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Love this pic.

Love the pelicans Hughie. What seems so normal to you seems so exotic to me.

Megx

Yesterday I was set upon by a couple of Masked Plovers diving at me as I had my morning walk through our local coastal holiday camp. They can be quiet scary in what is now the breeding season here in Oz. I stood my ground and managed to get this photo - they would have had their nest on the ground nearby.

Are they anything like our seagulls by nature? Looks like a large bird with wide wing span .


SC

No, not like seagulls. The Australian Magpie is similar in that they will swoop on you during the breeding season. Most cyclists put those plastic ties on their helmets to discourage swooping Australian Magpies - they too are quite big birds.

Our last house was on a Golf Estate so it was fun to watch the Plovers dive bombing the golfers on the fairway and sometimes their ( not the birds ) choice of words was strong. We had a flower bed with a brick surround and when I looked out one morning there running around inside of it were 2 baby plovers. Miniatures of their parents, who were a distance away distracting the passers by . The parents must have made a special whistle/chirp or whatever as these 2 little ones would duck down behind the brick surround until the coast was clear again. I wasted most of the day going back & forth watching their antics. The parents are extremely protective.

Yes Anne, the Plovers frequently nest in golf courses here too. At my former club there was one notorious hole where they used to swoop. That was the only hole where I used a one iron.

Spoiler

holding it above my head to ward them off.

The chicks are a treat to see, we actually used to have them next door to us on vacant land - they look like mice on stilts was what my wife said.

Hughie wrote: ↑Fri Sep 28, 2018 11:41 am Yes Anne, the Plovers frequently nest in golf courses here too. At my former club there was one notorious hole where they used to swoop. That was the only hole where I used a one iron.

Spoiler

holding it above my head to ward them off.

The chicks are a treat to see, we actually used to have them next door to us on vacant land - they look like mice on stilts was what my wife said.

I remember going to Horse Island for the day when I was about 7 or 8.
We all had to walk about holding a stick up to ward off the seagulls who would otherwise have ripped the top of your head open. We were almost literally stepping on the nesting gulls, there were so many of them.

JD.

Went to Teignmouth about 10 years ago with the family, Sorry to say i fell out with Seagulls as they would keep us up half the night Dancing on the caravan roof, and eating Al Fresco - these burds would swoop down on your food stealing off the plate.

I have to say- The Aussie postman on the moped is different, The stringent Health & Safety laws in the U.K would not allow that on a Month of Sundays.

Just before my morning walk. It seems to me a lot more cockies (corellas — or native white cockatoos) have come down to the Australian south coast this year. It's normal to see flocks in our area during the summer months - perhaps the fires have brought more this year.



Found this article from last year: Corella flocks on coast

How come they are all on your lawn Hughie, do you have special grass? There's not a bird on any of the other lawns!

The story about the seagulls on the golf course reminded me of an experience I and a few partners have had several times here on the golf course with crows.
They wait till you're on the green with the bags left at the side, then they plunder the bags for your sandwiches. The have been seen to open the zips to get into the pouches.
Thinking further about your invasion by the cockies, a small flock of flamingoes have been seen at a village nearby here in NL. The twitchers are having a field day. They think they are here because of the mild weather, but I've a notion that they have escaped from a bird sanctuary 15 or 20 kilometers away.

JD.