Triple-ticking!

In a nice piece of symmetry it appears that my 2015 ticking will both start and finish at Culburra Beach near Nowra. Back in January I made the three hour drive south to pick up a White-rumped Sandpiper and a couple of days ago I made the trip again to twitch another American vagrant at exactly the same spot on the shore of Lake Wollumboola. 

A dozen twitchers were already there when I turned up but the Hudsonian Godwit that we'd all come to see had not been located. There were many Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwits roosting at the water's edge and also out in the centre of the shallow lake but the 'Hudwit' could not be singled out. After an hour and a half of searching, a Peregrine Falcon passed overhead which flushed everything into the air. The separate godwit flocks consolidated on the shoreline a bit further south and, shortly after we'd all hiked down there, one of the birds raised it's wings to reveal the characteristic black underwing of the Hudsonian Godwit #471. The flock was subsequently flushed a couple more times by a Peregrine Falcon and then a Swamp Harrier which gave us great views of the bird in flight where it clearly stood out from it's cousins. As a bonus I also picked up a couple of reasonably common locals that have somehow evaded me up until now. Red Knot #470 and White-winged Black Tern #472 are now safely on the list.

  

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas!

Only one more day of work left and then I'm off until the new year. I'll be heading up the hill to the in-laws' tomorrow evening where I think I might just sleep for a few days. Time to recharge.

Tiny Teddy cars

I must also share a picture of the Tiny Teddy cars that I made for my work Christmas lunch last week. These were a tremendous idea from www.kidspot.com.au. Quality!

   

Finally...!

Christmas shopping is something that I just don't do. Fighting for a parking spot. Fighting to walk in a straight line. Just fighting to go where you want to go. Irritated by the crowds. Irritated by the Christmas music. Irritated by Santa. Just irritated. And so while the wife and my in-laws enjoyed themselves in town last Saturday, I headed back to Long Reef as another Beach Stone-curlew had been spotted.

 Sunny Long Reef

This has been one of my bogey birds for quite some time now with numerous attempted twitches over the years coming up blank. Last time I was at Long Reef it was wet and miserable and the Beach Stone-curlew was over in Putney. This time we were treated to glorious sunshine and the Beach Stone-curlew #469 was actually at Long Reef too.

Distant Beach Stone-curlew

Being a great big funny looking thing standing out on the rock platform, it proved pretty easy to spot. It generally kept it's distance but the rising tide eventually encouraged it to move closer to shore for a better view.

With that one finally in the bag, maybe some of my other bogey birds will come out to play over the coming year. Speckled Warbler, Spotted Quail-thrush, Swift Parrot, Little Grassbird...

White-faced Heron (Juv.)