Some just stand and wait . . .

Blue-winged Kookaburra waiting to pounce . . .

Others let others do pouncing for them . . .

But most must pounce for themselves.

Darter catches the early sunlight and the eye

Struck gold early today with female Australian Darter displaying in the early morning sunlight at Aplins Weir on the Ross River, Townsville.

Male Cotton  Pygmy-goose finished second in the beauty stakes.

And male Little Bronze-cuckoo fittingly came an attractive third, after some cosmetic help.

Seek a Little and ye shall rest Azured

Seek and ye shall find. Doesn't often work perfectly for me. But today ventured to bottom southwest corner of Mungalla Station, planted myself beside known kingfisher habitat only lately accessible as surface water disappears, and got lucky twice over in two hours.

Azure Kingfisher (Ceyx azureus) harder to find this year because late Wet season failed to provide the conditions small fish want (they swim into flooded grasslands). Not this year. So the true fishing kingfisher, Little and Azure appear to be much dispersed and missing from some normally reliable sites.

This morning, Sacred Kingfishers stood out for first hour, hawking for insects above water weeds.

Then, Azure turned up, well away downstream to the west. No luck, thought I. With which, bird (only one sighted at this point) flew toward me and plonked down on falled branch low over water. Ten metres closer would have been perfect, but can't complain at result.

Then Little Kingfisher (Ceyx pusilla) whizzed upstream and vanished. Don't be greedy, said I to self. Lo, bird sped back and took up the prime perch. Drawback? Species so small, really needed it more than 10m closer.

And got Little Bronze-Cuckoo ...

...and Brown-backed Honeyeater as interesting extras. Extra bonus: the many mozzies were mostly well behaved.

Barking Owl not so barking mad

Barking Owl? Or barking mad? Looks like both, but evil squint is deceptive. Bird was unconcerned by my presence. Nor was it reacting to low-set flash. Owls appear sometimes to shut their eyes almost as we might yawn when things are all a bit quiet. A highlight among recent sightings in Tyto this week..

What else is around? Just one of 10 to 20 Forest Kingfishers on show these mornings.

More  Reed Warblers about in scleria with returns from south. Few, however, up in pandanus.

Yellow-spotted Honeyeater takes a break from preening in creekline tangle.

Little Bronze-cuckoo about as pale as the species gets.

And a young Crimson Finch feeding on seeds of grasses growing through footbridge.

Squishy start to shining moment

Cuckoos love squishing caterpillars. Little Bronze-Cuckoo (Chalcites minutillus) gets some of the insides outside before tucking it away inside in Tyto yesterday.

Didn't manage to catch less common visitor, Shining Bronze-Cuckoo (Chalcites lucidus), with prey. 

And couldn't capture worthwhile image of Fan-tailed Cuckoo busy in the same patch of cheesewood trees, so above is second shot of Shining, thus turning failure into a shining moment. 
Click pix to enlarge 

Pictures less than perfect

Picture perfect is an ideal often leading (as ideals do) to perverse extremes. Fear not, no tirade follows against the ism of your choice, not even perfectionism. Of which, to my knowledge, I've never been accused, rightly, given lack of any evidence. But I do wish birds wouldn't besot with their beauty before hiding their lights behind bushels of bushes and branches when the camera comes out. Above picture of Little Bronze-Cuckoo (Chalcites minutillus) gets bird looking awkward on wrong side of perch; tail part obscured by branch.

Little Pied Cormorant (Microcarba melanoleucos) at first almost seemed to be wearing necklace, then shifted and rather ruined (my mind's eye) picture.

Wandering Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna arcuata) gets one feather out of place over face and image should have been waved goodbye.

Peaceful Dove (Geopelia striata) looks okay, but lifts a foot and develops case of the shakes.

As always, there's always tomorrow...

Bronze-Cuckoos - golden mornings

Trio of Little Bronze-Cuckoos (Chalcites minutillus) notably busy in a scruffy patch of dead guavas and straggling weeds for the past three or four mornings.

The red eye and eye ring of the male make him easy to single out.

Not so simple with females and immatures. But only the immature and the male have so far stayed close enough for worthwhile pictures.

A bonus this morning was the sudden entry of this young Brown Honeyeater (Lichmera indistincta) into the cuckoos' area. Quick picture and the bird was gone. Cuckoos are much less flighty.

Wren it all starts coming together

Blue sky backs Red-backed Fairy-wren (Malurus melanocephalus) poised on Pandanus in Tyto today. Fine, coolish start led to a few coolish pictures, cuckoos prominent.

Two Little Bronze-Cuckoos (Chalcites minutillus) 

Finally, Brush Cuckoo (Cacomantis variolosus)

Crimson helps beat the grey

Can't beat a Crimson Finch (Neochmia phaeton) to provide a touch of colour when the skies go grey over Tyto (and much of coastal Queensland for a week!). Though mature birds are no longer at their breeding plumage finest, when seen up close (above) the red depth is a revelation.

Not much red yet for this immature Crimson.

No red, either, for female Little Bronze-Cuckoo (Chalcites minutillus), though ID is easier if red eye ring of the male is showing. Above female was accompanied by an extremely plain unbarred specimen, possibly a juvenile nearing independence.

Nothing red about this White-browed Robin (Poecilodryas superciliosa). However it showed welcome readiness to sit around low in an Euodia.

Finally, a holdover from bluer days, Union Jack (Delia mysis) spend a rare moment on a swamp lily. Plenty of the butterflies around, not usually much interest in flowers on the water.