A belated August post

Busy, busy, busy! Another very busy month at work has meant far too little time for me to watch birds, which is especially disappointing as we're moving towards the most active time of the year in regards to our feathered friends at the Holt. Another week spent up on the northern tip of Cape York allowed me to catch some birds that I wouldn't see at home, which is a nice change, but my bird counts are inevitably less reliable as I've had less time to get into the bush and look for the more shy birds such as the Thornbills and Pardalotes (that I know are present). But here's some of the stars of August...

However, here are some of the birds and critturs I found up north...

Bent Wing Bats

 I was lucky enough to be shown this colony living in an old silo of the the old Kaolin Mine that used to run at our mine site.

The colony

 There was quite a thriving quality. The photo's aren't the best, but I basically stuck the camera into a darkened silo and used a flash and auto focus and hoped for the best as I couldn't actually see them.

A small Salty sunning on the mud flats.

A Black-naped Tern on the wing

A Great Bowerbird near the mess.

Jabiru and Egret on the river.

Part of a Little Egret Colony established over the old Kaolin settling ponds.

Pelicans.

Pheasant Coucals on the haul road.

and a Whistling Kite

Meanwhile, back at the Holt, it's small bird season and the Scarlet Honeyeaters and Silvereyes have been present in numbers.

Silvereye hunting bugs in the Black Wattle

Scarlet Honeyeater in the Honey Gem Grevillea.

With the warmer, drier weather there have been some interesting insects abroad as well...

A Teddy Bear Bee on the Billy Goats Weed

A Scarlet Jezebel enjoys some nectar

A Monarch on the Grevillea

So, to the bird lists

Regulars (Seen daily)

Bar-shouldered Dove
Brown Honeyeater
Common Bronzewing
Double-barred Finch

Double-barred Finch

Galah
Laughing Kookaburra
Little Corella

Little Corella hunkered down for some oncoming rain

Olive-backed Oriole

Olive-backed Oriole

Pacific Black Duck
Peaceful Dove
Pied Butcherbird

Butch singing his heart out.

Plumed Whistling Duck

Plumed Whistling Ducks on the dam wall.

Some get quite curious.

Rainbow Lorikeet
Silvereye

Silvereye

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo in the Silky Oak

Welcome Swallow
White-throated Gerygone

Common (Seen Weekly)

Australian Magpie

Maggie checking out the deck for dog food.

Eastern Spinebill
Eastern Yellow Robin

Adult Eastern Yellow Robin

Juvenile Eastern Yellow Robin

Grey Fantail
Grey Shrike Thrush

Another great singer, a Grey Shrike Thrush.

Golden Whistler
Lewins Honeyeater
Little Friarbird
Noisy Friarbird
Noisy Miner
Pied Currawong

A Pied Currawong who got out of the wrong side of the bed that morning.

Scarlet Honeyeater

A Scarlet Honeyeater takes a break.

Striated Pardalote

Striated Pardalote keeping an eye out.

Torresian Crow
White-throated Honeyeater
Willie Wagtail
Yellow-faced Honeyeater

Uncommon (Seen occasionally)

Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike

A Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike.

King Parrot

King Parrot

Leaden Flycatcher

A male Leaden Flycatcher having a bad hair day.

Little Pied Cormorant
Pale-headed Rosella
Rainbow Bee Eater
Wedge-tailed Eagle
White-throated Treecreeper

Rare (Seen once)

Brown Goshawk
Crested Pigeon
Eastern Boobook
Figbird
Grey Butcherbird
Masked Plover
Restless Flycatcher
Rufous Whistler

Male Rufous Whistler

Spangled Drongo
Spotted Pardalote

Spotted Pardalote collecting nesting material from a Stringy Bark gum.

Success!

Which is only 52-species, but the numbers are more due to my absence than the birds!