Wild Bird Wednesday 653 - Grey Plover

The Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) is a large plover that breeds in Arctic regions. It is a long-distance migrant, with a nearly worldwide coastal distribution when in its non-breeding state.  This bird may be better known as the Black-Bellied Plover to birders in the Americas.  The name Black-Bellied is only really descriptive when the birds are in breeding plumage.

These birds were photographed at Cayo Coco on the north coast of Cuba - so they are in their non-breeding plumage.

You can see a bird extracting a long, thin, red worm from the sand.  The worm snapped as the bird was pulling and the 'bird-end' of the worm coiled around its beak.  Once it had snapped, it no longer looked like a decent meal!

I have to say that the heat haze on this day was rather bad - but it was great to see these birds.  

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Wild Bird Wednesday 652 - Laughing Gull

The Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) is a medium-sized gull of North and South America. These birds were photographed in Cuba.  Unsurprisingly, tts name derives from its laugh-like call. Like many other gulls it is an opportunistic omnivore and scavenger. It breeds in large colonies mostly along the Atlantic coast of North America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. 

These birds were loafing about on the beach at Cayo Coco, which is on the north central coast of Cuba.

The Laughing Gull  is 36 – 41 long with a 98 –110 cm wingspan and weighs between 200–370 grams> None of these birds is in breeding plumage, where there would have a black head. 

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Mammals on Monday 13 - Grey-Headed Flying-Foxes

The Grey-Headed Flying-Fox (Pteropus poliocephalus) is a large bat - technically a mega-bat - that is native to Australia. 

The Grey-Headed Flying Fox is endemic to the south-eastern forested areas of Australia, principally on the coastal side of the Great Dividing Range. It is Australia's largest bat, with the adult wingspan reaching up to 1 m and weighing up to 1 kg.

These pictures were taken in the Botanic Garden in Melbourne - which is pretty much in the middle of the city.  These bats are at a roost site - which is rather smelly and noisy as a result.  Their breeding range has been moving southward in recent times and it was not until the 1980s that Grey-Headed Flying Foxes routinely visited Melbourne, with a permanent roosts only established since the 1990s. 

A great animal to see on my walk around the Gardens today.  SM

Wild Bird Wednesday 651 - Red-Necked Avocet

The Red-Necked Avocet (Recurvirostra novaehollandiae) is fairly common and widespread throughout Australia, except for the north and north east coastal areas of the country.

Like other avocet this species is easy to identify because of its fine, upturned beak.  (There are 4 species of avocet in the world - the Australian species shown below, the American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana), the Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) and the Andean Avocet (Recurvirostra andina).  I suspect that I will have to content myself with only ever seeing the first 3 of these species)

Somewhat unusually (in my experience) these Australian birds were close to the edge of a lagoon at Werribee, rather than being in the middle.  However, they did not stay long as they were flushed by a Swamp Harrier.  I may have spent the seconds after the passage of the Harrier muttering rude things under my breath.  Oh well.

An average adult Red-Necked Avocet measures 43–45 cm from head to tail and has a total wingspan of around 75 cm. The bill is between 8.2–9.5 cm in length. 

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Wild Bird Wednesday 650 - Pectoral Sandpiper

The Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos) is an uncommon - and probably under-recorded - bird in Australia.  It is a small, migratory wader that breeds in North America and Asia, wintering in South America and Oceania.

In Australia, it may be missed when it occurs in small numbers in flocks of the otherwise more abundant Sharptailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata)

There are a number of differences between 'Pec Sands' and 'Sharpies' - none of which are utterly definitive for identification, but are used in combination to split these two bird species.

The most obvious differences in that in the 'Pec Sands' there is a clear boundary between the heavily streaked breast feathers and the much cleaner under areas.  The beak is also somewhat larger in the 'Pec Sand', with an extensive off-yellow base and a slightly down turned tip.  Finally the vent and under tail of the 'Pec Sand' is clean white, compared to the often streaked underside of a Sharpie.

All this being said, at a distance, and with our near ubiquitous heat hazes, it can still be a bit of a headache to tell the two species apart.

Many of the classic Pec Sand features can be seen in this image - bill shape and colour, the clear cut chest marking and the clean white flanks.

The middle bird (working backwards) in this image is a Sharpie - I think you can see the smaller beak, much reduced yellow base to the beak and the flecking on the flanks.

The following image is a Sharpie - just to show the similarity between the two species.

Well, waders can be a bit of a challenge - but with a bit of effort even I am making progress on their identification!

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Wild Bird Wednesday 649 - Rainbow Lorikeet

Well another trip around the G2V class star Sol is about to end, and another one begin.  And with 648 consecutive weeks under the WBW belt it's time to start another year.  Our little community is exactly that these days - little - but I really appreciate the regulars, new comers and occasional visitors a great deal. 

To end / kick off 2024/25 I've chosen that most colourful of birds the Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus). This is a very common part of my day to day bird experience, with it being an unusual day if I don't see or hear some.  Actually they can be surprisingly hard to see when they are high in trees, despite their colours.

This bird was (I assume) checking out a nest hole a couple of months ago.  What a great bird!

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Wishing everyone a great 2025, and looking forward to seeing you each Wednesday.  SM

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