It was time to visit some local birds again. I walked down to the Cooks River, crossed at the Lang St Bridge and then slowly walked upstream.
No Kingfishers this time. But I did spot a single Tawny Frogmouth roosting in a tree where I had seen two roosting last visit.
I looked around but could not spot the second one.
At the Boat Harbour, I saw this Little Pied Cormorant.
The tide was suitable (low, but starting to fill up the boat harbour) for the local Striated Heron to be fishing. But I could not see it, so I crossed over and walked up to the Cup and Saucer Creek Wetland. Not much action there, but at the mouth of Cup and Saucer Creek I ddi spot the Striated Heron.
It seemed to be looking for fish. It soon flew downstream.
I wondered if it had moved to the Boat Harbour. I walked back down and soon spotted it. I knew this would be a good chance for some photos, so sat down with my camera ready.
It seemed to be moving around a bit trying to find the best spot to fish.
Several times it flew to a higher perch in a mangrove.
Then lower down on the mudflats, it had some success.
It had caught two fish!
I think the Heron did not want to loose the fish in the water, and it ran to the mudflats and then dropped them.
It seemed content with one of the fish.
And immediately, two Ibis ran over and grabbed the second fish. They fought over it.
The Striated Heron was soon back –
I then decided to head downstream. I crossed the river and walked down to Younger Avenue. This time I could not spot either of the Tawny Frogmouths that often roost there.
Here is a Grey Butcherbird.
A little further down the river was the Little Pied Cormorant –
I did not see any more notable birds until I reached Gough Whitlam Park. There I look for the Striated Heron nest I had seen last visit. The nest seemed to be partly fallen down and no longer in use. I did wait a bit and eventually I saw two, rather large now, Striated Heron chicks. They seemed quite at home climbing in the mangroves.
Earlier, in the nest, I had seen three chicks. I do not know if there are now only two chicks surviving or maybe I only saw two of the three chicks?
There were plenty of little fish in the Billabong.
I then continued down the river. Here is Fatima Island –
It was reasonable quiet at the Tempe Wetlands. Here are some Grey Teals –
And in the middle pond, I saw an Australasian Grebe –
Thanks very much for your blog David. I am also a keen bird watcher and photographer, so I do appreciate how special the images of the Striated Heron catching the two fish are. I have also seen a Little Pied Cormorant with a much larger long necked turtle in its beak. The cormorant was having great difficulty swallowing because of the turtle extending its legs. The cormorant expertly moved its grip onto the turtle’s head and snapped its neck. I did take some photos, but the car behind me honked its horn so I never got to see if the cormorant actually swallowed the turtle.
Thanks, Chris.