Spring has sprung...

Given the amount of snow elsewhere in the country maybe I'm being a bit premature, but lunchtime in Thetford certainly did have a feel of spring about it.  I had a walk along the River Thet, and although neither the Dipper nor Otters were showing (though I have to admit to choosing to go along the river in the opposite direction to the otter photographers!) it was a pleasant walk in the sunshine with Nuthatches, Treecreeper, Kingfisher and this rather fetching Marsh Tit showing well.  Although not as colourful as their better known cousins, I think Marsh Tits are much more attractive and are a bird I have been wanting to get some good shots of for a while, despite seeing them most days around the Nunnery Lakes, so this bird was a welcome sight.

Otterly ridiculous

For the last couple of years I have been photographing Otters on the rivers around Thetford, and I have always been surprised at how comfortable they have become around people, but the current situation is getting out of hand and some photographers are not helping.  Over the last few weeks, the news has certainly got out through various forums, and wildlife enthusiasts and photographers from around the country are now descending on Thetford to see an animal which is usually so difficult to see.  That is certainly not the case with the two which show regularly often down to a couple of feet away in the middle of the day.

Every day there is an army of camouflaged photographers toting large lenses, and generally the majority have been responsible and well behaved, but sadly there are always some that give the rest of us a bad name.  In this case, there have been cases of photographers feeding the Otters with supermarket salmon and apparently even hand feeding them sardines.  Those involved would argue that it is no different from feeding birds or baiting badgers, when in fact the reality is that the actions of these few could ultimately cost the Otters dear.  The Otter's antics being veracious predators have already attracted bad press locally with people appearing in the local paper with their stories about their fish pond being emptied of their prized Koi carp and a few local free range chickens have met an untimely end.  What feeding these animals now means is that they will become to associate people with food and although they may not be as big as a bear, as Terry Nutkins (of Animal Magic fame from my childhood) would testify if he was still with us having lost a finger to one, they have sharp teeth and I dread to see the stories and the fallout should a child (or adult for that matter) get bitten by one.
Over the past few years they have been fairly tame but nothing like this, often they would swim across the river toward you before quickly turning round and swimming off along the opposite side, but today whilst photographing one of the Otters at lunchtime, whilst sat quietly by the river, the Otter even walked along the bank towards me and sniffed my shoe before jumping back into the water!  Still, for now I will continue to enjoy watching and photographing them and hope they ultimately move to pastures new in search of new territories before anything untoward happens.

Away with the fairies

When I was planning to go to the east coast of Australia, if you had asked me beforehand if there was a particular bird I wanted to see, I would have immediately answered "Superb Fairy-wren"!  Flick through any Australian bird guide and amongst all the other ludicrously-coloured birds like the parrots, honeyeaters and finches you get there will be a few pages of Fairy-wrens which have always held special fascination for me.  They are tiny hyperactive birds, about the size of a Long-tailed Tit and each one as beautiful as the next.  There are nine in total found in different parts of Australia, and on our trip we saw three of these and each one was a little stunner and well worth the long flight....

Superb Fairy-wren

These wrens were by far the most common, once you tuned in to their song, not unlike a scratchy Goldcrest, they are easy to find, many places we went around the Sydney area held them, even McDonald's car park!  The males are absolutely amazing and everything I had hoped they would be, the blue on them shimmers and contrasts well with the black mask and throat.  The females (and eclipse males) of all the wrens look very similar being brown with a red mask, this one is a Superb Fairy-wren at Sydney Olympic Park where they are particularly common.

Variegated Fairy-wren

We only saw these birds in Hervey Bay, Queensland but they are widespread down the east coast and like the Superbs, males have black and blue head markings but also show a chestnut shoulder patch.

Red-backed Fairy-wren

More of a northern species, we saw these wrens at two sites in Queensland, at Hervey Bay where this photograph was taken and at Tyto Wetland Reserve.

Splendid Fairy-wren

Undoubtedly the most stunning of the wrens, the males being completely electric blue, unfortunately, they are only found in the outback areas where we didn't have chance to go. However on a visit to Featherdale Wildlife Park just west of Sydney they did have a pair in one of their collections, and despite the wire mesh, I couldn't resist taking a few photos.  This is definitely a bird I will have to go back to see in the wild.....

On a mission

Having spent a very hot day on Magnetic Island, totally failing to find any Koalas, we headed further north to Mission Beach in search of the elusive Cassowary.  All along the road leading to Mission Beach are “Cassowary Crossing” signs and speed restrictions, but really how often do you ever see whatever animal it is, be it deer, kangaroo, Koala or in this case Cassowary, crossing a road in front of you? Well, in this case the signs were pretty accurate because as we drove towards the town, there stood right in the middle of the (thankfully empty) road was a Cassowary!!  Totally unfazed by us stopping in the middle of the road, it just carried on strolling across before slipping in to the undergrowth and vanishing, which for such a massive bird is quite a feat.

This morning, we were out again to try to get better shots of Cassowary, and after a fruitless walk along a mosquito-infested woodland track, we gave up and headed back to Mission Beach for breakfast.  As we entered the town, there stood on the side of the road was another Cassowary drinking in a pool.  Again, it wasn’t bothered in the slightest as we stopped the car a few metres away and rattled off photos and video before a large van drove past which scared the bird back into the undergrowth.

Plentiful Platypuses

Having managed to finally be able to continue our journey north, we dragged ourselves away from Hervey Bay and drove past floods in Rockhampton and forest fires before eventually arriving at Eungella National Park near Mackay.  The target here was the elusive Platypus, and having had our journey delayed by the floods, we were worried that we would only have one evening and morning to stake them out.  However, within seconds of arriving at the view point at Broken River overlooking a slow flowing stretch of the river, there was a Platypus swimming around. Over the rest of the evening and again this morning, we spent several hours watching up to 3 of these fascinating animals, often only a few yards away, totally unfazed by our presence.

When underwater, they were quite easy to follow by the bubbles they were making as they fed, but they regularly surfaced and looked like miniature crocodiles with just their eyes and backs visible when viewed from the bank, but from the road bridge above the river, their whole body could be seen in the clear water.

All you can eat buffet

Now that the ex-tropical Cyclone Oswald has passed, thing are returning back to normal, though we still can't continue our planned journey north until the floodwaters recede with many of the roads out of here still blocked, so we are stuck in Hervey Bay until we can get out.  Thankfully, there is still a lot to see and do around here and temperatures are now back to bordering on unbearable, meaning for much of the day time is best spent in the shade by the pool!  We headed out first thing this morning to make the most of a glorious morning before it got too hot and finally had excellent views of some Eastern Grey Kangaroos.  We came across a couple of mothers with young, which weren't too bothered by us snapping away, only when a dog appeared did they hop off.

On the way back we stopped along the esplanade where many Blue-faced Honeyeaters, Little Friarbirds, Noisy Miners and a Pied Butcherbird were taking advantage of an ant nest that had become exposed, with clouds of flying ants being gobbled up.  Photographing these birds flycatching was certainly a challenge, with birds flying and jinking very quickly though the autofocus did remarkably well to keep up with them. In the end I was quite happy with a few images, even capturing the ant fractions of a second before the honeyeater did!

Gone with the wind

I have been told I am a jinx with the weather when it comes to camping, but when I decided to come to Australia, which is currently suffering its worst drought for over 100 years, I didn't really expect to get caught up in a cyclone!  All yesterday and last night the wind and rain were relentless, thankfully one of Toni's friends who lives in Hervey Bay took pity on us and gave us a solid roof over our heads.  First thing this morning, the wind and rain were still persisting, but nothing like yesterday.

Thankfully, by mid morning the rain had died down and a quick drive round town along the seafront showed that many birds had been caught up in the winds, with at least 3 Lesser Frigatebirds over the town and several Bridled Tern and Common Noddy flying along the beach and over the houses!

The cyclone has now moved south, but as many roads north of us are still blocked, we may be here for another day or two, but there should still be plenty to see...