Flow with whatever is happening
and let your mind be free.
Stay centered
by accepting whatever you are doing.
This is the ultimate.
Zhuang Zhou
Truth be told, its been quite a long time between drinks at “The Office”.
A lot been happening, but mostly, the weather, a sore heel that slows down my walking, lack of birds and perhaps general sloth has kept us away from The Office at the Werribee River Park.
You could also add the amount of time spent looking for and not finding those elusive Sacred Kingfishers, but that would be at tad churlish methinks.
So it was with quite a high degree of expectation that we loaded up Sir Perceval, and headed on one of his amazing Quests.
The evening light was both rich abundant and the breeze cool and we headed down toward the river crossing.
At first is seemed quite enough, but as the afternoon flowed on we managed quite a few interesting discoveries.
At the old Blue Stone ford we spied a young Sacred Kingfisher, so we nodded in agreement that they had indeed, been not only secretive, but productive as well.
Next we flushed but didn’t photograph several Nankeen Night-herons. A rare find at the best of time but perhaps they to are supporting young.
A Song Thrush was a great find and one we’d not previously seen in the area so that was a bit of a bonus. And plenty of young Dusky Woodswallows. One sat and preened and waited for someone to deliver a meal, but in the end, it had to contend with hunting for itself.
We spent a bit more time looking for possible Night-heron locations and found a very nervous White Ibis and then a White-faced Heron that was happy to preen in the evening light and in our presence.
Then just as we turned for home, a lone Swamp Harrier flushed from the reedbeds and flew out among the trees, quickly gaining height. The golden light burnishing the wings.
Back at the carpark, and ready to depart, when “Bernie” the local Brown Falcon flew in to some nearby gums for a quick preen before bedtime. Nice to see.
Enjoy
Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER - --doesn't mean I'm LOST 
Beautiful shots. I loved the WFH going in several directions at once!
LikeLike
Not a bad little find David considering the heat we are all enduring at present. My blogging friends up and down the coast are all reporting fewer birds present and less breeding this summer. Most of our migratory passerines have disappeared already, possibly in search of water and food, escaping the heat. The waders are not worried as they have plenty of food at low tide, and they love the warmer weather. Song Larks are a rarity here, you have done well to see them, I think I saw one in Hunter Gardens last year, they are not a frequent bird. Lovely photos again David, as always.
LikeLike
Hi AB, To be blunt, we are running out of places to look. We spent most of the afternoon today, and should have been able to locate several pairs of Eastern Yellow Robin, and Jacky Winter, but not a single wing flap. In the end, a family White-winged Choughs came by to commiserate with me. They are flat out teaching their very young about food, and trying to get last year’s juveniles to take an interest in feeding themselves. Lots of Chough lectures going on. Will post a couple of shots I think.
The Office is generally a haven for raptors, and all we are finding is the occasional bird. It can’t just be the heat.
Still, we will keep going, the bird karma must return.
The Song Lark was quite a surprise, used to have a regular supply of them come through our old gardens, but hardly seen since we moved 4 years back.
LikeLiked by 1 person