February 11, 2021 – Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER

When new neighbours arrive, birds are as inquisitive as the next one.

However it didn’t always go well for the young Hobbies as some of the neighbours have a distinct dislike for raptors, small, large, young or old.

A constant source of interaction was with the Galahs in the area.

Here is one such event.

Ahh, new kid on the block. I don’t like you.

Wing flaps and crest raising begin the confrontation

Slowly but surely the Galah moves closer, crowding the young bird to another branch

Next in line, several more turn up and chase the young Hobby about the sky. The little dudes still don’t have real flying skills, so it’s a pretty much one way competition.
Here the galahs have outpaced and out-turned the Hobby, but give the impression of being chased. Not so.

Just because they could.  The two Galahs thought it would be fun to harass one of the recently fledged Hobbys.  The pair were ready to hunt it off its perch and then chase it about the sky.  Just for fun, they let the young bird chase them once in a while as well.   A week or so later with the young Hobby experienced enough to clip along at over 100kph, it would have been a much more dangerous game.

Early morning and one of the young was having some quiet time in the sunshine when a pair of Rainbow Lorikeets dropped by for a looksee. Much more robust in their attack, and working as a team, the young Hobby in the end had to abandon its rest spot.

They will never forget you ’til somebody new comes along :- The Eagles.   Young Hobby still having trouble coming to an understanding with the local Lorikeets. It has much to learn, they have determination on their side.

Close to the last pages in the field notes.
The Hobbies quickly gain flight experience and then were off to explore the world around the nesting location. A week on and they could disappear almost at the blink of an eye, and quickly reappear breaking all records in a sharp dive descent.

Their next adventure was learning to hunt along the tree-line nearby, but for a photographer there was not chance of keeping up with the action.