A rainy day in Lismore

I had the pleasure of visiting Southern Cross University in Lismore and decided to make the most of the preceding day's public holiday checking out some of the local birding haunts in the Northern Rivers area of NSW. 

Unfortunately, the weather varied from dull overcast through drizzling to heavy rain for most of the morning so I just took a leisurely drive along the Tweed River anticipating a break in the weather but it was not until I reached Mt Warning (Wollumbin National Park) that the rain stopped (briefly). I took a couple of short walks hoping for the chance to see some rainforest birds. 

Rainforest, Breakfast Creek, Wollumbin National Park NSW 

It's always a challenge photographing birds in a forest because most of the birds are either in the canopy, so all you see are silhouettes, or on the forest floor so it's very dark. I did manage to find an Australian Brush Turkey running along the forest floor and got one shot off panning a hand-held 300mm lens shooting @ 1/3 second (yes it was that dark!) from the Lyrebird Track lookout. 

Australian Brush Turkey, Breakfast Creek, Wollumbin National Park, NSW

The morning was not a total dead loss though as I did manage to see a large flock of (at least 50) Topknot Pigeons flying over the top of the forest canopy (but impossible to photograph) about 600 metres up the Summit Walk. Of course, once I arrived back at the car park, another Brush Turkey was feeding on the roadside and I managed a few shots before the rain started again.

Australian Brush Turkey, Breakfast Creek, Wollumbin National Park, NSW

The creek also provided a chance for some waterfall shots.

Breakfast Creek, Wollumbin National Park, NSW

Rotary Park Rainforest Reserve, a small remnant of dry rainforest in suburban Lismore is known as a good birding spot. There were a few birds flying around the canopy but nothing close enough to being photographed. However, the resident colony of Grey-headed Flying-fox did provide some photographic entertainment

Grey-headed Flying-fox, Rotary Park Rainforest Reserve, Lismore, NSW

The other main target for the day was Comb-crested Jacana, which I had been told were relatively easy to see at Lake Lismore, and I did manage to find two close enough to the lake shore and out in the open for my first time photographing this species.

Comb-crested Jacana, Lake Lismore, NSW

While I crouched at the side of the lake, a small flock of Scaly-breasted Lorikeets landed in nearby trees

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Lake Lismore, NSW

Lorikeets and Terns at Ricketts Point

Travelling interstate and overseas for work for the last 5 weeks, I have been reading with envy the postings from many Melbourne birdos reporting the various species of terns frequenting the beaches of Beaumaris and Mordialloc.

So, it was with some anticipation that I visited both locations this afternoon on a brief trip to Melbourne. First stop Mordialloc jetty and no luck - plenty of terns but all Crested Tern on both north and south sides of jetty. Better luck at the second stop at Ricketts Point in Beaumaris (access to Ricketts Point is from Beach Road just NW of the intersection with Reserve Road - see map).

There were approx. 200 Crested Tern on and around the rock platform.

Crested Tern, Ricketts Point, Beaumaris

Among the largest group was a single "odd one out" that is either an Arctic Tern or Common Tern. Unfortunately, the mid afternoon sun was not in the best position for viewing or photographing this bird and the whole flock was scared off by a dog before I could try and approach it any closer. In flight, the bird did appear to have the Arctic Tern's distinctive black tips to primaries.

Stop Press 28 Oct:
I've had some offline feedback that it might be a White-fronted Tern - which I now think it is based on the head (minimal dark colour in front of the eye) and wing plumage - happy to be convinced otherwise though :-)

Which Tern? Ricketts Point, Beaumaris

I hung around for another 20 minutes in the hope that the terns would return to the same reef but, alas, no...

On leaving the car park, I heard lorikeets across Beach Road and as there had been a report of a pair of Scaly-breasted Lorikeets earlier in the week, I stopped for a closer investigation. There were at least 10 Rainbow Lorikeets (difficult to count exact numbers as they were in almost continuous movement within and among the Coast Banksia trees).

Rainbow Lorikeet, Ricketts Point, Beaumaris

There was a Scaly-breasted Lorikeet among the Rainbows

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Ricketts Point, Beaumaris

but the bird it spent most time with appeared to be neither a Rainbow or Scaly-breasted, appearing to have hybrid features of both: the blue head but duller than Rainbow and scaly breast as well as back.

Hybrid Rainbow and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet?

I have not seen this before so any ideas appreciated.