Another lunchtime at the river

As the title suggests, following yesterday's encounter with a grebe, I went back to the Barwon River at lunchtime today. No grebes but did manage a few shots of some other waterbirds.

There is a boardwalk along the Barwon Heads side of the river that gives great access to the mangroves but is obviously restrictive in the views you can get of the birdlife. This Pied Cormorant sat preening on a fence post but the only view possible was almost directly into the sun with a wire fence in the way. This is the best I could do.

Pied Cormorant
Barwon River Estuary, Barwon Heads

I came across this Eastern Great Egret standing on the edge of one of the small jetties.

Eastern Great Egret
Barwon River Estuary, Barwon Heads

It got spooked by an approaching fisherman and took off

Eastern Great Egret
Barwon River Estuary, Barwon Heads

but quickly wheeled back and landed on the path, ironically only a few metres away from another fisherman.

Eastern Great Egret
Barwon River Estuary, Barwon Heads

As I walked back past the jetty, a Little Pied Cormorant had taken up the egret's position.

Little Pied Cormorant,
arwon River Estuary, Barwon Heads

Hoary-headed Grebe on the Barwon River

After a long morning sitting in front of a computer, I got out of the office for a short lunch break by the Barwon River. Fortuitously, a solo Hoary-headed Grebe was fishing close to shore and despite being obviously aware of my presence, hung around while I took a few shots. From a distance, Hoary-headed Grebes are difficult to distinguish from Australasian Grebes in winter or non-breeding plumage (they are quite distinct in breeding plumage). The key distinguishing features if you can get close enough are:

• the Hoary-headed Grebe has a white ring around the pupil in the eye; the Australasian Grebe has a yellow eye
• the line between the darker facial/crown feathers and lighter throat/neck feathers on the Hoary-headed Grebe runs below the eye; on the Australasian Grebe it runs through the eye.

The Australasian Grebe is also less likely to be found in estuarine or salt water, preferring fresh water habitats.

Hoary-headed Grebe, Barwon River Estuary, Barwon Heads

A kestrel in the wind

I drove along the back road past 13th Beach this afternoon and spotted several Nankeen Kestrels hovering along the dunes in the strong on-shore wind. I pulled into the "Boings" (or, somewhat less poetically, 35W) car park and extracted the camera from the back of the car, crossed the road to the top of the beach access stairs and waited for the bird, which was now hovering just above dune height a few hundred metres away, to glide back towards me. It didn't disappoint.

I never cease to be astounded at how these birds can hover, completely motionless in strong winds.

Nankeen Kestrel, 13th Beach

Occasionally, the bird would swoop down closer to the beach, dropping below the horizon line and providing an opportunity to grab a shot that I've had in my head for several years--a hovering kestrel with an out of focus surf in the background--but, unfortunately, this is what I usually end up with:

My tracking of the fast moving bird is never good enough to keep the bird in focus, so the auto focus picks up the background...one day :-(

On one swoop, the bird dropped into the dune grass and came up talons filled with something. I can't quite work out what it is but I think its a grasshopper (along with a few blades of grass). Whatever it was, the bird did not eat it but continued hunting further along the dunes, probably saving it for young back at a nest.

Nankeen Kestrel, 13th Beach

Lake Murtnaghurt

Lake Murtnaghurt, aka Murtnaghurt Lagoon, lies between Barwon Heads Golf Course and 13th Beach Golf Course behind the 13th Beach dunes (see map).

I went for a quick look this morning and found the lake teeming with ducks (mostly Grey and Chestnut Teal) and wading birds (Pacific Golden Plover, Red-necked Stints and Sharp-tailed Sandpipers)

Lake Murtnaghurt, Barwon Heads

The vegetation around the lake made it difficult to get close enough for any good photographs or positive ID on any rarer birds (really need a scope for viewing waders at this distance) but it was great to see so many birds enjoying their Saturday morning breakfast.