Some weekend pics to share

I have some photos to share with you that I took down at the Lillico Beach penguin viewing platform on Saturday night. A little before dusk these gorgeous little Red Capped plovers were foraging along the waterline looking for food. They live on small crustaceans, molluscs and worms. I have never seen one before and fortunately they are not endangered.The nest is built in a hollow on the beach or stony area and is sometimes lined with small shells or dead leaves.

I think the one below is a male due to the black making down the side of his head.

All of the baby penguins for the season have left the colony that we monitor and the burrow that was occupied last week by the baby has now been occupied by an adult bird that has come on land to moult. They usually moult between February and April and new clean feathers are important for them to keep them waterproof for the remainder of the year.Before moulting the penguins nearly double their body weight because when they are in the process of moulting they cannot return to the water to feed as their feathers are not waterproof until the full moult and feather replacement is complete usually around 17 days or so.

In comparison to the little baby penguins this one does not have a very clean white patch down the front as his feathers get ready to come out.

Saturday was also a very hot day here in Tasmania and we had a lot of smoke that was over the North West Coast, probably form a fire that was on one of the islands in Bass Strait. As a consequence we had some lovely subdued colours and interesting cloud formations at sunset.

I also took this intersting shot of the moon over the water