Armchair Tick: Medium Egret

I got a Lifer! It is what birders call an ‘armchair tick’. It brings my Aussie total to 769 birds (720 on mainland AUS). So a week or so ago I had a Lifer Day. I ate pistachios whilst writing at my desk. I had my Lifer Pie treat later and it was quite a treat for me.

Alan Stringer's very good recording shot of Medium Egret. He took it as we were both looking at this individual.

At this writing, I am over 5 weeks into dropping some of the weight I picked up when I was on steroids for a while for my ear/hearing issues (still unresolved). Anyway, I had ballooned up and I am back to the strict, “smaller portions, wiser choices, and more active" that works for me. At this point, I have lost just over 6.5 kilos (about 15 pounds). I have at least 10 more kilos to lose. 

Back to the Lifer armchair tick, on 26 September the IOC (International Ornithological Congress) split the Intermediate Egret into 3 separate species. The African egret is now called, Yellow-billed Egret, the Australian bird is Plumed Egret and the Asian bird (often seen on Cocos and Christmas Islands) remains Intermediate Egret as it is the nominate race (although as taxonomists are prone to do, it seems they are giving it the blah name of ‘Medium’ Egret. Sounds like a soft drink at Maccas, or a clothing size. Regardless, tick! 

I went searching through what I justifiably refer to as the 'nightmare of Apple Photos' for a possible shot. I have heaps of Intermediate (now called, Plumed) Egret photos from years past on the mainland, so it was not a bird I bothered with photographing in the islands. However, this past December, I was in the bird hide with my friend Alan Stringer on West Island, Cocos and we saw an Intermediate Egret and he did get a decent photo. I eventually found a distant shot that I had and as poor a photo as it is, one can tell that it is the egret. I don't think there are any records of Eastern Great Egret on Cocos so with that neck it has to be the Medium. Here it is...

My accidental recording shot. As I said, you can tell that it is the Medium Egret.

Proper Lifer Pie, a small but much appreciated treat

I will also include a few random pics of Cocos just because I love it there and I am to return. 

Green Jungle Fowl out by where my Medium Egret shot was taken. They common but they truly are beautiful birds. 

This is Home Island in the Cocos/Keeling Islands. I love it out there.

Sending love as I do ❤️

A Seeker, A Sharer, A 'Collector'

As I have often touched on before, one the best parts of birding is where it leads you. I have been to so very many places and I have seen so much of Australia in pursuit of seeing birds. I love birds, but I am much more of a ‘twitcher’ than a birdwatcher. I am more interested in seeing new birds for my list than merely going out and looking at birds in general. 

    

Me and a Whale Shark Christmas Island on a birding trip. Yes I was led there by birds (photo by WIlliam Betts)

I am a seeker, a hunter/gatherer, a collector if you will. I like looking for stuff and hopefully finding it. I collected ukuleles in the late 1990’s and amassed a collection of over 200. I was a serious saltwater sportfisherman and was awarded thirty-some citations of achievement and awards, including a World Record. I have a beautiful shell collection currently stored at my son’s house. But I do intend to bring it home eventually. I reckon you get my point. I like finding stuff and to find stuff, you need to go out and look for it. 

  

I sold 98% of my collection before moving to Australia

A few of my shells and their display case.

This past January I travelled up to Far North Queensland (FNQ) to Cape York and the Kutini-Payamu National Park birding. I was with dear friends including my often travelling companion James Cornelious. I first met him through birding. You truly do meet the best people birding. I had gone up to FNQ specifically to look for the Papuan Pitta that is only found in Australia during the wet season. In the year that became a book, Lynn and I spent a week in Kutini-Payamu in October of 2015. Not the wet season, so we did not see the Pitta. Last January in the midst of the wet, for the first time in over six years, I returned to the Iron Range. I saw the Pitta, which was the reason for going up there, but of course we also saw other things. 

I wrote four blogs about that most excellent week (have a look they are right here for free). It really was wonderful and a part of what made it so wonderful were the snakes. I am not really a herper, but I do love seeing snakes. While it is impossible for me to choose a favourite bird, I do have a favourite snake. It’s the Green Tree Python. 

They are most often seen in the wet season and we saw a few of those emerald beauty-noodles. Baby ones are yellow and are considered more difficult to find. But my first Green Tree Python was a young, yellow one that Jasmine Zelený of Faunagrahic tours had found and shared with us. 

   

    

My Lifer Green Tree Python. It is a baby (thank you Jazz)

The rarest snake sighting of that trip was a Northern Death Adder that was shown to James and me by Doug Herrington of Birdwatching Tropical Australia. 

    

We also saw one of the world’s most venomous snakes, the Coastal Taipan. I took a couple of photos as I stood well back from it on the road. 

   

And there were a few Scrub Pythons around, the largest snake in Australia. They can reach lengths up to eight metres (26 feet)! They are very cool. 

So this post’s photos has been mosty snakes that I saw in Kutini-Payamu NP in January 2023. I do love it up there!

Sending love always ❤️