Silver Linings

Last night on TV we saw a news segment on the Wooden Boats Festival at Goolwa which was being held this weekend. So what did we do - of course we high-tailed it down to Goolwa today.

Mistake # 1 - we left home far too late and couldn't get a park;
Mistake # 2 - we assumed that the weather would be much cooler down on the coast. It was very hot with a hot wind and most unpleasant.

So, we bought an icecream to alleviate the heat and thought we would just drive around to our favourite spot alongside the barrages to see what we could see.

BINGO in a very big way.

At least 4 species of birds we haven't blipped before, including this one, the Red-Necked Avocet (Recurvirostra novaehollandiae). The Rower got a Black- winged Stilt, plus we saw a sharp-tailed sandpiper, and another I am not sure about but could possibly be a Common Greenshank.

The sandpiper always gets my attention, because it migrates all the way down here from Northern Siberia where it breeds. During the drought we didn't see any at all, but now they have come back again, which is splendid.

A curvier beak.