norfolk on Thursday evening saw me heading off to New Norfolk early on Friday morning. He had found the nest of a Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike in a reserve near his house, which he believed would be suitable for photography. After meeting Trevor and a short walk along the cliffs overlooking the Derwent River, he showed me the nest site. The nest was on an outer eucalypt branch, on a tree growing well below the track, giving us a view of it at eye level. It was at that tantalising distance away from us, not close enough for quality images, but certainly close enough to get a shot of the parents feeding and brooding the three youngsters in the nest. I'm not a great supporter of photography at nests, but these birds were obviously used to the to'ing and fro'ing of people out for a walk along the cliff top track. I must confess that I was under the impression that Cuckoo-shrikes fed almost exclusively on caterpillars, but looking closely at some of the images taken, suggests that they also fed their young on quite a wide variety of insects, including spiders. A little further along the cliffs, I could also see 2 young Dusky Woodswallows, not yet fledged, being fed by their parents, and took the shot at lower left. A little later we were joined by Bill Wakefield and Els Hayward, who had seen and photographed the Cuckoo-shrikes on a previous visit.
Trevor is also starting to take bird shots, and his wife, Barbara, is an accomplished painter. He showed me a shot of a Grey Goshawk (white here in Tasmania) that he took in his garden--very envious! A thank you to both of them for their hospitality, and good luck to Trevor with his bird photography.

A Shadow of its Former Self....Orielton Lagoon

Yesterday, I made one of my now rare visits to the northern end of Orielton Lagoon. Back in the '70s and '80s, I plodded the mud here many weekends, especially in the Summer months, looking for migrant waders. This lagoon had a justified iconic status and over the years produced many of the rarer migrant waders, as well as substantial flocks of the more mundane.
Not long after leaving the car, I was beset by the first of many Kelp Gulls (top left), and they and their raucous calls, followed me around for the next hour or so. About 20 years ago, they started nesting here, just a few, mostly along the banks of Orielton Creek, but today there are probably over a hundred pairs and each year their colony grows ever larger. Presently, they mostly have 'runners', like those pictured, and as a you near them, not surprisingly, the adults get ever more agitated, taking it in turns to dive bomb. Like the Fairy Terns, mentioned in the last article, they also defecate as they dive. Fortunately, they're nowhere near as accurate, but near misses can be disconcerting!
The notice describes the area as "a wetland of international importance", but the presence of the burgeoning Kelp Gull colony is having an ever more negative effect on the area. Some of the smaller waders like the Red-necked Stint, can still be seen in some numbers, about 400 or more were present yesterday, but I didn't see a single Red-capped Plover, a once common breeding resident here. I walked towards a mixed flock of Curlew (42), Bar-tailed Godwit (2) and a lone Whimbrel, and although I was still a distant 6 or 7 hundred metres away, they took flight, passing me (pictured) and briefly alighted in the bay to the West. It wasn't long before they were harassed by the Kelp Gulls, and had to move on. I beat as quick a retreat as I could in the clinging mud, to allow them to resume their prefered roost site, which they did. To me, this was a classic example of why, if this area is to remain an area of importance to waders, that some action needs to be taken to limit the growth of the gull colony.
Other sightings included a flock of about 30 Pacific Golden Plover, roosting at their prefered site alongside the golf course, and a solitary European Hare.

Going Well---Orford Fairy Terns

I made a visit to Orford towards the end of last week to see how the Fairy Tern colony was doing, and I'm glad to report, it's going well. Something like 18 pairs have nested on the spit on the North side of the mouth of the Prosser River, and there's already a good number of young birds on the wing. Thanks are largely due to a number of interested parties, not least the interest shown by the locals. That this site is nonetheless vunerable, was brought home to me, as I walked along the shoreline adjacent to the ternery. On the opposite shore, only a matter of metres away, a lone walker with 2 unrestrained dogs, chased the roosting flock of terns, gulls, oystercatchers, hooded plovers and pelicans, even to the point of pursuing the pelicans already in the water. Only one bird stayed, a lone Pied Oystercatcher, very agitated, suggesting that it had a nest or youngster to protect. That area was the original site of the ternery, and the present site is protected only by a few signs and a few strands of string! Entry is permitted, but you need to keep to the shoreline. If you're intending to visit, apart from observing the signs, I strongly suggest you wear old clothes, and a hat. The Fairy Tern adults strongly defend their young. They will dive at you, screaming, probably missing you by only a few inches, which if you're not expecting it, can be pretty intimidating, which of course it's meant to be! They will, quite probably, also defecate on you as they pull out of the dive (image on the left is of a diving adult). If you think 'Spurwings' are intimidating, well I can assure you these terns, despite their small size, can be even more so. They managed to score direct hits on me, including my glasses, hat, shirt and camera, even though I didn't approach the nesting area. It highlights the benefit of these and similar species, nesting colonially. They are able to combine and drive off would be predators (and humans). I also made a short visit to the Saltworks, at the mouth of Little Swanport, where there also appears to be a small Fairy Tern colony of just a few pairs. Judging by the frequency of adults passing, carrying food, they must have non flying young. Of interest, is the report of possibly a pair of Little Terns amomg the Fairies at Orford. The bottom right image is of a recently fledged young Fairy Tern.

Another Day, Another Wedgetail

I don't wish to give the impression that I've seen too many Wedgetail Eagles of late. To misquote Samuel Johnson, "when a man is tired of watching eagles, he is tired of life". Perhaps in this PC age, I should have used the term "person"!
I set off last week for Marion Bay, full of expectation, but by the time I arrived, there was a very cool south westerly blowing, scudding clouds and occasional rain. I was still wondering whether I should abort the trip as I drove down the ever deteriorating track towards the car parking area, when I noted a large bird being harasssed by a couple of Forest Ravens, a Wedge-tailed Eagle. Watching the eagle, driving, and getting my camera prepared, all at the same time, made for an interesting few moments. But in no time I was alongside the eagle, now standing in the paddock, keeping a wary eye on me. I guessed it would inevitably take off shortly, and positioned myself upwind and waited. As you can see from the image, I had an excellent view of it as it floated by in the strong wind. Gaining height, it quickly outflew the ravens, circled and flew along the length of the dune, briefly attacked by two Kelp Gulls. After that, the walk to the point was, inevitably, an anti-climax!