Beneath a brilliant blue sky, I cycled through the Ross River Parkway as far as Aplin’s Weir, where water dribbled over the top of the concrete barrier in a scene far removed from the pounding fury of the weir falls during the monsoonal rains of January and February. A stunningly elegant little egret hunted at the edge of the weir, against a backdrop of serene water, broad-crowned rain trees, and the imposing cliffs of Mount Stuart.

On the far side of the river in Annandale, I cycled into a war zone of butterflies versus bee-eaters, with the rainbow bee-eaters banking and diving like Luke Skywalker evading Imperial T.I.E. fighters. Some of the hunters caught their quarry and perched on sunlit branches to devour them, but some of the butterflies dodged the bee-eaters and fluttered on. Figbirds and a yellow honeyeater foraged in a short, spreading tree weighted down by small green berries, a few of which had begun to turn red. A great bowerbird squawked its nasty, scratchy hiss while masked lapwings rattled out their machine-gun calls and welcome swallows swooped gracefully above the lawns, joining in the aerial insect hunt. That one small area of lawns and young trees was hopping with as much avian action as the city of Melbourne had been with cultural events.

On my return to the house, I commented to Vilis that Townsville has many black and white birds, of which I had observed eight species during my brief morning excursion. This inspired me to offer today’s post as a quiz where you can try your birding skills by identifying five species of black and white birds commonly seen in Townsville. All of the birds pictured below are included in the list of names at the end of this paragraph, but to make the exercise a little more interesting, I’ve added two names of birds that are not included in the photographs. Simply match each bird’s photograh with the correct name from the list. The answers to the quiz will be included in tomorrow’s post. Enjoy!

Choices of bird names are: 1) Pied Cormorant, 2) Australian White Ibis, 3) White-breasted Woodswallow, 4) Australian Magpie, 5) Pied Butcherbird, 6) Magpie Goose, and 7) Australian Pelican.