BellycanPainfully glorious at Lake Macquarie this morning. And with a steak and kidney pie for breakfast and a feathered breakfast companion.
After shopping, we sat down at the lake for a salad lunch – i.e. a packet of chips and a beer each. DW had a gluten free Hahn lager, I had a longneck of Coopers stout.
We watched a procession of little pied shags and a little black shag working over the pool in the lake at Toronto. They kept popping up for a breath (and maybe a swallow). The shark fence around the pool is no challenge for these birds, they seem to just swim through the holes.
Also seen:
• 2 high flying white-bellied sea eagles
• a flock of low flying toddlers (corellas)
• tiny swallows sitting on huge piers
• a bloke hooning on a hydrofoil board
JulieAnd the yellow-tails were right. It's dropped from 15 to 10 in an hour and is mizzling outside. #birdsOfOz #canberraweather
Yay! The yellow-tail black cockatoos are back. I saw a flock coming in from the mountains this morning. That's exciting for 2 reasons: they're back after not being here for 18 months, and, there's winter weather on the way. They come down from the Brindabellas when the weather is dodgy. #birdsOfOz #canberraweather
peter renshaw2026MAY22
The birds have been pushy for food, fighting and chasing Hunter; The youngest Magpie. So I pulled out #RoboMaggie to watch over them.
Pushy, the calmest and smartest Magpie isn’t fussed. When I position the food, ⚡️Flash ⚡️freaks and flues. The rest scatter.
Go inside, Flash lands and eats. Flash fears no bird.
#BirdsOfOz / #PicaFloreat / #Magpie
The birds have been pushy for food, fighting and chasing Hunter; The youngest Magpie. So I pulled out #RoboMaggie to watch over them.
Pushy, the calmest and smartest Magpie isn’t fussed. When I position the food, ⚡️Flash ⚡️freaks and flues. The rest scatter.
Go inside, Flash lands and eats. Flash fears no bird.
#BirdsOfOz / #PicaFloreat / #Magpie
A yellow-breasted robin sat still long enough for me to get a photo of it, for a change. On the greenway next to the wetlands at Toronto, NSW.
On my Thursday walk to the shops there were four swamp hens grazing on the greenery near the path. Always a pleasure to see.
2026MAY05
Maggies are typically insectivores. Being curious they do stray into other edible types of food. In this case a plum. For this I got a Magpie nod of approval. 🚲
#BirdsOfOz / #magpie / #PicaFloreat
Maggies are typically insectivores. Being curious they do stray into other edible types of food. In this case a plum. For this I got a Magpie nod of approval. 🚲
#BirdsOfOz / #magpie / #PicaFloreat
After lunch we had a walk around the ocean baths at Newcastle NSW. Here's a bunch of sooty oystercatchers settling in for the night on the rocks just past the baths.
Just after this, with the sun dipping, we saw dolphins working the waters around the baths. At least four, likely five or more. Always a wee thrill!
Here's the Afrocarpus tree in all its glory, decorated with sulphur-crested cockatoos. Underneath, you can see how much debris they drop while eating.
