I love Friday’s. At the moment, after work there are a couple of hours of daylight, and I finished work early, and popped up to Gellibrand Hill for the evening.

Mostly to see if there where any sign of Brown Falcons and Kestrels.

There are really four distinct birdy areas on the hill, and I choose the one looking down over the paddocks to the airport.  A Brown Falcon put in an appearance, and then a second one and they played in the sky just too far away for great shots.
I also heard the odd kid’s flute, cry of a Wedge-tail eagle. Its a funny noise from a great bird.  It must have been behind the door when great calls were given out.  Or too busy up on the “Bigger Wings” and “Claws” section of the production line.  I grew up in the Mallee, and around the Long Paddock (technical term look it up) they could often be heard with the little wheezy whistle.  I didn’t take too much notice of them in those days,  had other boy things to grow up with.

Anyway my investigation turned up two birds sitting just a bit too far down the hill in the fenced off Bandicoot Hilton.

I had a 300 with a Kenko 1.4 TC on board.  Mr An  Onymous  had been using on his D800, and it came back for a visit. As my Nikon TC1.4 is practically mated to the 500 for life, it was nice to try this out again.  I bought it when I was using the old style 300 F4 AF Lens.   It was  a bit slow to focus, but once locked on it was great.  But for inflight, it left a bit to be desired and I took the AF-S  on a trade at Camera Exchange.  Anyway.  Just a bit too far down the paddock for great, but close enough for interesting.

Also had a half hour with a Pallid Cuckoo pair hunting on the old fence line.  Why don’t they just take that part of the fence out now.  There are no Bandicoots in that part, and I could get easy access down along the paddocks of interest. Or. Visitors could roam down along the open paddocks and enjoy the different atmosphere the open fields offer. (there spoken just like  marketing person). If there is a job available to pull it down, I’ll volunteer.

And to top it off a lovely sunset with a big orange ball on the horizon, and two friendly Kookaburras to share it with.  They were gracious enough to share their nest location with me, and while the sunset wasn’t behind them, I left with their merry laughter ringing in my ears.