Sooties & Hoodies, Kitty Miller Bay, birds of Phillip Island

I've just returned home from a most pleasant Phillip Island weekend culminating in a Kitty Miller Bay sunset. At high tide there were only a few birds on view and in fading light even fewer photographic opportunities.

I have found Kitty Miller reliable for Hooded plover, Pied and Sooty oystercatcher, White-faced heron, cormorants and there is generally a resident Black-shoulder kite hovering somewhere nearby. I can also remember seeing Red-capped and Double banded plover, White-fronted chat, European Goldfinch and Greenfinch.

Sooty oystercatcher

Hooded plover. As I was taking the shot I had the feeling that it was sort of standing in the back yard or even living room of "it's place"

One of three Hoodies present this afternoon at Kitty Miller. I am in inclined to find a little of this banded bird's history 

 

My focus shifted from the (absence of) bird photography opportunities to the light from the setting sun. Apologies for not being able to exclude a few pictures!

From the car park. Late afternoon light, Kitty Miller Bay, Phillip Island

Looking east from the Kitty Miller Bay headland, the wreck of the Speke can be seen at left

Wreck of the Speke

Pyramid Rock on the horizon, Phillip Island

Looking towards Seal Rocks (just visible on the horizon at left). People would be settling in for a Penguin Parade along the beach on the other side of this headland.

Links:

• Eremaea bird list for Kitty Miller Bay
• Another enthusiast's field trip to Kitty Miller Bay (not a birder - a rock fossicker! Funny how people find interest and delight in different things at the same place. Fancy obsessing about some particular niche of nature (wink, wink) - how weird are those fault-finding, mud-worrying volcano-pokers? (Just stole all those names from this piece on Geology at Uncyclopedia).

Bird on!

Black-shouldered kite

We are at Kitty Miller Bay, Phillip Island and thoroughly enjoyed extended views of this Black-shouldered kite on Easter Sunday.

Black-shouldered kite (Elanus axillaris) perched conspicuously in typical fashion. 

Don't blink!

If not seen perched conspicuously on a dead tree or fence post then the BSK is most likely seen hovering brilliantly while hunting...

The plovers of Kitty Miller Bay - Help please!

In a rare joint sitting of the WFS twitch the Buff Budgies & Ruddy Turnstones find themselves needing help to confirm the identity of this small plover. This flock of about 20 birds was at Kitty Miller Bay at dead low tide yesterday. This bay is on the Southern Ocean coastline of Phillip Island in Victoria.

Expecting sanderling we soon realised that these little fellas were some sort of small plover. Book descriptions and illustrations had us trending towards lesser sand plover but habitat doesn't seem quite right (more prone to mudflats?) and there appear few Phillip Island sightings (none in eremaea).

Apart from the hooded plover, the local prominent small plover is the red-capped but I am wondering about double-banded?

The pictures are not great but may assist (clicking will enlarge). Can anyone help?: