Tweed - October 2018

I had a lot of research to do identifying birds from the Indonesia trip so that put me off birding for most of October. I did however, get out and about in the last week a couple of times so these photos are from a few locations. Album here

Brown Quail

I managed to finally photograph the Brown Quail which had been eluding me for some time. We had seen them at Kingscliff but hadn't got a good photo. At the back of the old Tugun tip and the new desalination plant is a poorly rehabilitated wasteland with odd grasses and strange coloured soil. It's probably toxic but the kangaroos don't seem to mind. I am always nervous birding there as it is near the airport and I'm not sure what the rules are for getting in plus there is probably methane oozing out of the ground from the tip site but the fence is down in numerous places and you can somtimes see some unusual things as nature recovers the site. The quails were just hanging out on the gravel path ready to dive into the grass and disappear as is there usual habit.

Brown Goshawk

A Brown Goshawk did some posing for the camera. He had a juvenile feel to him.

Black Swan Cygnet

There were three extremely cute cygnets out and about with mum. Swans are very handsome birds but every so often that sinuous neck gives you a little shiver. The babies don't have that neck action yet and are fluffy with down but the bare skin around their face reveals the not to be toyed with bird they will become. 

 

Usually in the persuit of getting the bird full frame in the photo you discard the wider shots but I liked catching this Grebe+Coot+Moorhen trifecta. The Moorhen and Coots are terribly common around Tweed. There are plenty of Grebes too but they aren't quite as tolerant of poor water conditions as the others. Some urban planner has done an excellent job creating the hydrological system at Boyd Park. At times there have been Jacanas and Rails although some uneducated resident has been allowing their dog to run around unsupervised

Magpie-lark

The Magpie-lark is a bird that has adapted well to human development and you will frequently see them hanging around suburbia but I don't often see the nest.

We have started to see Dollarbirds and the Pacific Golden Plover down at the fish trap after their long trip from the other side of the world.

Dollarbird

Pacific Golden-plover