This time I was joined by Digi Dave and we spent an interesting and enjoyable few hours on the Cooks River near the Old Sugar Mill. We spent our time between the Dog Area and the Boat Harbour.
On the bridge over the river, we spotted a White Faced Heron flying along, and then landing on the bank. It soon moved off however to the other side, very close to where a Cormorant was hunting.
The next half hour was fascinating. The Cormorant seemed to be mainly finding small crustaceans. They looked like small shrimps. Every few dives, it would come up with one in its beak, which would soon be swallowed. But the heron also seemed to be getting more than its fair share of the spoils. It seemed to grab a lot of the shrimps that must have been fleeing towards the bank. I am not sure if the shrimps deliberately fled to the banks, or they fled in all directions and it was only the ones on or near the banks that the Heron got.
On several occasions, the Cormorant seemed to get angry at the Heron, and made a lunge at it. The Heron would back off and raise its feathers. This was very interesting to observe. It was also interesting to a pair of Silver Gulls who flew over hoping for a piece of the action (or rather some of the shrimps).
Eventually the Heron flew off –
At the Boat Harbour were the usual large flock of Corellas –
Later, at the Dog Area, Digi Dave spotted the Tawny Frogmouth family –
And nearby was a Butcher Bird –
We then returned to the Bridge, crossed it and went to the Cup and Saucer Creek Wetlands for a look. Plenty of Ibis and Purple Swamphens and their chicks. In Cup and Saucer Creek there seemed to be a huge school of small fish. Here is a small part of the school –
Where are the Cormorants? These looked like easy food.
Back in the Cooks River, I took a series of photographs as a Cormorant took off –
And at the Boat Harbour, the first Cormorant was still hunting for shrimps –
And an Egret was standing in the mud –
And a little further down the river –
