Both the Haunted Trail and the triumphant return to the ultra-racing circuit events are past, all that is left is to pick up the pieces so to speak. All those things I delayed until after the race in order to be as healthy as possible before the race have been patiently waiting to get done. Currently knee deep in Halloween props trying to get them back into storage – this will take a week or more to debattery, break down and then pack as densely as possible back into the storage shelves. While I put my grade school spatial relationship skills to the test, Brad is going to take you back Down Under for another great find (by Jan) on the Green Island. Note, this keeps our string of “new” birds for October!
Take it away Brad… (note, Brad is a bit under the weather from recent travels so comment responses may be delayed until he is back above his “knees”.
Jan did it again. She was taking photos of birds when I was nowhere to be seen. In full disclosure, she braved a boat ride on a rough Coral Sea to see the Great Barrier Reef. I wasn’t even present when any of these photos were taken this time. Let me explain.
As you may recall from another story (“Not a Little Blue” link here), Jan and I had gone different directions while on assignment in Cairns, (pronounced “cans”) Australia. Seeing the Great Barrier Reef was one of my life goals. However, the marine forecast called for 2-meter (6 foot) waves and I don’t do waves in small boats. I stayed in Cairns while Jan went to see the Great Barrier Reef. You probably know by now, Jan has no fear of anything. And we have the X-rays to prove it.
When she was back on solid ground on Green Island, Jan followed a photo strategy that has worked for us for a very long time: avoid the crowds. Instead of heading for the tourist shopping destinations, or the beach changing rooms, she took her camera for a walk around the island.
As usual, I’m making up most of this story since I wasn’t even there for any of it. I’m recounting what Jan told me she did and what she saw on Green Island.
Hmmm, a little early for birds to be in their Halloween costumes, hit the jump to learn more about this masked beachcomber.
Normally in crowd/touristy situations where there are multiple paths, we go to the left. Unless everyone seems to be going that direction, then we go the other way. In this case, the crowd of tourists were headed to the left once they all left the dock. Must be a Southern Hemisphere, Coriolis Effect thing because everyone in the Northern Hemisphere seems to migrate to the right-hand queues. Jan decided to walk the other direction and take the path anti-clockwise around the island. The island path is a mix of walking along a trail, man-made decking, and then taking a walk along the beach to catch the next part of the path around the island. Green Island is by no means a large plot of land; the entire circumference is only 1.6 kilometers or about 1 mile.
Once Jan was on the beach there weren’t any options for different paths or directions, she had to follow the beach to the next trail segment. Some might say it is a carefully scripted path around the island. In reality, there weren’t that many options for different routes. Simpler is often better.
On the northwest part of the island (or is that southeast since we are upside-down on the Earth at this point), Jan was using the beach part of the path. As she walked through a foliage archway onto the sand, she had a chance, and very brief, encounter with an odd-looking bird.
No missing this one, it was the only thing on the beach besides sand and water. There were no other people or birds to be seen on the beach. Only having the travel lens (18-200mm), she knew she had to foot-zoom quite a bit for a better than 6-pixel image on the sensor. The shorebird was mildly skittish and only tolerated Jan for a little while.
This is a Beach Thick-knee (Esacus magnirostris), or sometimes called a Beach Stone-Curlew. Although, in my limited experience, curlews are known for having long slender bills which this bird certainly does not. Either way, this Thick-knee is definitely a +1 for us.
The Thick-knee is a wader with a large sturdy bill, huge eyes and striking color contrast. Not quite thick knees, but not toothpick legs either. And what the folks naming the bird thought was a “knee” is really a knobby ankle.
Beach Thick-knees like large open beaches, mudflats mostly, or beaches with mangroves nearby. Their range includes the beaches of Australia, from Sydney north around to almost Perth, and the islands of Indonesia.
Threats include human developments, either residential or industrial. Beach-combers and predation are also on the list of threats.
A pair typically lays only one egg per breeding season, but the female may lay a second egg if the first is lost. After a 30-day incubation, both parents care for the young for their first 7-12 months. We were visiting right in the middle of breeding season, so this one may have been wary of anyone approaching its nest.
Some tourists began to make noise somewhere along the trail, spooking the Thick-knee into taking flight, never to be seen again. Well, at least not on this beach while Jan was there.
The entire encounter was over in just a very few minutes and under 100 images total, very conservative for either of us finding a new bird. Of course, the Thick-knee didn’t seem to want to stick around for a full-fledged photo-shoot. Jan did get some nice poses with the few moments she had with the bird.
This was the “sunniest” part of the day with only thin clouds. Later that afternoon the skies were heavily overcast, just like most of the day in Cairns. That’s the end of Jan’s version of the day’s events, at least that’s all she’s telling me about the trip.
Back on terra firma, and a few hours later in the day, we did spot another Thick-knee lurking outside our hotel in Cairns. It was in the shadows under the palm trees, but very close to the beach and the water. No photos of this one though, at least none that I’ll share publicly.
Thank you for reading. If you want to see more Beach Thick-knee photos, please visit here.
Credits:
Thanks again to Jan for proofreading and editing. Thanks to Jan for all of the photos in this story.
