Seems like forever since I opened up the WordPress files, but as life does, other things have been getting in the way from getting out to the park.
The past weekend was a washout. Literally. We went with the Birdlife Melbourne Photography group on just the wettest day. It poured, showered, drizzled and did just about everything except give up a bit of light and relief for the photographers. Andrew came along to lend a hand as a guide and that gave us a bit of flexibility about where to look, but in the end, the cameras mostly stayed in the cars and the rain jackets did their job.
Not to say we didn’t find anything with the highlight being a Yellow-tufted Honeyeater and several White-naped Honeyeaters.
Not one to be put off by a few minutes disappointment, I went back out this morning in the super sunshine. A few of the Flame families were feeding together and several other smaller parties were around the usual spots.
This Red-capped Robin was one of several from the morning, but I liked the backlighting and the good show on his chest feathers.
Second bird is from a small number of independent females that don’t seem to socialise with the other flocks.
This male is on a low branch. I am working on a very low tripod and laying on the ground to get a lower perspective. Get wetter, and muddier, but you see much more from the bird’s point of view.Hunting in the early morning sunshine on a moss bed. I was laying on the ground, camera on a low tripod, just to get a separation from the background.
We’re in the WTP. So is a resting Black-shouldered Kite. It however has made the tactical error of landing in a Willie Wagtails favourite tree. Or perhaps it was just on patrol, and it’s “Time to move along”
Either way, the immovable object verses the unstoppable energy is on display.
The wagtail made numerous passes at the Kite, its only reaction was to once raise its wings, but I suspect that was just a balance thing more than anything else.
In the end the kite gave ground, and the wagtail, chattering as it went, moved on to the next tree to see if the Magpie was also moveable. Such is the life of a little black and white location police person.
This was shot from the car with a 500m mounted on “David’s Folly”, a beautiful engineered window car mount that I purchased from Outdoorphotogear.com.
It is made in Germany and really is the best thing. Probably stronger than the car door. The folly like all follies is that it will do the impossible. But when it comes to holding the camera, keeping it ready, securely attached to the car, and rock steady in mounting, it really is a great piece of kit. Just people keep stopping to ask, “Looks like you’re ready for anything'”, or “What is that”. My answer, David’s Folly.
Think I will put up a page to show it in action, then it will be simpler to explain.
Its all about position position position. Just being the larger bird in a dispute does not necessarily give you landing rights.
Hello Mr Mighty. This bird is usually patrolling the territory around the gate at Backpaddock. He gained a bit of notoriety last year when he appeared on cover of the penultimate edition of Bird Observer in August ’11.
I have not seen him for a few months and was beginning to think he had moved on. Neil A, had sent me a pic a few days back and I was pretty certain it was the same bird.
Armed with that bit of advice, I headed out, and sure enough within a few minutes of searching about, he had come by for a visit. He will tic tic back to my poor examples of toc, toc, tongue click, and of all the birds out there is perhaps the most relaxed. The give-away 3 white moustache feathers is his particular dress.
So, he hunted about, flew off, came back, it was all very therapeutic.
His lady has the most beautiful ginger/copper cap, and I’m hoping she is going to turn up as well.
Three hours in the bush, one photograph. Who said photography of birds was tough. (Oh, did I mention the 3 months of fruitless searching? Not to mention the endless cups of tea?)
Mr Mighty with a wing flick on a stump. It is a hunting technique. But he is really just showing off for you and me.
My friend Dieter and I planned a day down at WTP, he because he wanted to try out the new D800, and me because I like to go down there.
We left early and beat the morning traffic, and were just getting the gear out of of the camera bags at the turn off to Point Wilson, when an explosive whistle and cry came from directly overhead in the trees, after a few seconds it was obvious it was a Whistling Kite in full voice. Followed by an equally loud squeal from a Black-shouldered Kite, before both of them came barrelling out of the tree line. The Whistling Kite being fairly aggressively attacked by the Black-shouldered Kite.
By this time we had the cameras out and were hard at work. The BSK made a number of fast passes over the struggling for wind speed, Whistling Kite, and it was struck several times by its protagonist. The shot here shows the Whistling Kite with claws out as it has just defended off the aggro Black-shouldered Kite, it is possible to see a few loose feathers floating away.
After a heavy pursuit, the Whistling Kite gained some height and speed, and by then it was well away from the tree-line. The Black-shouldered Kite came back and started a second pursuit of a Goshawk, but it managed to slip away without any thing more damaged than its pride. The BSK, then patrolled the treeline and all and sundry were aware of its stake to territory.
The rest of the day was nowhere near as dramatic, except for a Brown Falcon playing catch me if you can along a fence line. But I was driving and Dieter was the one working in the new D800.
A Black-shoudlered Kite making an aggressive pass on a Whistling Kite who was doing all it could to defend itself against a constant attack. The loose feathers are from a direct hit by the BSK.
Today, we with a bright sunny day instore, we went to The Pipemakers Park, in Footscray. It was one of the Heart Foundation “Green Walks in the Park”, and it was nice to catch up with a group of walkers and have a bit of a chat as we sauntered about the gardens at the Pipemakers Park, and then down along the Maribyrnong River.
First time we’d been down there, and the bird life is exceptional. Two Brown Falcons sailing overhead as we got out of the car. Looked great. Also spotted several Eastern Shrike Tits among the bushes, and a host of other smaller birds. Must take the cameras and a lunch and do it justice. The gardener guy told me they often have a White-bellied Sea Eagle patrol the river, and there is a pair of nesting Eastern Barn Owls in the area as well.
We then had a date down at WTP, and with a spot of lunch at the Highway Lounge on the freeway, were well on the way to a good afternoon. The first birds we spotted weren’t even in the Permit area, but were on the roadway outside. Brilliant Flashes of Red and Brown, feeding against the black tarmac of the road. A Flame Robin family group of at least three males, and females and a few juveniles kept us out on the roadside for quite awhile. On the return journey just as sun was setting they were still there and not that fussed by our presence.
It was Pelican day as well, and no matter where we went the big amusing lumps seemed to sail by in groups or small flocks.
On the way out, we went along Beach Road, and a Black-shouldered Kite was spotted in a tree, eager to make a nice shot, I put the car of the side of the road, and was getting ready when to my surprise, and joy and delight, and amazement, the familiar “Kar, Kar, Kar”, of a hunting Nankeen Kestrel wafted down on the air. I was out of the car, and had a dozen frames away, before I had even worked out where it was happening. She, it was a female, took to a tree in a paddock, and I contemplated following, but after a few minutes, another high pitched scream from her, and she took off. There had to be a male somewhere near. She flew directly overhead, (it really was like old times), and gave him a piece of her mind, before landing in the tree and gave her begging for food call. He dutifully took to the air to find dinner for her. She sat on the tree and watched, and occasionally screamed encouragement, until a demented Wagtail couldn’t stand it any longer and chased her of the tree.
It was so nice to hear her call, and to watch the delicate wind-hover of the male. I hope they stay in the area, as we have only seen Kestrels there once before.
A Yellow-Rumped Thornbill, helping itself to the bugs in the spider web. It got pretty tangled in the web, and eventually had shake itself free.
Pelican making final adjustments on its landing approach
Dorothy and I looked out of the window early in the morning, and decided it was just too nice a morning to sit at home and worry about getting ‘stuff’ done.
So we packed a picnic and took off to see what the Robins were up to. And they certainly were. We found the cemetery pair within a few minutes. The female must be the hardest working bird in the forest. She had at least 4 clutches this summer, and I counted 9 young that she had gotten off. Given that she lost at least one nest to Ravens, she really didn’t have a moment to spare. But she looks quite relaxed and in good nick at the moment. Her male, is sporting a cute little white feather or two around his beak, giving him a little moustache appearance.
We settled into a favourite spot in the fenced off area and while we waited Andrew and Adrienne turned up, so we had a lovely morning with the birds and some great company. The weather couldn’t make up its mind but sunshine probably dominated. The birds are not in a flock yet, each little family group seems to be moving independently. The three males, “The Brothers” are still together, and it was good to be able to find one, and then quickly find the other two in quick succession. Mr Cooper-top is sporting his lovely brown feathers.
The Brown-headed Honeyeater trapeze troupe dropped by, and we also were entertained by the four Grey-shrike Thrush as they worked the trees, bushes and ground litter.
By the time we had arrived home it was too cold to work in the garden so we compared pictures from the day’s effort. Dorothy is about to get a new Nikon 1 V1, the super little mirrorless camera, which just happens to have an adaptor that can attach the DSLR lenses, and that will give her some new opportunities.
The hardest working little bird. She has had a very productive summer, and now is piling on the food, ready for next season.This boy and his rather shy female put in an appearance, he is now one of three males in the area. They are a bit of a bully to the Red-caps I think.Mr Copper-top. One of three males that travel together, “The Brothers”.Another of “The Brothers”. He is nicely positioned against the spider’s web.
Friday dawned all lovely and still, with plenty of blue sky and none of the rain of the previous few days. I was getting a bit tired of pacing the floor and finding other things to do, so it was good to get back into the bush and see if the storms had diminished the robins activities. I needed not have worried, as they were soaking up the sunshine and on the hunt everywhere.
The Brown-headed Honeyeater aerial trapeze team came by for a visit and I’ve put up a page here with their antics on display.
This young lady spent a lot of the morning with serveral other females hunting on their own. They seem to have a different call, a Cheep, Chip, Chip, which must be a location thing. This one seemed to be the noisiest or most persistent caller. Perhaps it was “C’mon girls, let’s go over here.”Another one from the hunting party
Just look at the calendar! It’s the end of April already. Although I suppose a look out the window at anytime would confirm it is coming on to winter.
I make no excuses, I like to go to the Treatment Plant in the afternoons. The light just runs down the roadways at a better angle. Because there are so many limitations about position in Werribee getting the light direction is one of the keys to great photos down there. So daylight saving is my friend in all this endevour.
But come winter, well, things change a bit. The sun is down by 5 pm, and so there is little time to get about the places we like to work from. So for the next few months, we are back to early morning starts. (No point getting there at lunch time as the birds are past the hungry at all costs mode). The light is harder to work with because the angle of the early morning sun is always lower and 3/4 backlight at best.
So in keeping with all that we loaded the car in the evening, set the alarm, and ventured out just as it was breaking daylight. A better run down the Ring-road too.
As soon as we turned of the freeway onto Point Wilson Road, we found some Red-rumped Parrots. A short distance along and Flame Robins were on the fence. And on the Paradise Road, and the road to Ryans Swamp, past the pumphouse. And a lovely Brown Falcon who sat motionless on a fence post and stared us down. I edged the car past it, on the far far side of the road, and with the long 500mm had to shoot vertically to get it all in. And then it flew. So I got a crop, but am pretty happy with the result.
More Flames down at Chirnside Road gate, and then a fruitless search for Swan J19.
We travelled back along the road to the Bird Hide and in quick succession scored a lovely Swamp Harrier, a pair of White-bellied Sea Eagles and a Buff-banded Rail. Not content we stopped near the Outflow from Lake Borrie and were entertained by five Black-shouldered Kites who seemed to be enjoying the light breeze and playing a game of ring-around-a-rosie, from the outflow sign and a large bush. No aggression, just plain fun.
More Flames along Beach Road, and a tree full of lovely yellow/green parrots.
We trundled down 29 Mile Road, and were amazed to find a single male Nankeen Kestrel,- the first we have seen at WTP (I had heard of it from reports on Victoria BirdLine.). It hunted up the paddock, dive-snatched a mouse, and sat on the fence line to consume it. So I moved the car forward a bit, it moved up about 3 posts. I moved again, it moved up 4 posts, I moved again, and it moved even further. A game of diminishing returns for me, and a success for the Kestrel. Still I managed to get a few record shots of it at work. Must go again. Hope its still there. The farm management were in the process of some controlled burns on the grass lands, and amongst the smoke could be seen 5 or 6 Whistling Kites waiting for some action. They seemed to be calling to one another, which is such a great sound, sends shivers down my spine.
Brown Falcon in early morning light. It allowed us to bring the car with in about 10m, which meant with the long lens I had to shoot vertical to get it all in.Just airborne. I waited, as it went though all the pre-flight checks, and probably was a little too early on the shutter. Was shooting vertical, so had to put up with a horizontal crop in the end.This one is at Chirnside Road GateIt made a turn out of the waterway just in front of our position. The early morning light filtered through the mist has kept contrast down, and highlight the wing and tail feathers. No clever post processing, just a little lightening up on the head.
We tracked down to the Back Paddock area today to see what the state of play with the Robins was looking like.
We managed to find a couple of small hunting parties and a few isolated birds, but not a much else.
Ran across my friend Neil, and his bother, and had a good chat about things photographic and bird, so that made a good day of it all.
Several Grey Shrike Thrush came by and were hunting in their usual efficient manner, as well as Brown-headed Honeyeaters and a few Sitellas. Probably the bird for the day was a Fantail Cuckoo, who with its friend sat in the sunshine and seemed to enjoy being the ‘model’ of the day.
We also took a walk about the Woodlands Homestead, and spotted a Brown Falcon at work out toward the airport, but not much else. Am planning to cut along Moonee Ponds Creek down to the Billabongs, and see if there is any Flame Robin activity down there, but will need a clear day to do all that.
After a couple of days of what can only be described as ‘typical’ Melbourne weather, the clouds eased off a bit, and the biting chill was gone from the wind. So we both ventured out to see what the rain had done in the park.
We quickly found a number of Thornbills and Pardalottes who were enjoying hunting in the sunshine.
Also found a few robins Scarlet is still there and his Red-capped consort has taken on a particularly brilliant orange/rust coloured cap.
A small group of Dusky Woodswallows were enthralled with a small lump on a tree high up and spent a lot of time squabbling and mobbing one another, for what we suspect was a pool of water built up in the node on the tree.
And a lovely Redcapped Robin male danced by and posed against a freshly built spider-web. Pity the light was just overcast at the time as the web would have glistened in the sunlight.
Red-capped Robin male and a spider web contrast.Dusky Woodswallow flock taking a drink from a small pool of water high up in a tree.
I have been waiting anxiously for about two weeks to write the Headline. Each trip to the forest would reveal one or two females, and some unattached young males.
Today, I rugged up, and to my surprise, the weather held nicely most of the morning. At one stage I was pondering why I bothered with the rain jacket at all, as I sat in the sunshine and watched the few female Flame Robins and a couple of juveniles hunting along a roadway. But by late morning, the weather had, I had to admit taken a turn for the worse. A distinct and sharp turn for the worse and black clouds rolled in, and rain began to fall. Time for the car. I was about 1.5 k down the range, so it looked like a bit of a slog out in the wet again. I don’t mind being wet, its the expensive camera gear that I worry about. Afterall I’ll dry out, but the gear being wet means another trip over to Ross, at The Camera Exchange, to buy new stuff. He likes that arrangement.
Ever the optimist, I took the longer way round, down toward the small creek line, and back through the open scrub. And there on the stumps, the branches, the small trees, and the old spikey bushes, were “The boys”. In the rain. The past couple of years, there has been a small band of males, three in total, and they have travelled and hunted together, but today, not only were the three working hard, but they had acquired two friends, making a total of five. Add that to the 3 already here and we now have at least 8 males, and at least that many females, and a similar number of juveniles. A flock in the making.
Interestingly enough, I did recognise features on two birds from last year. They are a bit distinctive, now it may be they are entirely different birds, but I think the odds are in my favour. Mr Gingertop is back, and Mr Misplaced Chest feather is here too.
So as the rain fell, the shutter clicked and the birds fed it was just about as good as it gets. Lunch-time became a thing of the distant future, and I could always use the excuse that it was raining, and I waited at the shelter for it to finish…
As it turned out, the rain passed by, the sun came out and the birds spent an hour or so in the one area, then typically on the turn of a wing they were gone.
I have put most of the images from this morning on a page here. Click here to visit, or on the Tab in the header.
Flame Robin Male, in the process of a wing stretch. He is cleaning up after a passing shower of rain.
The weather man kept me out of the bush this morning, predictions of rain, and overcast don’t exactly excite me to take expensive photo equipment to the bush. But as the morning progressed into increasing sunshine, my decision was beginning to look like a bit hasty to say the least.
Still I had the rounds of shopping to do, and if I worked on a scheme, I could get the shopping done, have a coffee, and still make it Woodlands in the afternoon sunshine. Say no more grab the shopping list, and load a camera and head on out.
As it turns out the forest was a little quiet, and after a fruitless search I was on the way back to the car, when I spotted some movement among the trees. The early morning mist/rain, had left a small pool of water which was just the ticket for the small birds and about 10 assorted robins, and some wagtails, a bunch of very aggressive Grey Fantails, were taking it in turn to give the feathers a bit of a going over.
One that stood out was a Scarlet Robin female. It is the first really good sighting I’ve had so far.
So maybe the weather man did me a favour after all.
One of three female Scarlet Robins that are in the park area at the moment. Not sure yet of attachments to males, but each female seems pretty independent.
Over the past few days I have been out and about on other things than birds at Woodlands. Including a day up at Murrindindi with the Midweek Bird group. It is the first time I have been there since the horrific fires, and I was a bit hesitant about going. Tragedy is not something I am readily drawn to. It is as they say nice to see the amount of regrowth, and in some cases along the river the understory has taken on jungle proportions. Which made it hard to find birds, but none the less we managed between us about 40 species. Highlight of the day were some Scarlet Robins in the carparking areas. I think they appreciated the open area for their wait and pounce hunting. One seemed quite unconcerned and approached quite easily to with 4-5 metres. So some good shots were acquired.
This morning the sun was up bright and clear and I went for a look at Woodlands. Down at an area rapidly getting the name “Three Ways”. It is where tracks T junction. After some time waiting, eventually a number of Flame Robins appeared. There are two males and females, and a few immatures. They worked over the area for about an hour, which was a good way I reckon to spend my time. Then like always, a turn of the wing, and they were gone. Not to be seen again.
Feeding very close to my camera position.RIght at the end of my focus on the camera, I had to pull back a bit to get focus.
The Green Walks in the Parks group had a day at Point Cook Costal Park.
As soon as we arrived Dorothy spotted a Flame Robin male on the fence behind us in the carpark. And I hadn’t even gotten out of the car yet!
The robin was easy to work with, and I managed a few shots of him on the fence line. Then we moved toward the homestead and there were at least two more pairs working the paddock by the trackside. They made a great sight in the early morning sun, and I probably would have stayed there all day, but we did the walk with the group instead. Good thing as we crossed two Brown Falcons, three Black-shouldered Kite, and at least one, possibly a pair of Kestrels. (its that who saw what, when thing of spotting in a group). The Kestrel male moved over head with his lovely chireep chireep hunting call.
To add to the day, a Whistling Kite lazed its way along the on shore breeze, looking for prey.
With all that activity, we just have to find time to go down there again.
Male Flame Robin. Hunting from the fence line at the Point Cook Costal Park
Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER doesn't mean I'm LOST 