Just another ....

When we lived in Tanzania and went game viewing Frances scolded me for saying "Just another Impala" and reminded me how excited we'd been to watch one give birth.  Also in Tanzania the safari guides were reputed to call the exquisite Lilac Breasted Roller ....

...  "Just ABR" for Just Another Bloody Roller.  On this trip it has become "Just another Bassian Thrush"  We have seen at least 2 more today in new locations, so the incursion covers at least Karbeethong to past Betka Beach.

When/if eBird comes back to life it will be interesting to see where recent sightings have been made.  There is a cluster around Cape Conran (West of Mallacoota) of which a couple are personal hotspots, suggesting a new bird has been seen there. There has been no response yet to an enquiry to birding-aus.

The morning walk delivered another Bassian Thrush close to one of the sites from earlier in the trip, but otherwise it was quiet.  Our mid-morning walk was to the beach at Bastion Point.  There had obviously been other dogs along the beach, with various sized feet.

The ocean was a lot calmer that the previous day, and the sky looked a bit threatening (but no rain fell).

After a fair distance (see screen shot below we crossed the dune to the Inlet side.  In a couple of spots the sand looked very damp ' see the change in colour in this image.

It is unclear to me if this is water seeping and siphoning into the dune or if there has been wind blowing water onto the dune.  Either way this may be an indication that the dune is weakening.  It was very close to the position of the outflow evident on the eBird clip.

The most interesting waders were a group of 5 Bar-tailed Godwits.  Here are 3 of them: the one on the right is in pretty close to breeding plumage, so what it is doing here, rather than Siberia, in July is a mystery.  (A few do overwinter, but I'd expect them to be the younger birds - although I have no knowledge to confirm that.)

Checking Handbook of Birds of the World gives "High degree of site fidelity on non-breeding grounds; many non-breeders remain S all year."  So possibly this breeding bird has just got caught up with some non-breeders: but I don't often see them in the Inlet- perhaps being blocked has made it more attractive?

This Red-capped Plover looks as though it wishes it was somewhere warmer.

A couple of paddleboarders were having fun.

Note that the dark mass in the background is Gabo Island and not a tsunami!

Some straggly vegetation actually had pretty mauve flowers!

Here is the map from eBird with our route marked in blue.

I am a little surprised at where the outflow is shown, as I'd expected it to be a lot closer to the point, as shown in the following Google Earth clip from 2015.

When we got back to the Point Frances explored some rocks for shells to draw.  I was a little surprised to see a grey-phase  Eastern Reef Egret snuffling around.

Here is a White-faced Heron for comparison.

Work is still going on at the breakwater, preventing access to Tip Beach from this end.

Apparently it is because the channel is silting up and needs dredging.  I was surprised to find them still at work as on Friday the sign on Tip Beach had said the closure would end on 22 June.  I looked closely at the sign at Bastion today and they simply added yet another bit of duct tap extending the closure by a week.  I suspect this is a legacy job and will continue as long as the Shire can't find anything else for the workers to do!

The sign is interesting as it says "Beach Access Temporary Unavailable".  (Other signs do correctly say "Temporarily").  We then noticed in the car park a sign saying "No Entry: Boat Launching and Retrieval Accepted " rather than "Excepted".  Obviously spelling is not required to drive a backhoe (or paint a sign).

In the evening we did a loop around Betka River to the beach which looked very attractive in the sunshine.

Of course when we got to the picnic area, there was a Bastian Thrush!