Anhingas Basking at Fairfield Waters Wetland (© Magi Nams)
Cloud and a cool wind accompanied me as I cycled to the Fairfield Waters wetland, keen to photograph the little black cormorant nesting colony and other avian residents of the wetland and its border of shrubs and trees. Anhingas basked on tree branches, wings outsrpead and stiletto beaks raised to the sky. The nesting colony of cormorants was quieter than on my last visit, with fewer birds on the nest. Presumably, young have fledged.
Australian White Ibises (left, right) and Royal Spoonbill (centre) (© Magi Nams)
Australian white ibises and royal spoonbills perched on the bare, grey branches of dead trees as well as in the nesting colony trees, or stalked prey on the ground at the water’s edge. Whistling kites scouted the wetland from atop trees or within the shade cast by the spreading boughs of rain trees.
Whistling Kite (© Magi Nams)
Egrets and cormorants hunted in the wetland waters, their shapes those of the silent stalker or streamlined aquatic diver.
Little Pied Cormorant, Great Egret (© M. Nams)
Australian White Ibis and Intermediate Egret (© Magi Nams)
The shrubs and trees bordering the wetlands provided perches for basking willie wagtails, magpie-larks, and a black-faced cuckoo-shrike.
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike (© Magi Nams)
Honeyeaters proclaimed their territories with strident songs, and little corellas and sulphur-crested cockatoos perched in tall gums, their white plumages surprisingly inconspicuous amid collages of vertically-hanging leaves and bright sky. This wetland, with its nesting colony of cormorants and spoonbills, and its border of native vegetation filled with songbirds, has joined my list of birding hotspots within 10 minutes cycling of home. If I had to rank them, I’d say the 1st place ribbon goes to the Ross River Bush Gardens, the 2nd place ribbon to the Townsville Golf Course edges on the Ross River Parkway, and the 3rd place ribbon goes to this wetland.
Whistling Kite, Little Black Cormorants, and Royal Spoonbills at Fairfield Waters Wetland (© Magi Nams)
Today’s birds: Australian white ibises, straw-necked ibis, magpie-larks, rainbow lorikeets, laughing kookaburra, mynas, spangled drongos, white-gaped honeyeater, willie wagtails, white-bellied cuckoo-shrike, peaceful doves, great egret, intermediate egret, little black cormorants, little pied cormorant, royal spoonbills, anhingas, whistling kites, yellow honeyeater, masked lapwings, white-breasted woodswallow, black-faced cuckoo-shrike, sulphur-crested cockatoos, little corellas.
