Blackbird, Balnarring. The early bird captures the … better make that 2 worms.
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Just showed this to BH and this is her view. She reckons it’s the less common Kelp Gull, because the Pacific Gull has a heavier beak and the Kelp Gull only has the red on the lower mandible whereas the Pacific Gull has it on both mandibles. She sounded confident.
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Eagles on a feeding frenzy off Langkawi. Langkawi means island of the reddish-brown eagle in colloquial Malay(upload://ypjP4wzAmgVNHqBAyymBb3qDLxU.jpeg)
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Def not a pacific gull! There are heaps at Walkerville where a week or so ago I got a lot of them milling around and scavenging the little bits they could swallow as I cleaned some fish. They -as you note - have a very heavy beak that is very yellow with a red/orange tip, and it’s kind of a weird symmetrical shape - not hooked down but ‘straight’. Anyway they are quite majestic in flight.
Some of BH’s shots from this week’s trip to Bendigo via the CBD.
#Nankeen Night-Heron - Botanical Gardens CBD
#White Winged Choughs - Crusoe Resevoir
#Yellow-tufted Honeyeater - Diamond Dove Dam
#An immature Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike - Diamond Dove Dam
#Whistling Kite - Bendigo Sewage Ponds
BH took this last one the previous week and reckons it’s her best shot this year.
#Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater - Flinders
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Looks like a painting in some museum.
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I’ve only recently “found” this thread and I’m not a bird watcher by any stretch but thought a few of you might like these pics from my travels in Africa a few years ago.
Chobe National Park, Botswana
Chobe National Park, Botswana
Chobe National Park, Botswana
Okavango Delta, Botswana
Lambert’s Bay, South Africa
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Just showed these to BH who reckons the first one is a Lilac or Purple Breasted Roller (She took a pic of one in SAf a decade ago), the second one might be a Bustard of some sort, draws a blank on the Kingfisher and Eagle, and reckons the final bunch are probably Cape Gannets(She has scanned the Gannet colony at Portland without success for a Cape Gannet that is regularly reported to drop in for a visit)
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African Fish eagle maybe for the Brahminy kite look alike ?
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There was a serious bird watcher on that trip and he told me that the 4th pic was an African Fish Eagle.
He went on the trip in the hope of seeing a Hamerkop and drafted me into helping him find one. I’m pretty sure I saw one when we were in the Okavango Delta but (1) didn’t have my camera and (2) he was doing a crossword at the time and missed it completely.
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I missed seeing a Hamerkop - on my list - but my favorite was the Red- crested Korhaan - they just fall out of the sky.
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Swoodley and Sparkplug‘s African bird posts sent BH back through our vault of pics from our African trip back in 2012, with nearly a ton of unidentified birds. Turns out she unwittingly had pics of both the Hamerkop and the Red Crested Bustard but has only just realized she had thanks to identification from Google Lens, which she recommends.
#Hamerkop - Tarangire, Tanzania 2012
#Red Crested Bustard - Kruger South Africa 2012
PS BH reckons Kruger is the top of the list of places to revisit. Now we’ve had Covid who knows, eh?
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Finally managed to get a clearish angle. I’m fairly sure it was taunting me by shifting position, lol.
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#150 Hooded Plover - Point Leo. Note the leg tag.
Latham’s Snipe - Mount Martha. BH was super pleased to finally catch this lifer on film after several fruitless attempts over the last few years but was initially disappointed in the pics, albeit taken at considerable distance across a lake. However her fellow birders, including 2 pro photographers, have praised the shots, no doubt taking into account how difficult it is to capture this very shy and rare bird. It certainly blends into the background.
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Have had a number of small birds in each afternoon in the bird bath & bush behind our place - Rufous Fantails & Grey Fantails fanning their tail feathers, Silvereyes, Geringongs- all getting along marvellously….until the Lewin’s Honeyeaters turn up to chase them away.
I really need to get some photos of them but they’re so fast and flit in and out quickly.
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Beautiful markings
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Tough in Ukraine for both birds and birdos.
