G'day,
This is one odd bird. Having seen it on both Saturday and Sunday last
weekend, it was not obvious on any day during the week. Then, this weekend,
it was again present on both Saturday (near the boat ramp) and Sunday
(Buckley's Hole). Where does it get to, I wonder? And why does it prefer
to appear when Bribie is inundated with middle-aged hoons on their stupid
jet-skis, when the beaches are crowded with walkers (that's walkers) who
seem to delight in disturbing anything in their way, and when it's most
likely to be hassled by photographers (the second most frequent cause of
disturbance)?
On Saturday, against the background noise of droning jetskis (why call the
area a Marine Park if you encourage jetskis with their attendant
environmental problems?) and having been disturbed from its favoured beach
loafing spot, the Laughing Gull was sitting on adjacent piece of beach with
a group of Silver Gulls, apparently paying not much attention to anything.
Then, unprovoked, it flew some 25 yards out to sea and dived down to pick a
small fish (some 3 inches long) from the water. It returned to the beach to
consume the fish, avoiding the mildly-interested attentions of a couple of
Silver Gulls. So had it spotted something with a keen peripheral vision or
had it decided to make a speculative foray which proved successful?
Bribie Island has to work hard to keep its balance. Amongst the infestation
of canal estates, and with its dysfunctional population, there are one or
two spots of tranquility. One such spot is Buckley's Hole. On Sunday I was
amazed to observe a man and a young lad, presumably his son, crash through
the reeds in order to launch an inflatable dinghy. They proceeded to take
turns to row the boat around the lagoon, disturbing everything in the
process. Jeez! I had to make tracks quickly to Scoopy's and indulge in a
Mango and Macadamia Slice.
The yodelling lunatic is still on the prowl, albeit singing a different
tune. 'You don't know where I live' was his opening gambit. My response
was less friendly. I guess if you live in a dog-house you end up barking.
Cheers - Trevor.
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
