Wild Bird Wednesday 345 - White Terns

White Terns (Gygis alba) are easy to see on Lord Howe - but their pure white feathers makes them much harder to photograph.  Exposure is always a problem.

These are a selection of the many shots I took when I was there - they are enchanting birds.

As you can see the adults build no nests, the eggs and chicks just balance on a branch.  I did not find any eggs on branches, but I suspect that the bird being fed in these pictures came from the egg shell on the floor.  I like to think so anyway.

This chick is being fed.

This chick is being fed. 

Work has been really busy this week - with luck, I should have a couple of hours to visit and comment on Wednesday night - there is always hope!  

Feel free to spread the word about our little birding community in 2019. SM.

Inlinkz Link Party

Island Light

Just to show that I looked at more than birds when I was on Lord Howe here are some sea/landscapes.

These views were near the hotel - you really dont have to go far on LHI to find a view.

Mt. Lidgbird and Mt. Gower

Mt. Lidgbird and Mt. Gower

Blackburn or Rabbit Island

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

Wild Bird Wednesday 343 - Black-winged Petrel

This week I bring you.......more pictures of birds on the wing from Lord Howe Island!  In fact they were taken the same evening as the birds from last week.

These birds are Black-winged Petrels (Pterodroma nigripennis).  They come to islands like Lord Howe to breed but spend the rest of the year at sea.  Now, I am no expert, but these birds seemed a little easier to see (but no easier to photograph) on this trip to LHI and some other people on the island agreed.  Nice to see a bird increasing in numbers for a change.

Apart from a brief glimpse of one of these birds on a sea cliff, I have only ever seen these birds in flight.  So I had this in mind when I made (and processed) these shots.  I cant imagine seeing them not surrounded by sky.

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

Feel free to spread the word about our little birding community in 2019. SM.

(It seemed that most people could link up with the new button - and even a few people who said that they could not managed to do so in the end - which is great!  But please remember that I did not have much choice but to change the button set up.  I don't run the Linky company - so if you need to write a grumpy email (as one person did who could not link up), please don't send it to me - send it to inLinkz! - I a busy boy already without grumpy 'fan mail'!!)  SM

Inlinkz Link Party

Wild Bird Wednesday 342 - Emerald Ground Dove.

The Emerald Ground Dove or just Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica) is common on Lord Howe Island.  It lives up to it's longer common name as far as I am concerned, as I dont think I ever saw it more than a few feet above the ground.

These birds were busy in the bushes and undergrowth all over the place, but this tendency to like shady areas made them rather hard to photograph.  Too much movement, and not enough light!

As you can see they are rather splendid looking birds.

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

Feel free to spread the word about our little birding community in 2019. SM.

(PS: I think that the process for linking in will be different from now on - there seem to have been a few changes in the way I have to create the link - and from what I can see the actual link up is a little different as well.  This blog post may help if you are having issues. SM)

Inlinkz Link Party

Wild Bird Wednesday 341 - Flesh-footed Shearwater

In the evenings on Lord Howe we would go and watch the sun set and have drink - a genuine sun-downer I suppose.

Most evenings there would be a few shearwaters or mutton-birds flying around.  Eventually I worked out that they were landing to enter their nest burrows in the dunes near to where we were sitting.

On one evening I sat near the edge of these dunes and took photographs of the Flesh-footed Shearwater (Puffinus carneipes / Ardenna carneipes) flying around and landing.  Landing may be a bit of an exaggeration of the degree of control showed by the birds as the reached land - crashing may be a more accurate term.

The birds would often land rather near my feet and then run into the vegetation to calm down or hide!

I also took this as a chance to try out some new settings on the camera for birds in flight - more practice needed, and a shame about the background on one the shots (there were some erosion protection works being done).

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

Feel free to spread the word about our little birding community in 2019. SM.

An InLinkz Link-up