The crested tern, elegant even in the apparent disarray of this loose formation just after takeoff from the Barham River at Apollo Bay.Landing approach for the Barham River by a crested tern, slowing down dramatically with landing gear coming down as it picks a landing spot in the crowd of terns and silver gulls floating below.Young crested tern on a sandbank in the Barham River. Looks like a cross between a kookaburra and a seagull.The bathing ritual of the crested tern is both vigorous and thorough, involving complete immersion on occasions. I love the edgy hairdo.Advanced flying technique being demonstrated by a silver gull levitating vertically out of the water with its powerful wings creating the required lift by spreading all the feathers to maximise the total wing area and lift.The Barham River at Apollo Bay enters the sea on Marengo beach. These crested terns were speeding downwind over the shore break there. Their elegant flying and fine features perhaps explain why for a time they were called sea swallows. Perhaps the collective noun for terns in this mode of flight should be a volley of terns.Silver gull at Marengo beach making the most of ‘ground effect’ at low level. Ground effect is an efficient form of flight within half a wingspan of the ground (fixed wing aircraft use it too) where lift is increased and the drag created by lift is reduced due to the effect of close proximity to the ground on the airflow over the wing surfaces.Silver gull in full flight. The embodiment of beauty and aerodynamic efficiency.Yellow tailed black cockatoo in the hakea tree in our back yard in Apollo Bay. These birds travel in gangs (‘flocks’ seems too genteel given their eating habits) and descend en masse on native trees such as the hakea, where they proceed to remove branches with their beak then hold the branch in a foot while it eats the seeds. A single meal can result in the ground beneath the tree being littered with the branch and leaf debris thus created. They always post a sentry or two in the tree they are demolishing, and sometimes on a neighbouring high point. For some reason one of them often makes a repetitive unmusical sound at very regular short intervals while they are occupying a tree.A female holding a branch it has severed, and eating the seeds. The females have a larger yellow patch on the side of the head than the male. The female also has gray rings around the eyes, and a whitish beak. The male has pink rings around the eyes, and a dark beak.This female was the only cockatoo in the tree not eating, and it seemed to be performing sentry duty.A male (smaller yellow patch on head, pink eye rings and dark beak) in an neighbouring tree not eating. When the other birds had finished dining on our nearby hakea tree, this bird left its vantage point with them. Sentry number two by the look of it.A brief pause from dining for a moment of being alert but not alarmed.I thought this male looked to be of pleasant disposition. But I suppose a good meal can do that to a bird.
*The collective nouns in the heading of this post were chosen by me, and to the best of my knowledge are not used at all by those who actually know something about birds.
South 
Loving all your bird shots.
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