Tern, tern, tern. To every thing there is a season....

With apologies to the Byrds (performers) and Pete Seeger (composer).   The purpose under heaven in this case was to check for a Bird of the Day, with a specific hope for a White-fronted Tern (before they return to New Zealand for procreative activities.

I have looked for them many times recently with no luck.  Indeed there have been few terns of any species around Mallacoota recently.  That changed today with a very large flock on a sandbank.

A member of BLEG who worked as a microbiologist spent a lot of working time counting bacteria in petri dishes.  He has transferred that skill to counting flocks of birds through a telescope and has expressed the view that most people's ad hoc estimates are usually a significant undercount.  My guestimate of this flock was 500 birds.  What do readers estimate?  (NB the birds in the water are mainly Godwits and Knots, not terns.)

I will note that Rob Clay reported (a few back) a similar phenomenon at Marlo/Cape Conran.  I have no idea why they have returned to Mallacoota today: perhaps going to the pub to watch the Grand Final?  I did note that quite a few of them seemed to be flying in from the direction of the Goodwin Sands.

Of course I hadn't expected this so had had left camera at home.  The image above is straight off my iPhone.  I also didn't have the phone adapter for my telescope but I was able - with a little fiddling about and a lot of muttered obscenities - to get a digiscoped image of 2 of the 5 White-fronted Terns I saw.

I returned with camera and too a couple of shots of the flock of terns and after loading them to my computer counted the terns by putting a dot on each bird.  I changed colour every 100 birds to make it easier to keep track of where I was up to.  I used the formation of terns in the water as a reference point to avoid duplication.

My total count was 1099 birds which I suggest is within +/- 20 of the actual number.

When I first arrived (sans camera) the waders were in 2 groups with 48 Bar-tailed Godwits in one group and 27 Red Knot in another.  By the time I returned the two species had mingled.  Here is part of the mixture.  (I did check for Black-tailed Godwits but no luck.)  I will be submitting this to Crap Bird Photography in due course.

Bastion Beach and Point

 We had a break in the damp weather on 25 February so took ourselves for a walk on Bastion Beach.  For reasons outlined below we extended the usual walk to cover the rocks at the Point as well.

The beach was not crowded!  Note also the amount of eel grass washed up as a result of it being swept out of the Mouth.

There have been other people on the beach recently as evidenced by these mini-inuksuks at the mouth.

The Mouth itself is still wide and quite deep.  It is also still cutting down as evidenced by the edges to the channel.

We watched this boat go out to see how navigable the bar was.  Not too spectacular but I suspect equally not for novices.  The bow came a bit more out of the water after I took the photo!

There is a lot of exposed rock at the Point, but the pools continue to be relatively free of life.  Some large crabs were seen so perhaps it is coming back?

I recorded 29 species on the walk which is not a bad total.  I might have got more with a telescope as there seemed to be a few shorebirds I couldn't ID on more distant sandbars.  A Raven posed on the dunes, with the prominent hackles confirming it was an Australian Raven.

We found a family of Red-capped Plovers with a very young chick.

I took this snap primarily for the size comparison between the three species.  When seen on its own I 'feel' that White-faced Herons are quite large birds so its surprising to see the body isn't that much bigger than an Australian Pied Oystercatcher.

A flock of ~5 White-fronted Chats was pleasant.

The reason for visiting the Point was to check the rocks for Tattlers (especially the Wandering Tattler seen recently at Clinton Rocks).  No joy, but there were 7 Willie Wagtails fluttering about.

As a bonus, a seal was happily thermoregulating off the point 

Natural History around Christmas 2021

 This is sort of a miscellany of things, mainly natural, seen at Mallacoota in lateish December 2021.

The first few images are of birds seen on a ride from home to Bucklands on 24 January,  First is a Common Bronzewing.

Then an immature White-headed Pigeon.

A Wonga Pigeon (one of two wandering around on the floor of Mullet Creek).

A Eastern Yellow Robin.

The next two images are from the Casuarina Track.  I knew this was a Golden Whistler, but being backlit the 'Golden' doesn't show up too well.

A bit of work with Photoshop Express solves that!

On the ride I went over Stingray Point and found a couple of Hyacinth Orchids.

On the Casuarina Track there was quite a lot of Bursaria spinosa (Blackthorn)  ..

.. and Dianella berries.

A beetle of some sort.

A Yellow Admiral with the head, if nothing else, in focus.

A rather large caterpillar.

A rather used footbridge.  The tree was at least 40 m high before adopting a more horizontal growth form. See 3rd image below.

House Sparrows are still nesting at home.

Our main business on Christmas Day was an expedition up the Inlet in friend's new boat.  Here it is at the South-West Arm Picnic Area jetty.

This is entering Double Creek, with Captains Creek off to the left

One of our objectives was to search the banks of Captains Creek for possible Striated Herons.  This was not successful but did prove the concept! 

A huge nest, probably Sea Eagle, on Double Creek Arm;

We walked the track at South West Arm  and found this attractive mix of old Banksia cone and moss.

Common Brown butterfly I think.  

A fungus: will ID later.

On the morning of 28th I got a couple of OK shots of a New Holland Honeyeater in our garden.

Also onthe 28th I took this snip of Marine Traffic, showing the Sydney - Hobart flweet coming down the coast.

Photos of an evening

 It was an interesting evening on 22 September.  This began while we were sitting in our lounge having a beverage and looking out the window (as we usually do).  The current near SChnapper Point looked strange.  Its hard to capture in a still image ..

... so I have added arrows to show that there seemed to be a strong current flowing out towards the Sands, while another nearby current seemed to be flowing in almost the opposite direction up the Narrows.

This is just because it is the first photo I have taken on my iPad!  And it's pretty.

Some snaps of moonrise from Fisheries Jetty.  This first set are from 1908 - 1920 hrs (not years).

We then went in to town for a few minutes (see below) and snapped these on the way home about 1930.

The reason for going in to town was to see the fish lanterns installed in Coulls Inlet.  A stunning display.

The lanterns stand out quite dramatically in daylight.  Here are a couple of snaps from the far side of Coulls Inlet taken on the morning of 23 September.

We'll be passing by later in the day and get some closer shots.