A beautiful spring morning

This morning dawned a beautiful spring day.    The plan was to go to the Patawalonga to do some plane spotting.    The Patawalonga is a small river that formerly drained the swamp that was reclaimed to build Adelaide Airport in the 1950s.  It is now used recreationally by joggers, cyclists and dog walkers amongst others.

My main target was to get some photos of The Malaysian Airlines Airbus A330 in the Manchester United livery.  

Shortly after it landed, I heard  a Caspian Tern calling.  This is the largest tern in the world, with a wingspan of up to 1 1/2 metres, and can be seen in Europe, Asia, North America, Africa and Australasia.   In the end I saw at least five flying up and down the Patawalonga.

I was interupted by the arrival of the Qatar Boeing 777 arriving from Melbourne.

Futher up the river I saw some Pelicans, so wandered up to take some photots.   As I approached them, a Great Egret flew in, followed by a Little Egret.

What a lovely morning, spent with my two favourite photo subjects, planes and birds.

Walking the Sandbar

Saturday was a lovely early summers day, with clear blue skies and a warm breeze. When the tide is particularly low, a sandbar shows off the main beach at Whyalla. Saturday was such a day so I took a walk out onto the sandbar for a couple of hours to see what I could find. I was hoping to see some waders (shorebirds) and maybe some Blue Swimmer Crabs. The walk out varies from dry sand to water to mid calf level, and always includes shoals of small fish darting here and there. I stood still and scanned back and forth until I finally saw one before it had seen me!! I think they may be a fish called Flathead. As i got onto the sandbar, I saw a small group of gulls and terns. Unfortunately there is nowhere to hide out there so it was impossible to get very close. This Caspian Tern kept moving away, so this cropped image is the best of a bad lot!! These courting Crested Terns were a little less timid (or maybe just more pre-occupied?) so I could get a little closer to them. There were also a few terns flying in and out all of the time. The beach is also popular with kiteboarders due to the vast expanse of shallow water. No Waders or crabs, but on the walk back to the beach, an immature Pacific Gull.