Doin's in the rain

I set off today with Great Expectations of checking out a few birds at Kelly's Swamp and then giving thew BBQ Stakes a bit of action. 

On getting to Kelly's, as soon as I got into Ardea Hide I saw a Royal Spoonbill.
 Here is a close-up showing the plumes well, and the patch of yellow skin above the eye.
 A little later I found a second bird of this species visible from Cygnus hide.  I was hoping to use this as Bird of the Day - which is still going despite the death of the Coordinator and Webmeister late last year.  However I'd already used the species!!  Fortunately there were 3 other good species on hand in Red-kneed Dotterel; Black-fronted Dotterel  and Freckled Duck.  The last named got the award.

Unfortunately the weather was pretty murky and raining so I couldn't get a decent photo of any of them at 125m range.  Unfortunately I heft my digiscoping adapter, which would have done the business, at home.

When I say rain, I mean rain.
I decided that I'd pass on the Stakes and spend a little more time at Kellys.  Needless to say, the rain stopped just about as soon as I had left it too late to go to the Stakes.  Whatever: I swallowed my distress (and a magic hamburger from the Yass Rd Takeaway).

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