Cairns Birds

Birds of the islands and waters of the South Pacific.
rowey
Posts: 140
Joined: Sat Mar 20, 2010 9:13 pm
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Cairns Birds

Postby rowey » Sat Jan 21, 2017 8:00 pm

Just spent an awesome time in Cairns over Christmas where I was lucky enough to explore a wide area of this diverse place. Over 120 species in 5 days was pretty cool going, with a lot of "not sure" birds also. This area is just awesome, with such a wide variety of birds in many different habitats all within such a small area geographically speaking. I can't wait to go back. Then down to the Sunshine Coast where I managed another 30 odd as well. These 2 pictures had me a little puzzled though. I believe the second one is a Great Cormarant chick?? Very strange colouring though and I wondered if this was normal. The first photo is I believe a white Ibis but again I was unsure if it could be a Straw Necked Ibis, based on the colouring of the wings. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
White Ibis.jpg
White Ibis.jpg (95.37 KiB) Viewed 5249 times
Great Cormarant.jpg
Great Cormarant.jpg (220.94 KiB) Viewed 5249 times
Matthias
Posts: 63
Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2015 11:50 am

Re: Cairns Birds

Postby Matthias » Sat Jan 21, 2017 9:02 pm

Hi Rowey,

I happen to have read about it recently. It's a Little Pied Cormorant whose plumage is stained from tannins or oxides in the water. HANZAB states: "
"Underparts and sides of thighs, white (in Aust. often reddish brown or orange by iron-staining)" and "ABERRANT PLUMAGES: Underparts prone to ferrous-oxide staining (e.g. Keast & D'Ombrain 1949)."

Cheers,
Matthias
Jan
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Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:43 am
Location: Christchurch

Re: Cairns Birds

Postby Jan » Sun Jan 22, 2017 9:39 am

The other cormorants with it are Little Black cormorants, which makes a nice group in which to compare bills, length of tails, plumage patterns etc.
Jan
Posts: 1871
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:43 am
Location: Christchurch

Re: Cairns Birds

Postby Jan » Sun Jan 22, 2017 9:42 am

The first one is a juv Straw-necked Ibis with White Ibis.
rowey
Posts: 140
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Re: Cairns Birds

Postby rowey » Sun Jan 22, 2017 10:17 am

Thank you for the replies. Much appreciated.
rowey
Posts: 140
Joined: Sat Mar 20, 2010 9:13 pm
Contact:

Re: Cairns Birds

Postby rowey » Mon May 15, 2017 1:11 pm

Just going through some photos from my trip and came across this one. Unsure of the birds on the left and right. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Was taken at the mouth of the Barron River.
Unsure.jpg
Unsure.jpg (121.82 KiB) Viewed 4945 times
Davidthomas
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Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 10:05 am

Re: Cairns Birds

Postby Davidthomas » Mon May 15, 2017 3:17 pm

Marsh sand or Common Greenshank is my guess.
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philbattley
Posts: 666
Joined: Wed May 20, 2009 2:21 pm

Re: Cairns Birds

Postby philbattley » Sun May 28, 2017 8:58 am

The RH bird is a greenshank, and the others probably are too.
Phil

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