20201128-MMPI0064
On Saturday 18th November 2020 I attended a meetup with a wildlife group at Mungarra Reserve in the northern Brisbane suburb of Petrie, Queensland, Australia. My target this day was to have my first sighting of a Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) that had been reported at the location earlier in the week.After wandering around for a while before the group arrived, I eventually got pointed in the direction of this beautiful bird in the main pond at the site. Well this bird didn't disappoint, calmly cruising around at the lake and coming quite close to the pond edge while I clicked away madly.A very striking bird, well known worldwide for their amazing courtship dance where the pair run across the water surface in unison. It was then noticed that this individual is missing its left eye, a white patch of skin appears to be in place of the normal bright red eye. It didn't seem to be suffering any ill effects from this, doing some dabbling and coming up with some small fish. Another standout this morning was a pair of beautiful Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus), I captured them allopreening in a Eucalypt tree then enjoyed them calling to each other with their "creaky gate" call when one moved to a different tree. A lovely morning out with nice bunch of people, followed with a stack of pancakes and milkshake at nearby Old Petrie Town that really hit the spot.
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