Wild Bird Wednesday 349 - Chestnut Teal

Another bird from my local patch.  This is a male Chestnut Teal (Anas castanea) taking in some autumn sun near a smallish pond a little way from my house.

I really like the way the sunlight brings out the colours of the feathers.  I also rather like the insect (or whatever it is) on the underside of the branch - you may not be surprised to know I only noticed it when I was processing the pictures.

The Chestnut Teal is a common duck in the south-east of Australia, and is one of the default ducks at wetlands around here.

As ever, you can join in with WBW by clicking on the link below - and also as ever, please feel free to share the love for WBW with other bloggers!  Cheers. SM

PS: some people are still have issues with linking in - sorry about that.  If you do have any issues could you email me with full details of what happens (or doe not happen) as that makes it much more likely that I will get usable response from the company! SM

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Bottlenose Dolphins

On a wonderfully calm day, we set off from Lord Howe's on and only jetty to take a trip out to Balls Pyramid - pictures to come!

One the way out we encountered a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins - well, that's what I think they are - and they put on a bit of a display for us.  I have managed to get a decent number of 'fin' shots in the past, but rarely much more.

This time I was please to get a burst of one dolphin jumping out of the water.  As they were a little way from the boat, I have cropped the images to make them more about dolphins than water!

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

Wild Bird Wednesday 348 - Australasian Swamphen

Such are the tide of taxonomic change, that even in my time in Australia this bird has changed name. Once considered a subspecies of the Purple Swamphen, it is now considered a full species.  These days it goes by the name of Australasian Swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus).

These birds were feeding in the grass near the same 'wetland' as the carp from yesterday - although I did take these pictures at the very start of the year.  I really like two parts of these pictures - firstly, the ones where the birds are behind the wire fence seem to say something about the power of the wild to exist even in contained areas.  Secondly, I really like the look of concentration as the birds remove grass seeds from the dry stalks of summer grass.  They are clearly more dexterous with their beak than its size would suggest.

I always like watching these birds.

As ever, you can join in with WBW by clicking on the link below - and also as ever, please feel free to share the love for WBW with other bloggers!  Cheers. SM

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Carp

I went for a bit of a walk on Sunday around a local 'wetland'.  I say 'wetland' because it was only about half its normal size, with substantial areas of dry mud.

There were a few birds about, but what was most noticeable was the presence of some carp.  I have never seen any at this location before, but on Sunday I must have seen at least 10 - maybe more.

Carp are not a native species in Australia - and many people blame them for the degraded state of many of our waterways.  I suspect lack of water flows, abstraction, pollution and direct damage by canalisation and such like are also to blame, but the poor old carp get the brunt of the blame.

This fish was gulping in air at the surface - a sure sign that the oxygen levels in the water are low.

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

PS: my computer is now well again, and normal blogging services will resume! 

Wild Bird Wednesday 347 - Masked Booby

A very brief post this week - I have a few technological issues here - basically I have a rather ill computer, which I hope to fix soon!

So, here are some pictures of Masked Boobies (Sula dactylatra) loafing about on some rock near Balls Pyramid, south of LHI.

I was not able to get are really close up images of these birds, but as I have never posted any pictures of this species, these are the best I have!

As ever, you can join in with WBW by clicking on the link below - and also as ever, please feel free to share the love for WBW with other bloggers!  Cheers. SM

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Blue Sky / White Tern

The combination of a cloudless blue skies and White Terns was wonderful on Lord Howe.  I could have spent hours just watching the birds chase each other.  I assume this behaviour is either courtship or pair bonding.  What ever it was, it was wonderful to watch.

You will find lots more shots of the sky at SkyWatch Friday.  SM

Wild Bird Wednesday 346 - Red-tailed Tropicbirds

Of all the birds you can see on Lord Howe, the Red-tailed Tropicbirds (Phaethon rubricauda) have to be the most spectacular.   When you arrive by plane, you can see the cliffs at the northern end of the island, and you can see dozens - maybe hundreds - of white birds.  In most situations these birds would be gulls, but on Lord Howe they are Red-tailed Tropicbirds.

The walk up to the cliffs at Malabar takes about 1/2 an hour or so - longer if its hot - but its worth it.  The Tropic-birds display all along the cliff edge, and sometimes they are hanging in the air not that far below you.

It's one of the best places I have ever bird watched.

We also found a couple of nest locations - strangely close to the footpaths if the truth be told.  In one place, the bird was less than 50cm from the path! No need for long lenses in that case.

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

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