Stockton Sandspit - 90 minutes of chasing

Yet another short outing but it needed to be done since the wind had died down. Headed towards the Sandspit as it was 'on the way' to my next task. On the way in I saw a Brown Goshawk across the road, I quickly pulled over, grabbed the camera off the passenger seat but it took so long to et a break in traffic that by the time I got across the road it was out of range.

Plenty of Superb Fairy-wrens at the Sandspit, and the males are back in there iridescent blue breeding plumage. Several Black-winged Stilts, a Pied Oystercatcher (the young one with the foot injury) and a Great Egret were hunting in the main pond. Afternoon light is a pain for photography here but I persisted and got a photo or two of the Egret before he moved on.

Saw a solitary Richard's Pippet and a few Lapwings as I walked towards the beach. I found a couple of relaxed White-faced Herons to snap, and a long off shot of a young Sacred Kingfisher who, while I was moving slowly closer, dived and picked up a crab from the mud and disappeared in to the mangroves.

saw several other birds of prey, including Eastern Osprey and Immature White-bellied Sea-eagle. The young Bar-tailed Godwits flew over from the Dykes for a bath and a snack so they got their pictures taken because they too were unusually approachable. On my way back towards the car I encountered a small harem of Fairy-wrens and in among them a few unfamiliar birds. At first I thought Mangrove Gerygone, but once I got a look at them I found they were actually Double-barred Finches!

These were a first for me (as a wild bird) so I got my ID photos for a record before heading out on to the road again. So a quick stopover gave me an added tick in my bird log at what I thought would be a quiet Sandspit. :-)