Some walks

This is almost another set of random photographs but does have a theme of walks we have done in the last few days.  The first lot are from the Betka loop

This is clearly a Billardiera but the purple colour doesn't fit B. scandens.  The other possibility, according to Flora of Victoria is B. mutabilis  - easily confused with the former - but the fruit didn't look glabrous.

 This is close to the dominant flowering plant in the area at the moment: Ozothamnus obcordatus.

This Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo had a purpose to its destruction of a Melaleuca armillaris sapling.  Just after I pressed the shutter it grabbed a large (finger length) grub and ate it.

 The next few photographs are patterns in the rock on the Western end of Betka Beach.

  A moon-set on 13 November.

 Our main walk on 13 November was along the Narrows, mainly to keep out of the wind.  There were many specimens of Linum marginale (Native flax).  For some reason I have always had trouble keeping this species in my memory!

There were several specimens of Notelaea venosa (Mock olive).  These, in a damp gullly, were the size of normal green olives.

 On the very dry bank of the channel the bushes were still flowering ...

 .. and the fruit were less than half the size.

 Exocarpos cupressiformis had set fruit but not yet turned red.

 I thought this to be Stellaria, but it didn't fit other characteristics of S, pungens.  That's because the local species is S. flaccida!

 Egret + calf = Cattle Egret.

The group had much amusement watching a bull in the paddock attempting to persuade the cows to let him do his duty, but they were not having anything to do with this.

Dendrophthoe vitellina was visible in a large gum in the middle of the paddock.  This seems to be the commonest mistletoe in the area.

Airport vicinity revisited

I thought Frances might be interested to see the Woodswallows at the back of the airport so took ourselves out there on the Saturday (9/11 - or, in US speak, 11/9).  I didn't think she'd enjoy driving through the bog so we parked before we got there and walked along the fence.

The first thing we saw was some Fringe Lilies (Thysanotus tuberosus).  Perhaps they are filling the gap currently evident in orchidacity?

 There were a few Woodswallows around, but for a change they were initially Dusky Woodswallows, rather than White-browed.  We got on to a few of the latter a bit further up the fence.  By that time we were feeling knackered from carrying several swarms of flies each so beat a retreat.

We moved to the Centre Track just past Pebbly Beach and walked along the road, hoping to see the White-cheeked Honeyeater.  We didn't see that, but watching a Yellow-faced Honeyeater carrying a fruit of Exocarpos cupressiformis it flew into a bush from which it emerged empty beaked.  Then I spotted the nest.  A nice breeding record.

 Dodonaea triquetra was covered with seeds (as expected at this time of year).

 There were a few of these beans in flower but I can't identify them below family.

 A pair of bracket fungi.

We saw a few birds, with Grey Fantails being very evident.  Just about as we got back to the car 2 White-winged Trillers made themselves evident.  We had driven off perhaps 50 metres and 2 Masked Woodswallows were spotted and getting out of the car to look for them a single White-browed was added to the list.  All up 21 species were recorded https://ebird.org/checklist/S61284439.

Birdy things

Birdy things on 8 November began with sighting about 6 rather orange Cattle Egrets on the small island opposite the wharf, alongside a similar number of Royal Spoonbills.  (I had neither binoculars nor camera with me, and the optics on my phone were not up to that range.)

Back home there was a major ruckus  due to a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles deciding to fly over.  As near as I could work out (they were at least 300m up (nd climbing) they then got attacked by an Australian Raven; 

 In this shot the Raven is closer to the camera, not in the talons of the Eagle)

...an Australian Magpie (no image); 2 Masked Lapwings 

and a Whistling Kite.

No-one seemed to be injured in this event.

I then went to try to relocate a White-cheeked Honeyeater reported on eBird from the Centre Track.  I didn't find that but did have a very interesting conversation with one of the guys doing the mulching West of the Airport.  This is apparently required by CASA to keep the airport open.  Points he made included:

1. the operation is subject to a range of environmental protocols;
2. scrub is being cleared back to the original footprint of the airport (unlike a previous effort which went further);
3. they are mulching everything rather than bulldozing to bare earth and burning;
4. the approach is good for orchids (my informant cited a local orchid expert who they work with), and I agreed that there had been a magnificent display following their work;
5. birds will come into the area - he said that his staff had seen several Ground Parrots near the air navigation beacon.

All up he did a good job of persuading me that what they were doing was quite reasonable.

He then agreed to me driving around the Western fence of the airport, noting a nasty boggy bit near a corner so I headed off back in that direction.  Before I got back to Pebbly Beach road I was surprised to see White-browed Woodswallows landing on the road.  One of them was a female

and was duly fed by a male.  

Surely courtship, so a nice breeding record (there are plenty of stumps and hollows for them to nest in around this area).

I also saw Jacky Winters and heard Little Lorikeets up in the canopy.

Getting on to the airport fence I was astonished to find a flock of at least 50 White-browed Woodswallows feeding in the mulched area and inside the fence.  This was in the area shown in green.

I carried on around to the Gun Club track, noting an Australasian Pipit on the way.

 I did a lap of the beacon (on foot, to keep my tyres in a good state) but found no Ground Parrots.  Possibly they were hiding inside the beacon fence where the heath is higher.  Getting back to the airport fence it was good to see 6 Dusky Woodswallows (the more expected species in the area).

All in all a pretty good day

Secret cave

We were sorting out where to take some visitors and I noticed that the Google Map covering the beaches past Betka indicated a sea cave on Secret Beach.

 This seemed a little exciting - hopefully in a "Famous Five at the beach" rather than a Wild Boars sense - so we headed off down there.  The first adventure was getting to the beach as half a tree had fallen across the path ...

... (smashing the handrail).

We then shifted from Enid Blyton to Nancy Drew when we found some clothing and a small case sitting on a deserted beach.  No sign of anyone in the water.   Putting that into the "lets see what happens" category we headed South along the beach.  The issue was resolved when a couple of people appeared from the North end of the beach: they had obviously gone into the cave and trusted beach goers not to nick their deserted kit!

Here is the entrance to the cave.

 The stratification in the rock was very intricate.

 Once through the entrance it was quite possible to stand up and walk around.

There were a couple of other entrances/exits to the cave but at the stage of the tide evident while we were there some dampness would arise in using them.  I have logged this site as a place to visit when there is a rough sea, expecting the entrance to the cave to have some blowhole potential.

A Welcome Swallow was also entering the cave and had built - or was building - a nest in there.  Obviously it had good night vision.

 After emerging from the cave we took ourselves to Quarry Beach as our guests had been very impressed with the rainbow strata there.  Having seen formation that to the point of over-familiarity I was more impressed with this Christmas beetle (Anoplognathus sp) on the beach.

Shorebirds not over!

We revisited Bastion Beach on 6 November, mainly to do a telescope peer at the sand dunes for Little Terns.  I selected a route that gave me a look in to Devlins Inlet, hoping to see some Whiskered Terns hunting over the water.  No luck with that but I did find a group of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers.

I am always surprised how small they seem when seen with species such as Silver Gulls as opposed to on their own.

Getting towards the shore, a first sighting was the appearance of some signs warning of the presence of  nesting Hooded Plovers: a very good idea.  I didn't pick up any Hoodies but hopefully that was my problem not theirs.  As I got to the shore Frances - who was strolling along the shoreline -  alerted me to the presence of  ...

 ...  dashing up and down the wash-line.  This behaviour and the very white appearance had me thinking "Sanderling" which has been confirmed by other members of the Mallacoota Birds FB group.  An addition to my Mallacoota list (and a species I haven't seen anywhere for many years).

Eventually I spotted - from about 100m distance -two Little Terns landing in the dunes.  They visited the same area several times suggesting to me that they have nesting on their mind.  The images were taken through my telescope at 60 X magnification (plus a bit of zoom on the phone).

 The extension of the black line right to the base of the bill rules out Fairy Tern unfortunately (in not adding to the length of my Mallacoota list).

Also in the dunes were several Red-capped Plovers sitting firmly.  I suspect there are eggs under there.

Shorebirds all over

We have visited the beach and sand bars at Bastion Point each of the last two days.  The notable feature has been the number of shorebirds (waders) in the area.  Here is a map of my eBird route.

On both days the waders photographed were mainly in the areas of the yellow lines.  Terns were mainly in the more Northerly of these areas.  The green hatching is a dune area where Red-capped Plovers are certainly nesting and Little Terns may be nesting.  To be avoided.

The first photos were taken on 4 November using my larger camera.  The first three are all of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers.

 Looking at this image it was clear the upper bird had got some food.

 Zooming in on the image I think it is a small shell.

 These photos are a little blurry but I am pretty confident they are Red Knot.  Note the remnant breeding plumage.

 As are these (apart from the larger white jobbie in the front).

 On 5 November I visited again.  A surprise was that walking through the marshy area I found 3 Whiskered Terns feeding in Devlins Inlet.  (Later I saw 7 of this species loafing on a distant sandbar: none of this got photographed.)

These shorebirds were somewhat cooperative for photography through my telescope.  The biggest is a Bar-tailed Godwit; the basic grey one is a Red Knot and the smallest is I think a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.

With my camera I caught a bunch of Knots with one Sharpie mixed in (behind a Knot).  The photo shows quite clearly (1) the browner colour of a Sharpie and (2) its chestnut crown - the giveaway field mark.

 A few more of the many Bar-tailed Godwits.

In addition to the shorebirds it was good to have 4 species of tern present: Whiskered; Little; Crested (lots) and Caspian.  Just as I was about to take some photos of most of these an immature Pacific Gull turned up and all the terns erupted and moved about 200m further away from me (but they would have got closer for anyone on Captain Stevensons Point).

Here are links to my eBird lists from 4 November and 5 November.