I did get up early enough to catch some nice morning light on that lovely boat on the beach, but when I arrived, there was no sign of the boat!
They were either out sailing in it (I hope), or their holiday is over and they've gone home *sad face*.
So I hung around on the beach and got quite a few shots, which I will share here in the coming days.
Because it was low tide, I decided to pedal out to the end of town where the mangroves grow, with hopes of seeing a Kingfisher.
The beach there is quite badly eroded, so to get down to it, there are 'cliff-like' walls that are just a little bit too big for my old body to climb down or slide down.
So, I decided to follow a path through the scrub along the edge of the cliff, to see if there was easier access further up the beach.
I was feeling a little nervous because the path is a little overgrown and I was worried about snakes.
I had just reached the beginning of the path, when behind me, I heard a Whistling Kite. It was close.
If you know me, the sound of a raptor will immediately grab my attention.
If I am talking with you and I hear a Kite whistling, I will stop talking and search for the bird in the sky or in the trees. I will head in the direction of the sound every time, til I find the bird. I am just a little obsessed.
So today, I turned around and walked away from the path to search for the bird.
There he was sitting way out in the open, on the dead branch of a tree, whistling his heart out!
So I found the best spot I could and took a couple of shots.
Right in the middle of the shoot, a female appeared, landed on the branch below him and in an instant, he jumped on top of her and they began mating!! Right in front of my lens!!
It lasted all of 15 seconds and it was over. They sat beside each other on the branches for about a minute, preening themselves and then flew off over the scrub.
Right place. Right time.
So then I found the path again and followed it a short way to discover easy access to the beach and the mangroves.
I found a Grey Fantail but didn't get a shot. I found 2 Pale Faced Rosellas mating, but they were way too quick for me to get a shot! I also found a Striated Pardalote and got a poor shot of it.
Certainly nothing that I can share.
Then I had a little accident. I wasn't watching where I was going and hit a mangrove branch with my shin. It snapped the branch and gouged skin out of my shin. It bled quite a bit and stung like billyoh!
I decided that it was time to come home and Adoring Husband played nurse, cleaned my wound and put disinfectant and 2 bandaids on it.
Today I am grateful for 'right place, right time' shots and for Adoring Husband's excellent first aid skills that I'm sure will prevent my leg from having to be amputated!
Nite all.
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