Day 56 of lockdown. I decided to do another bike ride along the Cooks River. My main aim was to try and spot the Osprey that I had seen the day before, along with the usual aim of spotting and photographing Sacred Kingfishers.
I had no luck finding an Osprey, but I did do well with the Kingfishers. And in particular, getting photos of them in flight. But I had to go fair way to find one, and it was probably the only one I saw – several times.
On the way down the river, my first stop was at the creek that joins the Cooks River near Tempe Station carpark. I don’t now the name of this creek, but it is more like a stormwater drain and much of it runs in a tunnel. The tide being low, two Egrets – a Great Egret and a Little Egret were hunting for fish.
This fish they catch are small, but they make up for this by catching a lot of them.
I then continue to Tempe Reserve and waited a while at the junction of the Alexandria Canal with the Cooks River. While waiting to see an Osprey turned up, I photographed some of the Welcome Swallows.
A Little Pied Cormorant was also hunting for fish.
Here is has a very small item of prey. Perhaps a crustacean?
Then the first of several Little Black Cormorants turned up.
I then cycled over to Cahill Park on the far side. It was here that I spotted a Sacred Kingfisher. The lighting was quite good for photographing them. Normally. at this spot, you are shooting into the Sun. The slight overcast conditions were much better.
But the bird soon flew off into the mangroves. I waited around to see if it would reappear. It did.
It coughed up a pellet.
From previous observations, as soon as a Kingfisher does this, it son resumes hunting for crabs. It soon took off.
It flew out of sight. I waited a while, but it didn’t come back this time, so I started to ride back across the river. However I spotted it just before the bridge. I parked my bike and resumed my photography.
I was happy with my photographic opportunities with this bird. But it eventually flew away.
I then cycled back to Tempe and stopped off at Waterworth Park. There I bumped into Michael. He had seen the Osprey there a few days before. While I had a snack, we both watched a Great Cormorant fly over, looking down for fish.
It circled around and landed.
It quickly caught a very nice fish.
The water in the river is very clear at present. I wonder if it had seen the fish from above?
I then left Michael, and returned to Tempe Reserve and Cahill Reserve. At Cahill Reserve the Sacred Kingfisher was back, so some more photos.
Here is fliers over to the mudflat and grabs a crab.
It had been an interesting time.