Another Big Weekend

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brian63
brian63's picture
Another Big Weekend

In between social events and footy finals still managed to get out and take some shots in and around the Lismore & Ballina area's. Finished with quite a few new "ticks". 

Not sure of the exact species of the last four (Tern's & Tattler's) so any help would be appreciated.

Also for the first time i have seen Common Myna birds landing on the neighbours roof. Took a couple of shots (not posted), do fellow birders count them in their tally of Australian bird's photographed?

Dusky Moorhen

Yellow-Tailed Black-Cockatoo

Scaly-Breasted Lorikeet

Pacific Baza

Topknot Pigeon

Bar Shouldered Dove

Eastern Whipbird

Little Black Cormorant

Tattler?

Tattler?

Tern?

Tern?

laza
laza's picture

Incredible set and photos Brian

Love that Yellow Tail BC photo

What a great shot of those two

Dont take life too seriously, it never ends well

oconnore51
oconnore51's picture

Yes, wonderful shots.

elizabeth

Dmenace
Dmenace's picture

Great shots, Brian.  I like the two lorikeets together.

The Common, or Indian, Mynah is an extremely aggressive exotic which out-competes most native species.  It's classified as vermin in all states.

Not a welcome face to birders.

Woko
Woko's picture

Wonderful shots, Brian. But I would hardly count the Common or Indian Mynah as an Australian bird. It's one for the eradication bucket list.

muz1970
muz1970's picture

I'm truely impressed by the quality of your photos.

I believe the first bird after the Little Black Coromant is a Grey-tailed Tattler 

 next is a Wandering Tattler.

The two Terns with the Ruddy Turnstones I think are Whiskered Terns (non breeding) with a Crested Tern in the foreground.

The last pair I think are also Whiskered Terns.

Hope this helps, off course I may be wrong in my identifications. 

So my question is, whats your tally of photographed birds up to? Seems like a great incentive to get out in the field.

Cheers Murray

HelloBirdy
HelloBirdy's picture

Great selection of birds and photos. You really do get some nice photos.

As for keeping lists, despite how nasty they are, any of the introduced species count for the purposes of keeping your lists-as they are well and truly established- including indian mynas, common starlings, common blackbirds, european goldfinch, european greenfinch, Rock Dove. America has strict standards for their listing which is the only set of guidelines out there, covering a lot of different scenarios: http://listing.aba.org/aba-recording-rules/

Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera

Devster
Devster's picture

Great series of shots. Hard to pick a favourite. Personally I count them on my list. While they are on the eradication list as Ryu stated, they are established therefore count. I also only count birds I have taken a recognisable photo of to which makes it hard enough.

brian63
brian63's picture

muz1970 wrote:

I'm truely impressed by the quality of your photos.

I believe the first bird after the Little Black Coromant is a Grey-tailed Tattler 

 next is a Wandering Tattler.

The two Terns with the Ruddy Turnstones I think are Whiskered Terns (non breeding) with a Crested Tern in the foreground.

The last pair I think are also Whiskered Terns.

Hope this helps, off course I may be wrong in my identifications. 

So my question is, whats your tally of photographed birds up to? Seems like a great incentive to get out in the field.

Cheers Murray

Thanks for the kind words Murray and also for the help on the indentifications, I thought that was what the Tattlers were but wasn't sure on the terns.

On the tally question, I took and catalogued my first bird photo on the 8th of May this year and now have 98 different species. All have been taken within 30klm from my house with about half of those no more than 1.5klm from where I live. 

Brian

brian63
brian63's picture

Thank you everybody for your positive comments and your advice regarding the Mynah birds.

Brian

alcatraz
alcatraz's picture

Beautiful shots Brian. Really like the Tattler images! Well done.

WhistlingDuck

Lots of great photos there Brian - congratulations on your total .

I include in my count any bird that is described in an Australian Birds field guide - so that includes the introduced birds such as the common myna.

Rather than Whiskered Terns, they might be Little Terns - the bill looks finer and longer than those of Whiskered Terns, and they look very tiny compared to the Crested Tern in last pic, also they are probably more likely in that habitat than Whiskered Terns. But im no expert either!

I suspect the second tattler is a grey tailed tattler in breeding plummage .

sue818
sue818's picture

Lovely clear shots Brian... the Lorrikeets and the Tattlers are my favourites. You are getting some great birds and pics. I look forward to seeing even more

Sue

brian63
brian63's picture

WhistlingDuck wrote:

Lots of great photos there Brian - congratulations on your total .

I include in my count any bird that is described in an Australian Birds field guide - so that includes the introduced birds such as the common myna.

Rather than Whiskered Terns, they might be Little Terns - the bill looks finer and longer than those of Whiskered Terns, and they look very tiny compared to the Crested Tern in last pic, also they are probably more likely in that habitat than Whiskered Terns. But im no expert either!

I suspect the second tattler is a grey tailed tattler in breeding plummage .

Thanks WD, hopefully crack the ton in the near future.

I think you are right on the tern did a bit more research and am fairly confident it is a little tern.

sue818
sue818's picture

Hi Brian,

Just trying to ID a Tattler myself for a friend and noticed that your two appear different in regard to the eyebrow (a point made by Pizzey & Knight).

The first has eyebrows that meet but the eyebrows on the second image appear not to do so. So I would go for Grey-tailed for the first and Wandering in breeding colour for the second as suggested by Murray. However I have not seen many and would love Whistling Duck and Murray to explain their reasoning thus helping me with my problem.

Sue

brian63
brian63's picture

sue818 wrote:

Hi Brian,

Just trying to ID a Tattler myself for a friend and noticed that your two appear different in regard to the eyebrow (a point made by Pizzey & Knight).

The first has eyebrows that meet but the eyebrows on the second image appear not to do so. So I would go for Grey-tailed for the first and Wandering in breeding colour for the second as suggested by Murray. However I have not seen many and would love Whistling Duck and Murray to explain their reasoning thus helping me with my problem.

Sue

Hi Sue,

Yes you are correct, the first Tattler is a juvenile Grey-Tailed and the second is a Wandering in breeding colour. I drew my conclusion from other more side on photo's I took that day and cross referencing with Pizzey & Knight along with the help from fellow members. If it helps I can post some of those shots here.

Brian

WhistlingDuck

sue818 wrote:

...and would love Whistling Duck and Murray to explain their reasoning thus helping me with my problem.

Sue

You are being very complimentary calling it "reasoning"  in my case :)  

I would not put any weight on my opinion as I have not seen a Wandering Tattler and I just had a quick look in the field guide and thought the bird in the photo did not look very dark on top and the barring on the chest looked finer like the GT Tattler rather than the Wandering Tattler drawings. 

sue818
sue818's picture

Thanks Brian that might help me.

Thanks WhistlingDuck, was not sure if you were certain or just making a suggestion in terms of likelihood. So many knowledgable people on this site. I find the various bird guides offer different things but find the reasoning can be helpful for this and future cases. Building up my knowledge so one day I might see one and know it immediately!

Sue

brian63
brian63's picture

Hi Sue,

Here's a couple more images of each Tattler from more of a side on view. Hope this helps with your ID.

Grey-Tailed (Juvenile)

Wandering (Breeding Colours)

muz1970
muz1970's picture

Hi Sue, Sorry for the late reply, been busy. Don't take my identifications as being spot on either, I like WhistlingDuck have only come across Grey Tailed Tattlers in the field before and was referencing a guide to ID the Wandering Tattler. To me I was focusing on the lack of solid chest and the barred underparts.

My guide however does say that the Grey Tailed Tattler looks identical to a Wandering Tattler in Non-breeding colours, except the Grey Tailed Tattler is slightly smaller and has a smaller nasal groove in bill and larger leg scales. 

Hope this helps, Muz

muz1970
muz1970's picture

Hi Brian, forgot to say you've inspired me to go back through some of my photos from past trips and ID count the species I've collected. I've always had a keen interest in birds and have always seeked to ID birds I didn't recognize.  My camera and photograghy skills are basic but do enable enough for identifications. So you'll probably see a few birds that I also have questions about ID's. 

To get 100 birds locally is pretty bloody good. I did a family camping trip for 5 weeks through WA's pilbra in 2009 and managed to get 125 plus. Was only trying to get my daughters interested in counting bird species for the trip. 

Cheers Muz

sue818
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Thanks all,
it all goes to suggest my friend has found a Wandering Tattler.

Sue

brian63
brian63's picture

muz1970 wrote:

Hi Brian, forgot to say you've inspired me to go back through some of my photos from past trips and ID count the species I've collected. I've always had a keen interest in birds and have always seeked to ID birds I didn't recognize.  My camera and photograghy skills are basic but do enable enough for identifications. So you'll probably see a few birds that I also have questions about ID's. 

To get 100 birds locally is pretty bloody good. I did a family camping trip for 5 weeks through WA's pilbra in 2009 and managed to get 125 plus. Was only trying to get my daughters interested in counting bird species for the trip. 

Cheers Muz

That's great Muz, should be a good trip down memory lane. Alway's had plenty of birds in our yard but didn't take notice of the different types till I bought my camera. Don't need the best gear to take shots, for me it's getting to new places or others I haven't been to in years with the added bonus of a couple of new bird species.

Looking forward to the next 100 and your trip through the pilbra sounds magnificent, can't wait to visit the west one day.

Brian 

Amson
Amson's picture

I love your tattler photos. Altogether a beautiful selection.

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