TWITCHER. BIRD-NERD. ORNITHOLOGIST. This is a gallery which is going to grow, in size if not popularity. I am happy to come out proud and say I don’t mind a good twitch. A pair of bins and a walk in the bush can turn up many feathered surprises. Or none. The colour, sounds, manner, variety of our feathered companions, from tiny finches to great birds of prey, can liven up a day in the park, the city or the hills. Regrettably, my species identification is appalling.
An Indian roller, named so for its mating dance.
Guinea fowl. Funny looking critters, which, sorry, also taste good.
A pair of Indian rollers.
Masaai Mara National Park, Kenya.
The strangely named secretary bird, Maasai Mara, Kenya.
A pair of crested storks, Maasai Mara.
Grey heron, Maasai Mara, Kenya. Likes to stand still and pretend there is nobody there.
Crimson rosellas, at Siingapore's excellent bird park.
A steppe eagle flies over the ruins of ancients Sauran, Kazakhstan.
Nomads steal the chicks from the nest and raise them as hunters, developing incredibly close bonds.
Kyrgyzstan, World Nomad Games. Gold medal winners in the eagle hunting
Heron, Kinabatangan River, Sabah, Malaysia.
Also on the Kinabatangan, comorants (unless they are darters?).
Narawntapu National Park, on Tasmania's north coast, pied oystercatchers getting a meal.
In Western Australia's Nambung National Park, home of the Pinnacles, a galah.
A gull on the beach on Queensland, Australia's Gold Coast.
A very lucky cassowary sighting, at Etty Bay, 100km south of Cairns, Australia. Was walking along the beach with family when (s)he just wandered out and right past us.