I’ve lamented in a few places the past couple of weeks, that we have been a bit bird depleted.
Many of the areas where we normally work, seem to be quiet to a point.
Over the past few months most of the Black-shouldered Kites, that we have followed for a number of years, have finished nesting and have departed along with their fledged young to places far-flung. Hard to understand what has changed. The food seems plentiful, the weather I have to admit is anything but helpful, and perhaps as autumn is around the corner, the birds know things that we are not privy to.
At Point Cook, one pair has had around 5 clutches over the past couple of years. But they too have fledged the young and the trees and paddocks are empty. The female normally would leave the nest area as soon as the young are ready to fledge and bulk up and return a couple of weeks later and begin to plan the next clutch. This time she doesn’t seem to have returned. Perhaps, she has grown a bit tired of this nesting business and is looking for a break.
The male, to his credit, has maintained his station in the area. But each time we pass by, I wonder if he will still around.
We were travelling a local back road the other day, and spied a lone white shape high up on an old tree. EE cried, Black-shouldered Kite.
We didn’t have time to explore, but were going the same way a couple of days later and stopped for a looksee. And there we found a pair resting in the same general area. She was quite vocal and in the end he got the message and took off down the paddock, presumably to collect an offering for her.
The morning was very overcast and now I was left with light-grey and white birds on a milky grey backdrop.
I had been thinking of setting the camera to Black and White mode so decided to see what would happen. This one was shot with the “Red Filter” setting—makes the red eye of the bird a little lighter grey.
Be interesting to go back again, particularly after this bout of hot weather, to see if they have intent to nest,or if it was just a nomadic rest spot.
Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER - --doesn't mean I'm LOST 
It is interesting that the numbers seem to be down, David! I haven’t had much chance to get into the field with the camera of late but have noticed when travelling through some areas I am not seeing birds as I would normally!
A great find of the B-s K nest, hopefully the will be around for a while!
Wonderful images to view!
Dave N
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The images look great in black and white David especially with colour of these birds and sky backdrop as you say. Interesting how these birds are inyerpreting the season change.
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They look beautiful in black and white. I don’t think I have ever seen a pair together like this, and the size difference is very noticeable.
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Whilst I generally choose to ‘shoot’ in colour, I have no hesitation in admitting that sometimes, Black And White looks at least as good if not better when used with some photos. (Your photos above illustrate this very point…!).
Yesterday, I added a photo of an immature Pied Stilt; finding such a bird was a “first” for me, so I was quietly chuffed to have found it.
But…
The bird was actually very, very close to the Hide I was in, so it more or less filled the whole of the camera’s viewfinder, and the Light that was available further out in the estuary wasn’t available because of shadow; it also had a considerable amount of black around its eye (It was a Profile photo). The photo was just sort of “dull”.
And it may remain forever dull, but now that I’ve read your thoughts, I might go back to it and see what it looks like in Black And White…!
Interesting – and a reminder that we shouldn’t stick rigidly with just one style of Photography…!!!
Cheers…
Lance
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