Crabbing the opportunity

Sea change today failed to find any rarities on the coast at Lucinda (famed for 5km sugar jetty: Yasi-damaged) but did yield a Beach Thick-knee (Esacus neglectus) out hunting soldier crabs (noted for marching forward and not sideways).

The crabs stopped marching and spiralled into the sand and safety and the bird (formerly Beach Stone-curlew) strode off.

Then took off just as we were striding along nicely together.

Left me a bit peeved, but too sunny a day to get crabby. 
Click pix to enlarge

Thick-knee trots over sands

Beach Thick-knee (Esacus magnirostris) trots over the sands at Taylors Beach, near Ingham, as I looked - in vain - for coastal waders on a low-tide morning this week. Blame, in part, the sand. Surging floodwaters early in the year washed sand over former areas of mud and sea grass. So the beach flats hold fewer feeding attractions.

Here's the only other bird that came close to the camera. No surprise that it's a Red-capped Plover (Charadrius ruficapillus). Not too many beaches up and down the coast without a pair of these plovers running busily here and there.