Birds (mainly) away and home

The photos do get a little better later in the post!

The wind has been a little strong recently so there have been hopes of pelagic birds being blown in to the close in parts of the coast.  So I took my telescope to what I call Fisherman's Point (which is also what it is called on some Parks signs - the Shire sign off Betka Rd is Geology Point).  I set up my telescope with phone attached in camera mode.

The attempts at seabird photography were not great.  This reflects several things:

• the wind causing the setup to vibrate somewhat;
• the birds tending to be moving at fair velocity; and
• the birds being a long way out - while they seemed quite close in the scope when  looked with a naked eye, if I could see them at all they appeared to be halfway to the horizon (perhaps 2-3 km away).

This is definitely a Gannet!

I think this is another Gannet: unfortunately no-one has yet written a Field Guide to Birds Back Ends.

When I got home I found a message from a visitor saying that they had recorded several species of pelagic bird from Bastion Point.  So the next day (2 June) I took myself off there.  It was fairly quiet, with only a pair of Shy Albatrosses (I can't resist calling them Shy Albos) out to sea.  Then I looked at the rocks to find a bunch of black and white Cormorants.  In typically cooperative bird fashion they mostly had their heads hidden.

Then heads began to appear and they were revealed as Black-faced Cormorants.

Aquatic mammals were represented by a school of Bottle-nosed Dolphins.

Looking closely I think there are 7 dolphins in this image

The amount of white water being thrown over the rocks on Gabo suggests it wouldn't be a pleasant day on the water.

Now getting to some home birds.  A Restless Flycatcher decided to perch on various things when not extracting food from cobwebs.

Red-browed Finches took some water ...

.. as well as gathering food from the mown lawn  Note also 1 House Sparrow.

A New Holland Honeyeater perched in the wattle above the bird bath.

... before jumping in.

The Satin Bowerbirds continue to be interested in fallen petals from a Camellia.  They seem to eat them rather than take them to decorate a bower (although this one doesn't look to be in the bower-building demographic).