Along The Track: Hobbys on Show

Posted in Australian HobbyTagged

Late last year we’d been monitoring a pair of Hobbys and had high hopes that they would be nesting in a tree line. Hobbys don’t build from scratch, being environmentally conscious, they tend to reuse old Magpie or Raven nests.

With food being constantly brought in and lots of Hobby cackling and the female taking up residence in the tree it seemed like the spot was ideal. Both made wide ranging fast flights across the open surrounding paddock that offered good views for photos

Then.
They simply disappeared. Perhaps it was the wet cold weather, or the nesting of three other raptors close by in area. A Collared Sparrowhawk, Brown Falcon and Black-shouldered Kite. We did spend sometime checking the surrounding areas, to no avail.

A couple of weeks ago we were travelling onto the area from a different access road to normal. EE cried, “Hobbys”, and pulled IamGrey off the road and looking back we saw two young Hobbys sitting enjoying the early morning light.

Just as we were getting ready to move on, the young both started calling and peering down along the roadway, and a third and fourth bird flew past in full cry. It all happened so fast but it seems it was an adult followed by another young one. The first two took to wing and joined in the chase. After a couple of laps of the tree the adult moved on leaving one of the young to land and again sit in the sunshine.

There is no way of telling for sure, but as it’s in same area as the first pair we pondered if they had moved further down range to a better nesting spot.

Which ever way it was good to know that a pair had a successful season.

Enjoy

21 thoughts on “Along The Track: Hobbys on Show”

  4. An intriguing story about one of my favourite, albeit infrequently seen, birds.
    A lovely range of photos too. Given the speed they can fly, I imagine you must be using a fast shutter speed to “stop” them in mid flight with such clarity.
    A most interesting set of observations.

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  5. Great images as always David. So good you found the family and they managed to nest safely. It must be quite a delight to have so many raptor varieties so close.

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    1. Ahh, we’d like to think they are the same family, but birds don’t often leave calling cards. Still it was good to locate such a fleet of young ones.

      Sorry about the Anon header. Hope I’ve solved that now.

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  6. Beautiful images David.So good you were able to catch up with the Hobby family. You are blessed with quite a variety of raptors which we never see.

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    1. The open paddocks in the area really do favour some of the more agile raptors. With plenty of food on show they do make the most of the season.

      Sorry about the Anon header. Hope I’ve solved that now.

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      1. Hi David, WordPress is letting me reply but won’t let me like your comment – go figure, as they say! The Beginners’ group had a great day with something like 57 species including six raptors, so they were very chuffed. Sadly I wasn’t one of their number as on the Friday I was cannoned into (accidentally) by two young Labradors at the off-leash park, crashing into my good knee, with the result that I could barely walk on Saturday and wouldn’t have got beyond the car park. It is gradually getting less painful and I was lucky really that my leg wasn’t broken, as that can happen in such situations. One of the perils of dog ownership! Anyway, they were very grateful for your comments and suggestions, and I did pass your message on so H and A also received your greetings.
        Cheers, Eleanor.

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  9. I finally got here!
    Great to see the young, David!
    Possibly and hopefully it is the same pair you had been observing.
    Wonderful images to view and enjoy!
    Sometimes entering an area from a different point pays off.

    I don’t know if this comment will eventually show twice, the first attempt seemed to fail.

    Dave N

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