Wild Bird Wednesday 258 - Nankeen Night Heron

More shots from the trip on Yellow Water this week for Wild Bird Wednesday.  As you may have gathered from the number of shots that this trip created, Kakadu is a remarkable place - with an abundance of things to point lenses at.

These birds are Nankeen Night Herons (Nycticorax caledonicus).  And had I known the stories behind both of these names, I would have posted these images a lot sooner.  Nankeen comes from Nanking, a town in China that produced a yellowish cotton cloth - which apparently was a similar colour to parts of this bird.  I suppose this makes some sense.  The scientific name means (and I assure that this is true!) Scottish Nightraven - which is about as wrong as it can get.

I do like this kind of thing.

Theses are three different birds - the ones with stripes are young birds, and the others are adults.  In the adult bird you can just about see the long white plume that come off the back of its head.

As ever, to join in with WBW, just click the blue button below the thumbnails.  SM

An InLinkz Link-up

Egret in Fading Light

These are some shots of an Intermediate Egret (I think) in some rather nice late afternoon / evening light.

I saw this bird on a cruise around Yellow Water, which is a fabulous area of the Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory, Australia.

I like the way the light is catching the outstretched feathers.

You can find more shots from around the world at Our World Tuesday.

Wild Bird Wednesday 257 - Variable Oystercatcher

Oystercatchers have to be one of my favourite types of bird - I can't help but think that they have a great deal of personality.

So, when I was in New Zealand at the start of the year, it was good to catch up with a new species.  This is the Variable Oystercatcher (Haematopus unicolor). The scientific name is really rather funny in the context of the common name and the fact that the bird (in two of its colour phases) is clearly not unicolour at all!

This bird has an "all black" phase (which is highly appropriate really!), and intermediate phase, where there is some white on the belly and a 'pied' phase where most of the belly feathers are white.  Of course, there are also transitional phases as well.

The first set of pictures were taken at Muriwai, on New Zealand's North Island.  The second set were taken at Picton, on New Zealand's South Island.

As ever, to join in with WBW, just click the blue button below the thumbnails.  SM

An InLinkz Link-up

To raise a smile

Far too many things in the news of late that are human created catastrophes - physical, political and environmental.

These images from India made me smile for a while, but surely we can do better than the mess we are making at present.

All the pictures were taken in Agra.

You can find more shots from around the world at Our World Tuesday.

Wild Bird Wednesday 256 - Australasian Shoveler at Sunset

More shots from the hide at Edithvale for WBW this week.

Although many of the birds were keeping their distance on Sunday afternoon, a mixed group of ducks  spent the afternoon sorting out their feathers in the sunshine.  Towards the end of the afternoon the light took on a wonder golden colour and the ducks looked great.

Many of the ducks were Australasian Shovelers (Anas rhynchotis) - which can be identified by there large beak and (in the males) a blue/grey head.  There are also some Chestnut Teal and Eurasian Coots.

I went to the hide hoping to see the Shovelers, and they did not let me down.

As ever, to join in with WBW, just click the blue button below the thumbnails.  SM

An InLinkz Link-up

Views from the hide

I took another trip to the Edithvale Wetlands Hide this weekend - these are some of the birds that were loafing about in from of the hide.

Black Swan

Black Swan

Chestnut Teal

Chestneal Teal

Chestnut Teal

You can find more shots from around the world at Our World Tuesday.

Wild Bird Wednesday 254 - Hooded Parrot

Just like last week, these pictures are from the sports oval at Pine Creek, Northern Territory, Australia.

These rather magnificent birds are Hooded Parrots (Psephotus dissimilis).   This bird is only found in a limited area of the Northern Territory in Australia - so it won't come as much of a surprise to find out that I had not seen these birds before.  If the truth be told, these were not the hardest birds to find as there were dozens of them on and around the sports oval.

The name Psephotus dissimilis appears to reference how dissimilar the male and female of this species are; however, it has been pointed out that many, many birds show such differences, so this may not have really been the intention.  These birds nest in termite mounds an feed on the seeds of grasses, so they are dependant on open woody areas with (you guessed it) termite mounds.

The paler birds in these pictures are female.

Although these birds are hardly in their natural habitat - sprinkler heads are not native to Australia! - I like the way these images reference both the importance of water in the NT and the impact of humans on Australia's Top End.

As ever, to join in with WBW, just click the blue button below the thumbnails.  With luck I will catch up with comments and such like over the next few days.  SM

An InLinkz Link-up

Australasian Grebe and Water-lilies

Only four more days until a long weekend - focus Stewart, you can make it.

And until I do, here are is an Australasian Grebe and some Water-lilies from Table Top Swamp, Northern Territory, to help me (and you) relax!

Normal service will be resumed in time for WBW!

You can find more shots from around the world at Our World Tuesday.