My brother Brendan has sent me some photos of some interesting birds he has seen recently. These were not taken in Robertson, although the White-headed Pigeon is a seasonal visitor here.
The first are some Sooty Oystercatchers, which Brendan photographed at Gerroa, NSW (south from Kiama, and north from the wonderful Seven Mile Beach) on 17 December 2011.
It is not hard to work out how these birds get their name.
They are dusky coloured,
and they pick their way around rocky shelves
looking for juicy inter-tidal snacks to eat (not necessarily oysters).
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| Sooty Oystercatchers (courtesy B. Wilson) |
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| Sooty Oystercatchers (courtesy B. Wilson) |
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| Sooty Oystercatchers (courtesy B. Wilson) |
Here is the best image Brendan took, cropped a bit, to show its details.
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| Sooty Oystercatcher - a portrait (courtesy B. Wilson) |
Lawrence Finn, Brendan's son-in-law, took some photos of White-headed Pigeons when visiting at Dalmeny recently. Here are the images he captured (reduced to make them web-friendly). As mentioned in the introduction, these Pigeons are seasonal visitors to Robertson, but these photos were taken on the Far South Coast of NSW.
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| White-headed Pigeon (courtesy L. Finn) |
This is a magnificent male bird, in fine condition.
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| White-headed Pigeon (courtesy L. Finn) |
Male White-headed Pigeon.
Females have a duller cap,
and greyer (not shiny white) breast feathers.
and greyer (not shiny white) breast feathers.
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| White-headed Pigeon (courtesy L. Finn) |
Thanks to Brendan and Lawrence for the use of these images.
