The day and evening before had been very wet. But I woke up to fine morning – so I headed down to the Cooks River for a walk, and to see what birds were out. The path along the river was very muddy and under water in spots. Many of the mangroves were garnished in plastic carried down by floodwaters.
It was very quiet at first – not many birds were out. A lot of the rocks and the lower parts of trees were covered in mud.
Here is a Little Pied Cormorant –
And this is typical –
At Gough Whitlam Park I spotted this rather bedraggled looking Eastern Rosella –
The Gough Whitlam Park Tawny Frogmouths seemed to be fine after the storm –
I then walked down to the Princes Highway, and crossed the Cooks River on the bridge. On the way over, I spotted this White-faced Heron –
And then in Cahill Park, I spotted a Sacred Kingfisher –
It looks a bit startled! It was being harassed by a Magpie Lark.
Here is the annoying Magpie Lark –
I kept watching the Sacred Kingfisher.
It would dive down after mud crabs.
Then I noticed a Striated Heron perched lower down in the same fallen tree.
Sacred Kingfisher
Striated Heron
Sacred Kingfisher
The Kingfisher is about to cough up a pellet –
The Kingfisher has caught a crab.
The crab is swallowed.
Not quite! It needs to change position.
Striated Heron
Sacred Kingfisher
Striated Heron
Sacred Kingfisher
Magpie Lark
Sacred Kingfisher
Striated Heron
Pacific Black Duck
Sacred Kingfisher
The Kingfisher flies to the far side of the river.
Welcome Swallows
Striated Heron
Sacred Kingfisher
The Kingfisher has returned with a nice crab. But before it can be swallowed, it needs to be made safe. This requires a lot of bashing it against the branch.
Down it goes.
Little Black Cormorant
I then catch a bus down to Barton Park. This turned out to be very quiet and I do not stay very long.
Chestnut Teals
The main pond at Landing Lights Wetland is very full. Far too deep for the Dotterels that I saw last visit, and probably too deep for the wading birds like Pied Stilts.
Even the path behind the pond was flooded.
White-faced Heron
The highlight of the day was the Sacred Kingfisher at Cahill Park. It stayed around for fair while.