Glossy Ibis on the Plain

This afternoon I got a call to say that 2 Glossy ibis were in a damp bit of the Plain.  They were with a bunch of other waterbirds (see below) but by getting out into the (rapidly becoming less) soggy area I was able to get a photograph of this first sighting for the District.

I will point out that I was following protocol and definitely not thinking about tiger snakes while taking this shot.

Shortly thereafter the birds took off and I was - on the point-the-camera-in-the-general-direction-and-fire-away principle - able to get a semi-reasonable aerial shot.

At times we were both impressed by the speed and aerial agility of these birds.  They performed side slips and 180 turns at high speed, such that if we didn't know what they were a quick glance might have said "falcon"!

The most obvious other birds were 20 - yes, 20!! - White-necked Herons.  Here are 5 of them:

I think it would be tough being a frog in the bog now.  As well as the species already mentioned there were also 7 Straw-necked Ibis and about 5 White-faced Herons.  Here are a couple of aerial shots of elements of the flock in the air.

 The noticeable smaller birds are the Glossies:the others in this shot are Straw-necked Ibis.

Some of the Herons have entered this image.

I was most amused by this image, which I found lurking in a corner of one of my several shots of the flock in the air.

Also present were 2 Banded Lapwings, some Grey Teal, a lot of Eurasian Coots several Fairy Martins and Welcome Swallows.  Just as we were leaving a Swamp Harrier flew over, causing everyone else to take off.  It landed in the swamp and seemed to be feeding. The prey could not be seen but they do eat reptiles, so we can only hope there is one less of them around!