My Nature Blog
My photos weren’t good enough to be able to ID the fish, but the experts at iNaturalist narrowed it down to a Weed Whiting. The gull did have trouble swallowing it. The nearby gulls were trying to take advantage of this and steal it whenever he regurgitated it.
I shouldn’t have let myself get too distracted, considering how much was going on in the rockpools. I also tried to get photos of birds pooping on this trip but alas, no luck.
I didn’t bird as much as I would have liked this past summer. It seemed any time I pushed myself to hard, I got a migraine. It was brutal. I was crying the day before I was meant to be seeing a musical as I was so scared I’d be too sick to go.
Nonetheless, I was so happy to go to WTP again. It was exhausting. And, seeing as I was meeting a birding friend for the first time, a bit awkward. Nonetheless, it was exhilarating.
Yes. That *is* a wood sandpiper. I’m generally a bit blah about sandpipers, but wood sandpipers have fascinating markings. They aren’t meant to be that common but we saw a couple of them. I was so grateful to be able to get a good look.
There also had been a red necked phalarope hanging around here over all summer. I had been extremely lazy about seeing it and it was nearing the end of the season. It was an unusual vagrant but tended to move around the plant a fair bit.
Well, it was seen that day. Alas, not by us. It was spotted in an area you need another permit for. It’s no biggy, I knew that I’d have little chance of seeing it and would wait until the next time it came back.
A parent brolga with a chick. I’d love to be able to show Sethy brolgas in the wild at some point. Apparently the ones at Serendip don’t count. Ha!
Little grassbird. Finally got the bugger. At first I thought it was a crake but it was too small.
Beautiful golden headed cisticola.
Incredibly photogenic brown falcon. Damn, I could spend all day photographing birds of prey.
I don’t have enough opportunities to see spoonbills in flight.
I did see this cormorant, which wasn’t looking too healthy. I was concerned, especially as cases of botulism had gotten around. It seemed to pick up.
We also saw a small group of godwits, which was another lifer!
It’s hard to remember much else from the trip. I know I loved it, I just stopped documenting so often as I have a lot on.
Another day, another series of posts featuring little pied cormorants feeding. I have cut back considerably – although I definitely haven’t cut back on taking the photos.
This series fascinates me however because in some of the shots, you can see what looks like drool or bits of water falling from the adults bill. I have no idea what this means but it is something I don’t believe I have witnessed before. Perhaps I just haven’t been paying enough attention?
I’m so glad I went back for a solo trip to Balyang on the Wednesday. I had gone there on Monday with Sethy, to stick to my commitment of documenting the nests at least once a week, but 7 year old kids don’t make for the most patient observers. At least he didn’t that day!
Above you’ll see my new method for naming posts. Yes, it is unimaginative. It’s hard to come up with new names when I am seeing repeat behaviour.
In this series, I observed the little pied cormorant chick trying to get the stick the parent was moving. I thought it was adorable behaviour, although it probably was just yawning.
The second group of photos shows the parent cormorant protecting the slightly older chick from the heat. I’ve seen it many times before, but not in a chick this old. I really enjoy watching how hard the parents work.
These photos were taken on 1st December, 2015. [Read more…] about Better Look At Baby Cormorants