I regularly see small numbers of White-winged Black Terns among the more
numerous Whiskered Terns at Lake Atkinson.
The Little Curlew were still there on Saturday morning, 3 January, when
Trevor & Kym Ford dropped in. Although the first time I saw them there on 22
December they were actually standing in the water, all subsequent sightings
have been between 50 and 100 metres back from the waters edge, in the
greenery to the west of the lake.
The Bush-hen at Abberton was quiet for a couple of nights, but recommenced
calling loudly last night, and is doing so again this-evening as I write.
The bird has allowed us good views on the last couple of evenings - we even
had a sighting from the verandah late yesterday afternoon, before we went
down to the creekbank to gain occasional closer views.
Yesterday afternoon, I picked up my camera as an afterthought just before we
climbed into the car to go up to Toowoomba. You just never know! Only five
minutes outside the gate, a magnificent Spotted Harrier came winging along
the roadside towards us. In the hope of a photograph, I threw the car into a
U-turn, and pursued the bird as best I could as it wandered just a little
way into adjacent fields, but returned again to follow the roadside verges
and hedges.
I had hoped it might just drop onto a fencepost or even to the ground, as
they often do, but more realistically I expected to follow its path for a
while, until it headed off over the open fields and out of sight, or at the
very least certainly out of camera range. But then, it dropped onto an
exposed branch of a roadside tree! I braked to a halt, with the window down
and started taking the quickest, roughest photos before the bird headed off
again. A Willie Wagtail was giving it heaps of noisy attention; magpies and
others could join in at any moment and encourage it on its way.
I can't attach a photo to this birding-aus posting, but I will do so for
those who receive copies via my mailing list. I'll get some of the images up
onto the Abberton website as soon as I can. They're not award-winners, but
they do impart something of the magnificence of that marvellous bird.
Bill Jolly
"Abberton",
Lockyer Valley, Queensland.
Visit our website at http://www.abberton.org
Email:
Ph: (+61) 7 4697 6111 Fax: (+61) 7 4697 6056
On Sunday, January 4, 2004, at 09:53 AM, Christopher wrote:
> I checked out the Lake a few days ago after a few kind posters had -
> over a
> period of weeks - mentioned spotting Little Curlews & Pratincoles (or
> was it
> Phalaropes?).
>
> No luck w/- the aforementioned, but good fun anyway. More to the
> point, I
> noticed some birds among a small group of Whiskered Terns which didn't
> look
> much like the juveniles or out-of-season adults I had seen before at
> places
> like Wivenhoe.
>
> My binocs are nothing flash and, lacking something to brace them on,
> weren't
> up to the task of delivering a clear view at the higher mag. levels.
> Stoopid me left my ratty old copy of Slater Slater Slater in the car,
> so I
> couldn't check for diagnostic differences while actually lookin' at the
> birdies in question.
>
> When I got home, I checked in Simpson& Day, Pizzey&Doyle, National
> Photographic Index "Shorebirds" and Readers Digest "Complete Book".
> All
> seemed to confirm what I had gleaned from Slater: the birds appeared
> to be
> White Winged Terns.
>
> Could anyone who has been to the Lake recently confirm the presence of
> White
> Winged Terns? I'm moderately certain these are what I spotted, but I'm
> unfamiliar with the critters and - as I said - my optics are a bit
> sub-par
> for longer-distance work.
>
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