IF IT MOVES SHOOT IT...

I thought I'd post a few videos of some of the wildlife I see nearly every day. Often I take a video because it's too hard to get a still due to the amount of foliage or the swiftness of the subject or I think others might be interested in hearing what bird it is they hear but don't see. The behaviour of the creature is also of interest.

Here, two spotted doves were canoodling but I thought it interesting that the ?female? was clearly irritated towards the end.

This is a rakali, or water rat, Australia's answer to the otter. Fascinating to watch but so quick any still photography I've tried has been blurry.

Two new nestling willie wagtails visible for a short time when the parents changed over. Just hope this pair do better than the last few attempts at raising a family, due to weather or predation.

I heard this guy, male leaden flycatcher, long before I spotted him and then, too late, realised there was a female just above him which I missed.

Two fledging welcome swallows wait for their parent to literally drop their food into their mouths. I had to slow down part of it because the parent is so fast. A few days later, I saw the 'drop and swallow' being done on the wing. The parent does a fly past and the fledglings fly up to meet them where the food is exchanged. I haven't managed a video of that yet unfortunately.

Eastern whipbirds are so frustrating. They can be in a shrub right beside you but you can't see them to photograph. They love the gloom of the undergrowth so I took a video of this one foraging instead.

Azure kingfishers are so quick when they dive for their food, I'm in awe of people who publish photographs of them. I've taken lots of them sitting, watching and have managed a few videos of the dive. This one shows the freshwater prawn it caught too. 

Always a thrill to see platypus reacting with others as they're normally a solo animal. I've posted videos of them interacting with cormorants previously but here is part of the mating ritual. Normally the male will grasp the female's tail and it's a bit of a chase before the actual mating happens but here he's missed the tail and has her rear foot.

A neighbour alerted me to a large python in her yard so out I went with my camera to capture the action. I was pretty close to it and fascinating to watch it move.

I'd heard this bird for a couple of years before I actually saw one so videoed it so others would know what they hear.

NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH PLATYPUS!

I'm lucky to live in an area renowned for its platypus and never tire of trying to spot them when I'm out and about. This morning I was lucky enough to see two, separately in the same pond, then both swimming and feeding with a pied cormorant.

 

On its lonesome...

I must have hundreds of 2 or 3 second videos where I just get them diving.

I was concentrating on filming the platypus when the cormorant dived in at the end.

Two chums together...

A bit of synchronized diving...

...and then there were three!

In this footage, the platypus appeared to snag a yabby mid-swim and stopped to chow down. Sorry about that bush, made it hard to keep the camera steady trying to see what was going on.

APPROVED EXERCISE BRINGS RESULTS...

 Because our activities are being curtailed due to Covid-19 I'm grateful we are able to exercise, which for me means long walks around town, camera at the ready. Although I must say it's like Pitt Street out there sometimes with so many people exercising. I just wish the ones with unleashed dogs would stay at home. Too many people think the rules don't apply to them.

My first azure kingfisher for the year. I disturbed it unfortunately so it flew off after I got this shot while moving in for a better snap. They are beautiful birds but always look a bit lopsided to me with that very short tail and very long beak.

Another blue tiger butterfly settled in front of me so, of course, I had to take its photograph. It looked more black and white in the sun. 

 I see a lot of brown thornbills in my backyard but took this because, to be honest, I didn't know what it was when I snapped it but love the shot. Peek-a-boo!

These two red-backed fairy wrens (female above, male below) where taking food back to a nest I suspect, as they disappeared into long grass with their catches. 

 "Look what I caught!" The willy wagtail's catch was almost as big as it is. 

 Not the best shot of a male golden whistler but the best I could get because he flitted around quickly hiding behind foliage. 

 Again, not my best shot of a platypus because he's swimming away but I hadn't seen one for a few weeks so was pleased to get this.

This colourful little bird is a striated pardalote.

 They are nesting in burrows in a nearby bank (another reason I don't like unleashed dogs on the trail) and will fly down to check on everything. 

My first Yellow Admiral butterfly!

What it looks like with wings open.

MONDAY SOMETIMES BEATS SUNDAY....

Funny what a difference a day makes... comparing yesterday's walk and today's. Weather was the same, threat of rain but didn't rain. Different route though. Today, I chose the Wetlands and actually put plastic bags over my joggers to cut down on soggy socks (refer to my last post if you don't understand that comment). It turned out to be quite a colourful walk. Firstly, I was thrilled to finally see (and snap) a rainbow bee eater, having been told how beautiful they are by a friend.  That was the highlight of the walk, just standing there watching it fly around, yellow wings catching the morning light. Magic. I've now learned even more about them, like they nest underground!

This little cutie was the highlight of yesterday's walk, a male golden whistler, colourful enough to make this post.

No doubt I can thank the watery sunlight for the stunning colours in this guy's feathers. A sacred kingfisher perched up high waiting for his breakfast.

This black-faced cuckoo shrike wasn't waiting around and I'm told that the caterpillar he's snatched would have turned into a Swallowtail butterfly.  Sigh.

I thought this photo showed where the shining bronze cuckoo got its name... although this one looks quite coppery as well.

The purple swamphens graze in the paddocks around the wetlands. They are quite skittish too. You'd swear I was using a shotgun, not a camera. I was taken with how prehistoric looking it appears in this photo.

Lots of these little birds around this morning, tawny grassbirds (I think).

It seems every second small bird I spot these days is one of these little silvereyes. But that's fine, may there be many more...

At first I thought I had some obscure bird in the viewfinder.. but realised pretty soon it's a male red-backed fairy wren which is losing it's breeding plumage. But I love it as much as the black and red.

And here is a female, much duller poor thing, but so sweet... he will look like this soon but with a black beak I've read.

Not all birds on this walk... spotted this green dragon fly which stayed still long enough to take a snap.

I was quite taken with this web. I thought spiders were perfectionists. I saw this a few days ago and now it has even less web detail above the centre.  Wonder if its learned that it keeps losing the top of the web so has adjusted?

Lots of wanderer butterflies around the area but haven't spotted any of the distinctive caterpillars yet.  All in all, a most enjoyable and interesting walk.

WALKING WITH WET FEET STILL SATISFYING...

 This pretty dove was one of six brown cuckoo-doves feeding on shrubs near the platypus viewing platform on my walk this morning.

 And I wasn't disappointed by the platypus with one coming along just before I left. Only showed itself for a moment before disappearing under shrubs that line the creek. This area was where I saw one thrashing around in the reeds for some time with a waterhen pecking at it which worried me enough to call Wilvos. It had gone before they arrived though. They'd been called out previously about one with what looks like it's caught up in a hairband or similar. Attempts to find and treat that one have so far been unsuccessful.

Galahs are so cheeky. This one saw me taking photos and almost seemed to demand being captured for posterity.

Cattle egrets galore at the Maleny Precinct because of the cattle around, orange breeding plumage has faded. These three look like the Larry, Curly & Mo of their world...

By this time my shoes were sodden with the dew. "Oh, yes, Madam... these very expensive Adidas joggers are virtually waterproof but we'll hit them with some Scotchguard as well."  Grrrrr.  Two outings in them with heavy dew and both times might as well have been just wearing socks. 

Looking a bit tattered but I was quite taken with this mushie, gives it a lacey look.

 Spotted what I think is either a Wallum sedgefrog or dwarf green tree frog in the Wetlands. Jolly difficult to get this  because the frog and the reeds are so small, without wading into the water. "Why not if your feet are already wet?" I hear you ask... Well, I know red bellied black snakes like the wetlands too and last time I photographed frogs up in Cooroy (here), I barely missed standing on one of said snakes. Ugh. I'm content with this not-too-bad shot.

Thought this large web was pretty in the morning sun but didn't notice till I got the photo up on the computer that it's not round! Wonder why the owner didn't continue weaving up top? I can see it in the middle. Resting???

 This was a kind of accidental shot if I'm honest. Towards the end of the walk I was hot and steamy and my glasses fogged up. I couldn't see properly in the viewfinder, just my face reflected which got me even grumpier. Then the camera refused to cooperate by zooming in as it should. Anyway, I'd spotted a black shouldered kite in a particular tree and I was quite a distance from it so when I saw this in the viewfinder I took it although I knew it wouldn't be clear enough.  I could see it was feeding on something but was sad to see it was probably one of the little waterhen chicks I've been photographing of late. Then when the camera finally decided to play the game I couldn't find it again. Ah well. Mother Nature knows best. I've certainly seen way more waterhens than kites around the place.

Hope you enjoyed your walk as much as I did mine, despite the wet feet and frustration...

LAUGHING IT UP ABOUT REPTILES...

I love the kookaburras which visit the Jacaranda tree out the back and finally got a photo of them laughing it up... usually they've finished by the time I get out there and I'm left not getting the joke.  So when I heard a bit of chuckle yesterday morning I was at the window in record time and got to see this...

...poor little snake (because this particular kooka was fairly small) desperately trying to escape that vice-like beak.  It eventually expired but while I wasn't looking bird and reptile disappeared. OK, I wasn't really that sorry for the snake as I couldn't help wondering where he got it.

As an added bonus, another chuckle (obviously, you can't laugh it up too much with your beak full) and a different bird had a ?skink?  Not sure, could be a gecko but we do have a lot of skinks around here. I did actually feel for it though.

 This guy dropped in the other day for after noon tea, common green tree snake, looked a bit taken aback to find me looking at him.

It finally disappeared back into the tree and I've not seen it again.

RAINBOW, DRAGONS AND FROGS AT COOROY...

I visited Noosa Botanic Gardens again for the first time in 6 months since retiring. I was absolutely thrilled to spot a bird I'd never seen before and managed to get a few snaps of it.  Mind you, birds I haven't seen before would number in the millions and a few fairly clear snaps from the 40 or so I took is probably nothing to brag about but I couldn't wait to get home and find out what bird it was.  Meet one of the Rainbow Pittas...

"Are you lookin' at me?" it seems to be saying...

 I used a bit of patience and then stalked it around a dry creek bed as it hopped around, carefully avoiding crunching on leaves and twigs, so as not to startle it.  Low light in the forest area meant I got lots of blurred shots and perfect shots of where it had been a split second before. It was very interested in fallen quandongs but normally feeds on insects. Maybe there was some hiding in the fruit.

 This shot shows the chestnut stripes on its head nicely and what looks like a bit of weed clinging there as well.

"Are you still here?"

I took the hint and moved on to the pond... 

... where it was apparently dragonfly time.  I'd never thought about what dragonflies (or damselflies) ate and hadn't even noticed that this one was chowing down on something when I took the shot. The bug it's eating is more colourful than it is.

 This one (no more than 4cm long) is a male dragonfly I gather after watching the large numbers of them mating. Of course they could be damselflies. After reading up on them, I am confused as these look like damselflies with the closed wings.

The males all had the bright blue bottoms and they grab the females by the back of the head to start the process. 

It's up to her to curl her tail around to find the penis. A very complicated mating dance and I've since read somewhere that the females will often pretend to be dead to avoid having to mate.  I'm sure we can human females can relate to that! 

I only found two tiny, wee frogs at the pond and this be them. They sat very still and were not frightened off by my lens shoved in their faces.

Hopefully, I won't leave it so long to return.