Just back from Eastern Australia (1 Viewer)

ColinD · Nov 8, 2015

I've just got back from a holiday to Eastern Australia, taking in Sydney, Blue Mountains, Atherton Tablelands, Port Douglas / Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef.

We saw lots of great wildlife, from duck-billed platypus to beach thick-knee, from mudskipper to Olive-backed sunbird and from humpback whale to eastern spinebill, to say nothing of all of the fish and corals of the Great Barrier Reef.

Attached are a few of the highlights for me. Beach thick-knee, duck-billed platypus, humpbacked whale, laughing kookaburra, common noddy.

I've produced a round-up of the holiday and put it on my blog here. It's far too long to put on these forums, with over 50 photos, but if anybody is planning a visit and wants any advice etc., please email me or better still ask the question here.

Jeff Hopkins · Nov 8, 2015

Beach thick-knee! Totally gripped! I tried several times for that one. Where did you see it?

Allen S. Moore · Nov 8, 2015

Colin, thanks for providing the link, a good read. BTW, your photo captioned: Lesser crested terns on Michaelmas Cay, don't LCTs have bills which are more orange than those birds have?

ColinD · Nov 8, 2015

Jeff hopkins said:
Beach thick-knee! Totally gripped! I tried several times for that one. Where did you see it?

In two places, the first was on an industrial estate in Cairns, the second was on the beach at Port Douglas. I'd been to a few suitable looking beaches before I found them!

ColinD · Nov 8, 2015

Allen S. Moore said:
Colin, thanks for providing the link, a good read. BTW, your photo captioned: Lesser crested terns on Michaelmas Cay, don't LCTs have bills which are more orange than those birds have?

Hi Allen, you may well be correct. I was under the impression that crested terns do not breed on Michaelmas Cay, but apparently they do.

According to my Australian guide books, lesser crested tern bill colour is deep yellow / orange whilst crested is pale green / yellow. I am partly colour blind which doesn't help, and as such I was working on the assumption that LCT showed a lot more white on the forehead than crested (see attached), but I think I can also see that both of these birds have pale green / yellow bills so maybe the amount of white on the forehead is not a feature.

The left hand bird here is what I'm calling crested, whilst the right hand bird is what I'm calling lesser crested. The latter is on the Cay, the former is not.

Allen S. Moore · Nov 8, 2015

ColinD said:
Hi Allen, you may well be correct. I was under the impression that crested terns do not breed on Michaelmas Cay, but apparently they do.

According to my Australian guide books, lesser crested tern bill colour is deep yellow / orange whilst crested is pale green / yellow. I am partly colour blind which doesn't help, and as such I was working on the assumption that LCT showed a lot more white on the forehead than crested (see attached), but I think I can also see that both of these birds have pale green / yellow bills so maybe the amount of white on the forehead is not a feature.

The left hand bird here is what I'm calling crested, whilst the right hand bird is what I'm calling lesser crested. The latter is on the Cay, the former is not.

Yes, that is a good point about the forehead colour. Of course, I have only ever seen these two species on my trips to Australia. Hopefully, a forum member from Cairns will be along some time!

Mannemer · Apr 9, 2016

Colin,
Both birds in those images are Crested Terns, not Lesser Crested Terns.

ColinD · Apr 10, 2016

Mannemer said:
Colin,
Both birds in those images are Crested Terns, not Lesser Crested Terns.

Thanks

Just back from Eastern Australia (1 Viewer)

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