New website for me

Thanks to some major help from fellow photog Gerard, my new photography website is open for viewing.

Please pay it a visit and leave comments or suggestion on what you think.

Click on the link in my sites to visit column or just go to

http://www.darrylluck.com/

Thanks

Lucky

Forster

Went for a family drive today to Forster on the NSW North Coast. Lots of tourists still hanging around and also several bird species near the bridge.

Pelicans, terns, gulls and cormorants dominated the scene but a passing flock of 38 Pied Oystercatchers was a special treat. 

  

                          

While walking across the bridge I was lucky to encouter an Osprey using one of the street lights as an observation point. I was able to get really close, but no eye contact from the bird as it didn't even bother to acknowledge I was there. Maybe if I looked like a mullet it might have shown some interest. 

On the way home we dropped by Seal Rocks where a Tawny Frogmouth and Lewin's Honeyeaters were seen.

Wood Sandpipers

Once again the bird photographer unknowingly scoops the twitchers with an uncommon sighting. While patrolling Hexham Swamp on Tuesday morning I saw two waders which I initially thought were Sharp-tailed Sandpipers but as I looked more I thought something wasn't quite right about there appearance. This is where the camera comes in handy as I was able to snap some photos and review them with more detail when I got home.

My post outing review of my books had me certain they were Wood Sandpipers and after some e-mails to those more cleverer than I when it comes to birds it was confirmed that they were what I thought. Apparently sightings of this species in NSW aren't too common of late, so my sighting was significant to twitchers as well as being my first life tick for the year :)

King Parrot behaviour

Just before xmas I was alerted by a friend that he had what he thought were King Parrots nesting in his back yard. While this sounded good there was something else...they were nesting on the ground!

This caused me to hot foot it over to confirm that this was true, and indeed it was. The birds had scraped a patched of ground and laid four eggs near his pumpkin patch. I have not been able to find any other records of this ever happening with King Parrots so I was keen to monitor the unique event. My concern was always that predation and weather may play a factor with both the eggs and young. This turned out to be a warranted concern.

The day after New Years Day I went to visit the site and was saddened to see the nest had been abandoned. No trace of eggs at all and of course no need for the parents to remain. Hopefully they have now learnt to use tree hollows although I would have loved to have seen the eggs make it through to hatching as they were only about a week off their incubation period being complete.

Back at the Sandspit

Yes, I know I need to go somewhere different :)

Blue skies this morning made for a last minute decision to head out for some photos. Got to the sandspit about half an hour before sunrise and already the birds were dispersed around the lagoon so my chances of setting up early were pretty much zip.

Some people were nice enough to scare the roosting birds away so I tried to find something to photograph under the bridge. Surprisingly even the fairy-wrens were uncooperative today and after an hour I thought I may be heading home without a photo being taken. I decided for one last look along  the beach on the receding tide and found a group of about 20 Bar-tailed Godwits bathing on the waterline, so I sat down to watch.

After about 30 minutes my patience was rewarded as the birds started flying back over from the dykes to land on the beach right in front of me.

As well as a few hundred extra barwits I saw Black-tailed Godwits, Eastern Curlews, Curlew Sandpipers, Crested and Caspian Tern, Silver Gull, Pacific Golden Plover, Lesser Sand Plover, Pied Oystercatcher, White-faced Heron and of course Red-capped Plovers running around feeding, cleaning and eventually roosting.

With the birds gradually moving further out from the beach with the tide line I beat a retreat for the car and home happy that I had a little bit of photo processing to do.

Great Knot! Great spot!

A one day, work related course had me travelling down the coast to Sydney, and with that a chance to visit the stomping ground of fellow bird photographer Mark Young...Long Reef rock platform. This was to be my first trip to the rock platform and I was hoping there would be something to photograph. As I approached the beach I could see a lonely figure standing knee deep in water looking at the rocks. I met up with Mark and we started towards the roosting area to visit the birds.

A fast flypast had Mark jumping for joy as a solitary Bar-tailed Godwit did some laps then flew off. This was his first sighting of a Barwit at Long Reef so to say he was stoked would be an understatement.

On the rock platform I was amazed to see there were lots of birds and several different species. Grey-tailed Tattlers, Ruddy Turnstones, Red-necked Stints, Pacific Golden Plover, Sooty Oystercatchers, 3 species of cormorant, Silver Gull, Crested Tern and a lone Great Knot. The knot was a first for Mark this year at this location. 

While getting close to the birds was great, it was also hard work as I crawled on my stomach, elbows and knees over rock, barnacle, shell grit and oyster shell to stay low during my approaches. Definitely a good place to employ knee and elbow pads if you intend to flop around like a leopard seal (as I did).

I only spent an hour or so with the birds as a work collegue came for the drive and I could see him looking a bit bored, but I will definitely need to revisit because even though it's a small patch of rock, it's rich in bird life.

Red-capped Plovers at SSS

Well once again I find myself on the beach at Stockton Sandspit watching the waders go about their daily routine. I can think of worse things to be doing on a glorious Sunday morning when the light is perfect for photography.

Several species seen including Red-capped Plover, Double-banded Plover, Grey-tailed Tattler, Eastern Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper and Bar-tailed Godwit.