Ricketts Point

I had the pleasure of catching up with an old friend for lunch today at the Ricketts Point Teahouse/Beachside Café and (of course) packed the camera in the car just in case I had time for a bit of birding. I grew up in Beaumaris in the 1960s and my favourite childhood memories are of exploring the intertidal rock platforms at Ricketts Point and Dalgetty Road beach. The intertidal fauna is not what it was fifty years ago but the birdlife is more spectacular than I remember it.

Dalgetty Road Beach from Ricketts Point, Beaumaris

The usual suspects were there aplenty

Australian Pelican, Silver Gull, Crested Tern
Ricketts Point, Beaumaris

and, if you take your time, they allow you to get very close

Crested Tern (juvenile), Ricketts Point, Beaumaris

Australian Pelican, Ricketts Point, Beaumaris

Birds fly to and from roosting spots on the rock platforms so it's a great place for flight shots

Crested Tern (juvenile), Ricketts Point, Beaumaris

Crested Tern, Ricketts Point, Beaumaris 

Australian Pelican, Ricketts Point, Beaumaris

It's not uncommon to see 4 species of cormorants on the point. Only 3 today but managed to get all in one shot

Pied Cormorant, Little Pied Cormorant and Little Black Cormorant
Ricketts Point, Beaumaris

A pair of Sooty Oystercatchers spent a long time feeding in the shallows around the rock platform and allowed close approach

Sooty Oystercatcher, Ricketts Point, Beaumaris

and, a first for me at this location, a single Royal Spoonbill was feeding very close to the shore

Royal Spoonbill, Ricketts Point, Beaumaris