Here is the big bird I was asking Taz about. I think it is either a brown booby or a juvenile Australasian Gannet, but am happy for someone to correct me if that's not the case.
Dingo.... you are right, it is worth a look !
not sure what kind of tern the other one is.
They were frenzied and fishing for hours, so I had to go back and get them.
Cheers
Birdie
Can anyone tell me what these are?
Sunshine Coast Queensland
HI Birdie
Very well done I think you are on the money with the juvenile Australasian Gannet excellent shots.
Thanks Dingo, you know, an hour earlier I was walking through the same place with a friend ( and no camera) and the sky was a beautiful blue clear one. I heard an unusual high pitched whistling call, and it took me some time to realise that over head, was a pair of ospreys circling, one very low and the other up high. If I had had my camera I can see that it wouldn't have been as hard as I have been thinking to get a great shot from underneath. So today, I went back to the same spot with camera, and yep.... not a bird in sight!!
But I'll be back :)
When driving home I passed a mobile phone tower with a pair of ospreys on their nest in it. Then I remembered back about 7-8 years ago, when I was working in a nearby camera shop, we used to use that same nest as a test subject for binoculars and long lenses. Funny to think that they are still there, and as I didn't have such an avid interest in birds back then, I hadn't even thought of it till today.
Cheers
Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Great shots Birdie and I reckon those birds on the sandbar are terns. Ray
Thanks Ray, do you reckon they are the same type as the ones fishing with the gannets?
Cheers
Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Great shots Birdie,must have been exciting to see.
Yes it was exciting. I couldn't believe my luck, and to have them there for hours was incredible. Actually the local paper ran a spread on it as their photographer caught it as well. I was hoping to link it to here but apparently unusual bird behaviour just isn't important enough to reach the online content pages :( . The westerly winds had allowed the mackerel etc to herd the baitfish in close, and they were trapped in a shallow hole of about 15cm of water. Easy pickings for the seabirds.
I noticed yesterday there were a few aerial acrobatic gannets still hanging around, so it must be there season to be close by.
Cheers
Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
oh great shots birdie, especially the 3rd one ...looks like some kind of fighter pilot on a mission. maybe a gull-billed tern? did u get to see them thru binoculars? if so what colour were their legs n beak? thnx 4 sharing
Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best
No Hev, didn't see them close up. I have dozens of shots of the "fighter pilots". They are an amazing sight to see, the way they fold their wings back is incredible.
There are still a few around even today. We were watching Jessica Watson come in and a couple of jet skis were doing circles close in to the rocks. As soon as they stopped along came a few gannets to see what they could clean up . Opportunists!
Cheers
BIrdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Great shots Birdie - I like the 3rd one too. I love watching the birds fish - they must have thick skulls!