I spent another part day at Long Reef photographing birds there. The weather was not the best, with some light showers, and then when heaver rain came, I left in the early afternoon.
I timed my visit for low tide – and this would allow me to look for migratory birds on the rock platform. When I arrived, I scanned the platform with binoculars and spotted an Osprey perched on a rock. It seemed to be eating a fish. I approached and paused about 20 metres away to take some photos. I did not want to disturb the bird in its feeding.
The Osprey, even though it was eating, would constantly look up to check that no danger was near.
It did not seem to eat all the fish, but must have been content. It flew a short distance to one of the rock pools.
At the rock pool it had a wash, then took off and flew away.
I did not see it again, or any more Ospreys on my visit.
I looked around to see what other birds were around. Prominent were some Pied Cormorants.
And a single Crested Tern flew past.
There is often a large group of terns on the platform, but this time there seemed to be none. I then looked for the small migratory birds. These can be very hard to spot until you get very close to them. Also – they all seem to be in the one place. Probably safety in numbers.
I soon found some. There was a lot of Red-necked Stints. Here are some –
There were probably between 50 and 100 stints. Amongst them were some Ruddy Turnstones. Perhaps about 10.
And here is a Great Egret –
I went up the lookout area to have lunch and waited for a while to see if any more raptors would arrive. It then started raining more seriously, so I decided to head for home. On the walk out, near the carpark, I heard and then spotted a Pacific Koel –
