Chillin’ at the beach

Australian Pelican; Black-winged Stilt*; Silver Gull

I’m a bit late for Lisa’s Bird Weekly with the theme of “Two or more bird species in one photograph“, but in my defence I only took this photo yesterday! I’m hoping I can sneak in. 😉

You may notice that the birds are predominantly white.

And you may be thinking, “Hold on, the feature photo has only two species!” Ah, but the pelican is the large, wavering reflection between the other two.

*I’ve gone for “Black-winged Stilt” because their faces are white; however, if someone with more bird-identification authority than I have thinks they are “Black-necked Stilts”, I’m easily persuaded. They are wonderfully elegant and ‘stilty’, regardless!

Last on the Card April 2021

Both photos were taken at sunset on 30 April in Ettalong, NSW. Thousands of rainbow lorikeets wheeled and swirled and chased each other in huge flocks above the town as the sun set. If you’ve never heard even one rainbow lorikeet at full voice, you’ll struggle to imagine just how ear-splitting and deafening the birds’ noise was!

Canon Powershot SX260: I use this camera when I can’t be bothered with the weight and bulk of my ‘real’ camera.

Huawei MYA-L02: my phone takes rubbish photos and I generally only use the camera for taking a photo to send to someone at the moment — but I like how here it caught a recognisable parrot shape.

I haven’t entered Bushboy’s Last on the Card challenge before, partly because I generally wipe the card — and partly because I never post unedited photos! But I like the symmetry of these two.

Also linking to Bird Weekly – Birds in Flight

Sextets of pelicans

Six pelicans

It may be hard (impossible?) to tell, but the six Australian Pelicans above are not the same six as in the feature photo. I photographed these birds on 3 April at The Entrance, which is on the Central Coast north of Sydney.

One Word Sunday: Six

And, this fits very neatly into “Birds seen in the past two weeks“

Birds on a wire or fence

I don’t know what this is, and couldn’t match it online. (Breaking news: it’s probably a yellow-faced honeyeater!) Photographed in Sydney.

Birds on a wire or fence is the Bird Weekly theme.

Australian Pelicans in Adelaide

Robin (the North American kind) in Stratford, Canada

Ducks, upended

Keen foraging, or synchronised swimming?

Posted for Becky’s SquareUp challenge. I’ve gone with “playing around with the word up”.

(Also sneaking this one is for Birds with butts in the air)

Birds beginning with “C”

Australian pied cormorants – Bondi Beach, Sydney

Cormorant drying its wings – Kerala, India

Cormorants on posts – Kensington Gardens, London

My first thought for the theme of “Birds beginning with C” was cormorants. The photo below deserves to be pulled out of the gallery above, in part because it may need an explanation! In China, cormorants have been used for centuries to catch fish for humans. This photo gallery from The Guardian has some stunning photos of the men and the birds in action. In my photo, I suspect the man was parading these cormorants through a busy tourist area in search of people willing to pay for a photo.

Cormorants being carried – Yangshuo, China

I discovered I have photos of other C birds too, lurking in the archives.

Black cockatoo – Alice Springs, Australia

Canada Geese — Stratford, Canada

Pied currawong – Sydney, Australia

Condors – Colca Canyon, Peru

Birds beginning with “C” is the Bird Weekly theme.

Pelicans and petrels

One wingtip drags in the water

I photographed these petrels in the Indian Ocean while sailing from South Africa to India on Lord Nelson in 2013. After leaving Durban, we swung south (way, way south) and east, giving a wide berth to Madagascar and any lurking pirates, before eventually heading northeast, back on track. The weather at 35deg South was not what we expected from the Indian Ocean — grey, chilly, spitting with rain. The bonus was the company of petrels and even albatrosses, following the ship. They never seemed to flap those long wings: a feather lifted here, a wing tilted there. Such effortless flyers. I watched them for hours (frankly, there was little else to do!).

Banking to turn

The pelicans were photographed in Cairns, not quite as exotic a destination as the southern Indian Ocean.

Birds with Long Wingspans is the Bird Weekly theme.