Tuesday, September 22, 2015

A Walk at Mullens

This is the beginning of the walk along to the bird roost at Mullens. When I came here 12 years ago it was possible to drive quite a bit further along the shoreline. Then "someone" - "officials" - "council" - or whoever! - decided that it would be better to block off the last couple of hundred meters of the track and let the vegetation regenerate. Accordingly bollards were placed over the track - AND - were pulled out! The ground after all is mainly sand! This happened more than once until some clever person decided to put big old pieces of logs between the bollards. These could not be removed easily - and so the bollards have stayed and the vegetation has regenerated! Since then another couple of hundred meters of track have been taken back and all vehicles must now tuck themselves tidily into the much smaller parking area!
As I walked along the shoreline I noticed quite a few trees have fallen down onto the sand and into the water at high tide.

I walked right along to the shorebird roost but it was not a very high tide and I did not see any shorebirds along there. This Pied Oystercatcher was close to the beginning of the walk. It is unusual to see a single bird by itself although there are times when there are quite large groups together. I wonder if this bird is a new one into the area or if it is one of a pair that has recently lost its mate.

I was almost back to the car park when I saw this bird flying down onto the ground and then fluttering up again. I edged up closer to see what it was doing and realized that it was "anting". This is when birds rub their feathers with ants in an effort to rid themselves of other smaller and annoying insects. This time the bird was more interested in what it was doing than in watching me so I got a series of photos of its actions. The bird is a Mangrove Honeyeater sometimes called a Varied Honeyeater (Lichenostomus veriscolor).
 
For more scenery from around the world visit Our World Tuesday
and for more birds visit Wild Bird Wednesday

19 comments:

  1. What incredible, delightful captures, Mick!! The colorful birds and such detail!! Terrific! Thanks for sharing and I hope you have a great new week!!

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  2. beautiful birds and great shots.

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  3. I wonder what the reason was behind blocking off the trail. I love the Oystercatcher and the pretty Honeyeater! Gorgeous photos. Have a happy new week!

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  4. Lovely place wonderful bird and nature photos!

    Happy Week to you,
    artmusedog and carol

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  5. anting! neat and smart! love the oystercatcher - so handsome. and those big tree logs wouldn't be going anywhere!

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  6. Great shots. I love that Pied Oystercatcher!

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  7. oh that's a bit sad that someone messed with the scenery, but great that everything is regenerating.

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  8. Never heard of anting so thanks for the photos and the info.

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  9. Great pictures ;-)
    CĂ©line & Philippe

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  10. Replies
    1. Hi Mick, your comment area is not showing up for me, so I'll just post here. Always love seeing the Oystercatchers. That honeyeater is a handsome bird even while anting! Karen, Pixel Posts

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  11. interesting. I never heard of birds "anting", sand bath I have seen, but never to use ants to rid them of bugs. I learned something new today :)

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  12. Love the series of shots of the VAried Honeyeater

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  13. I've never heard about anting before. Great bird shots. Thanks for catching my link omission on the post about adding barrels under our float cabin. It's there now if you want to go back. - Margy

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  14. Interesting. I didn't know about anting only dust baths. A great series of photos.

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  15. I like the look of the Mangrove Honeyeater. Very nice photos too!

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  16. Hi Mick. You and your patch are in my thoughts today. I'd never heard of Inskip until I started following your blog and it's all over the news today. It amazes me that people still think coastline is permanent. You'd better write a blog about it all!!
    PS Hope your eyes aren't worrying you too much.
    Cheers
    Lorraine (Boobook)

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  17. Hi there - as with the comment above I see that there has been a bit of excitement in your part of the world recently! Hope all is well, and that none of your best birding spots are now underwater!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

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  18. Interesting behaviour ... I've heard of a ting, but this is the first picture series I've seen, very neat. The oystercatcher is so handsome

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