Birdwatching on Heatwave
We thought
we would really miss our birdwatching out on Heatwave, but not so... it seems
we have a family of welcome swallows hitching a ride with us. There were so many welcome swallows at
Urangan Harbour; one morning I counted about 100 swallows on the rails of a
Seawind catamaran, then next day more than 50 on our rails!
Up on the Burnett River a great egret landed
on our bow sprit to enjoy his ride upstream with a view. We thought this unusual behaviour until we
passed a fishing trawler with a great egret riding on his bow sprit too. They must learn to follow the boats to get a
free feed.
As we anchored in Port Bundaberg
a reef egret landed similarly on our bow.
Anchoring at the river’s edge we can still hear lots of bush birds,
mostly honeyeaters. And then there are
the terns: whiskered terns will fly
around quietly all day until one catches a fish. Then it’s bedlam! The lucky one shows his fish to all the
others, screeching and flying, until all the other terns join in, calling
loudly to each other. Brown boobies are
a joy to watch as they cruise in very close to us, then dive under water to
catch a fish.
At Pancake
Creek we watched an Australian Hobby fly from the mangroves and chase a white-faced heron,
twice his size, and they grappled talons to webbed feet until the heron broke
away. What a sight! On Great Keppell
Island an osprey took exception to a pair of sea-eagles crossing his territory
so he chased them both with lots of raucous calling.
.JPG)
