I spent an interesting day wandering around Bicentennial Park at Homebush Bay photographing the birds.
It was a bit windy on the day of my visit – so there were not too many birds out. In the big pond there were the usual Avocets and Stilts, a few black swans and ducks.
When I was there, I missed seeing a pair of birds that I later picked out when looking at my photos. Here they are cropped from the original, what look like a pair of Red Kneed Dotterels.
They were a long way off.
There seemed to be a lot of Superb Fairy Wrens around. They are also nice to photograph.
And like on an earlier visit, I spotted a White Faced Heron stalking small lizards in the grassy area behind the main hide. White I watched it, I saw it catch two skinks.
When I went out to the shipwreck platform, I observed an interesting phenomena. I saw the sea start to “boil” in an area of a few square metres. As soon as this happened, and it happened a few times, each one a fair way apart, the local Silver Gulls would race across – and land on top of the boiling water and then squash together squabbling for space. Obviously whatever was creating the boiling effect was good to eat.
Later, at home, when I looked at my photos and zoomed in – I could see some small organisms. I am not sure if they are small fish or some type of crustacean. They must be in a huge cluster and then sometime writhe around and jump in and out of the water creating the turbulence.
Also, near the wrecks, were a nice pair of Pied Cormorants.
Another White Faced Heron was hunting in the mangroves. Not for lizards, but the more usual small crustaceans. It seemed to catch a few things –
And some of the other birds –
Grey Fantail
