Water Birds

Locate, Observe, Wait…Click

Little Pied Cormorant – In full, low flight against the back-drop of a turbulent sea. Photos above and below taken on various occasions near Wollongong, New South Wales.

Little Pied Cormorant

Little Pied Cormorants

Little Pied Cormorant – drying its wings in the wind.

Little Pied Cormorant – readying itself to face the ocean.

Little Pied Cormorant – taking off against a background of multi-coloured seaweed on the rocks.

Little Pied Cormorant – fishing in shallow surf.

Little Pied Cormorant – very sleepy. The fishing must have been tiring. Photo taken near Mosman, Sydney.

Pied Cormorant – I watched this beautiful bird closely for 30 mins. Eventually, it caught this large fish in the middle of a popular beach swimming area. The time from surfacing to swallowing was about 10 seconds only! It then put on a show of wing-flapping in the water. Not sure whether this was to help with swallowing, a “dance”, or to dry its wings before taking off again, which it did, just skimming the rail of the jetty. Photo series taken near Mosman, Sydney.

Pied Cormorant – out fishing…entree sized. Photo taken near Mosman, Sydney.

Pied Cormorant – fishing…for lunch. Photo taken near Mosman, Sydney.

Pied Cormorant – fishing…for the main course during a tussle that lasted 10 minutes. This fish was so big the cormorant couldn’t lift it vertically and eventually had to let it go. Photo taken near Mosman, Sydney.

Australasian Darter (Male) – out fishing. A very magestic bird, one of my favourites, although tricky to take photographs of due to the slender shape of its head and neck (…camera focusing), along the speed of head movement when fishing (…shutter speed). Photo sequence taken near Mosman, Sydney.

Australasian Darter

Australasian Darter (Male) – drying its wings after fishing. Photo taken near Mosman, Sydney.

Australasian Darter (Male) – drying its wings and preening after fishing. Photo taken near Mosman, Sydney.

Australasian Darter (Female?) – Such an elegant bird. Photo taken near Mosman, Sydney.

Eastern Great Egrett – out fishing. Photos above and below taken near Wollongong, New South Wales.

Eastern Great Egrett – while watching this bird for a couple of hours, it caught several sizeable fish from the shallow creek.

Eastern Great Egrett

Eastern Great Egrett – eye to eye.

Eastern Great Egrett – with feathers ruffled in the strong wind.

Eastern Great Egrett – showing the benefits of a long neck.

White Faced Heron – Photos above and below taken at low tide in the rock pools of a beach north of Wollongong.

White Faced Heron

White Faced Heron – having just caught a prawn in the sea pool at low tide.

White Faced Heron – vomiting up the prawn it had swallowed just a few minutes before.

Australian Pelican – Photos above and below taken near Wollongong.

Australian Pelican – making a spectacular spot landing.

Australian Pelican – fighting to retain fish remains provided by local fishermen.

Australian Pelican

Australian Pelicans – sitting on the lights waiting for fishermen to return with their catch.

Crested Tern – bath-time on the beach. Photo sequence taken near Mosman, Sydney.

The Aerobatics and Aquabatics of the Crested Tern – During a 2-3 week period this bay was full of “bait” fish. This attracted several species of seabird and larger fish. These photos show some of the remarkable attributes of the Crested Tern: high-speed, elegant soaring flight; targeting fish from 10-15m above the sea; stopping in flight; vertical diving into shallow water sometimes; submerging; vigorous sub-surface take-offs and catching more than one fish in their beaks…high energy feeding again and again. Interestingly, at the start of the dive the bird’s feet point skywards and seawards just before entry. Photos taken on different occasions near Mosman, Sydney.

Masked Lapwing / Spur-winged Plover – this pair was inseparable and seemingly in synch, each mirroring the other. The final picture in the series shows the yellow spur on the wing. Photos taken on a popular beach near Mosman, Sydney.

Sooty Oystercatcher (endangered) – Photos above and below taken near Wollongong.

Sooty Oystercatcher

Sooty Oystercatcher – after prising a limpet off a rock.

Sooty Oystercatcher

Royal Spoonbill – photos taken near Wollongong, New South Wales.

Royal Spoonbill

Little Black Cormorants – photos taken near Mosman, Sydney and Wollongong (in flight image). The bird with its eyes closed, standing on one leg, with the other dangling behind looks so relaxed gazing into the warm, early-morning sunshine.