David Jenkins

Along the Track: Territory Management Raptor Style

December 18, 2023December 18, 2023Posted in Brown Falcon, Collared SparrowhawkTagged Brown Falcon, Collared Sparrowhawk6 Comments

The trees and gardens around the nearby beach park date to the time of the first settlers in the area. They had obtained rights to farm huge areas of the Port Philip Bay area and began to build a life-style to rival their English heritage.

Part of that incluced the planting of a range of pine trees, some must be over 100 years or more. The close spacing of the pines as wind-breaks has resulted in some fine nesting locations for a range of raptors.
Over the years we’ve had: Black-shouldered, Whistling and Black Kites in the area. For several seasons a pair of Spotted Harrier were in residence and they used the surrounding open paddocks that are covered in thick bracken as resting spots out of sight of the world.
Australian Hobbys have also chosen a few spots. And at present a pair of Collared Sparrowhawk have recently completed their clutch.

The Queen of the Area is a Brown Falcon, Cassia of Cinnamon, and her handsome light morph beau, Alistair.

But all this brings heavy pressure on the birds as each wants the best opportunities for their young to be fed. So it’s not unusual to see swooping, name calling and direct attacks occuring from time to time. And its not all one-sided. Depending on the development of each clutch depends on who is the aggressor.

However the other day an added complexity to the mix. The Sparrowhawks have successfully fledged two young birds. They are a month or more ahead of the Falcons, and so have reign of the treeline at present. And being young birds with highly developed flying skills and a little bit of juvenile team work, they decided that the lone perched Cassia, of Cinnamon would be a bit of a game.

She has claimed the tallest of the Umbrella Pines as her lookout, over the paddocks for food, out further for the returning Alistair and a direct line of site to the precious nest location.

The two young Sparrowhawks took umbrage she should be in their area and settled into a name of game calling out in the open, from a nearby old tree. Then in a series of planned attacks they launched at her. Nothing she couldn’t handle, but the action did get pretty hot.

Enjoy

Cassia, of Cinnamon readies for a close pass

Very Little Visit: Still Raining Rails

December 13, 2023Posted in Buff-banded RailTagged Buff-banded Rail11 Comments

Well if nothing else, the ground is getting a fair old drenching. Keeping your Downwardly Mobile scribe inside too.

But the wet weather has certainly played its magic across the Crake and Rail communities.

We have been over the past few weeks monitoring a pair of Willie Wagtails that have set up a nest in a tree in the foyer area of a local Uni gym.

Sunday morning on the way home, we picked up a sandwich and some coffee and headed for said gym carpark. The weather was overcast, but not threatening, so we were going to use one of the picnic tables on the gym lawn for lunch.

Normally, I’d stop, EE would walk across the lawn and I’d park IamGrey and head back. But the lawn was little minature lakes, so it seemed best to stop at the ‘drier’ carpark.

Oh, she said, look a Coot has it two little young ones out in the grass. And sure enough, and who dear reader would argue with that observation. Click, click, click from that side of the vehicle.

I looked out and saw, just in front of the bonnet, another Coot, and thought, Oh, its a bit seperate from the family, until it cocked its head, and lo, it was a Buff-banded Rail.

Now its nigh on impossible to get a photographer to change from photographing one subject to taking interest in something more interesting. And with fear that I’d frighten the Rail, I backed the car ever slowly about 10m. Then, of course EE spied it and the door of the IamGrey slowly began to open. My camera was securely in the back, so I slipped along the edge to retrieve it, knowing full well that the bird will have taken the hint and fled.
But this one was a calm as they come. Sunday morning at the gym, no other people around, it felt pretty comfortable.

It foraged quite near us, then scampered back into the reeds, to emege again down near the table where we’d adjourned to have lunch and contemplate our fortunate state at seeing it so well.

It strolled about the path, then into the grass and about 10 minutes later slipped away, to come out again and let us ‘creep’ quietly up on it. Cool as.

In the end, time ran out, but the Rail was still going.

Was hoping to post these on Flickr, but for some reason, my Flickr account has been hijacked to another user id. So all I get to see is their pictures and contacts. So until I feel comfortable with Flickr again, most of the next couple of weeks shall be here on the blog. Hopefully won’t bore you with too many stories and same pics. Couple of interesting developments in the field at present.

I’ve had several email me and say that the Flickr photos are getting up, but I can’t see or comment on any at all. They tell me my Flickr Stream needs a complete rebuild and may take “Some hours depending on the size of the photos, and links.” I’ll get over it. 🙂

Little Visits: Around the Pond

December 11, 2023Posted in "Western Treatment Plant", Australian Reed Warbler, Black Kite, Black-tailed Native-hen, Great Egret, Little Grassbird, Little Visits, Western Treatment PlantTagged Australian Reed Warbler, Dusky Moorhen, Great Egret, Little Grassbird, Rufous Whistler, Western Treatment Plant, Whiskered Tern5 Comments

In my new Downwardly Mobile role, we stayed around the Crake Pond area at WTP for the rest of the morning.
Not only were the Crakes out and about but also quite a number of other usual suspects.

Highlight was some Black-tailed Native-hens. Another bird that I rarely see and the first time ever a this location.

I also spent some time with several large flocks of Whiskered Terns, hoping, perhaps a bit too much that there might be some White-winged Blacks among them. But not this day. Means another trip should be on the cards.

Here is a few of the morning’s finds.

Enjoy

Little Visits: It’s Rained Crakes

December 7, 2023December 7, 2023Posted in "Western Treatment Plant", Australian Spotted Crake, Baillon's Crake, Little Visits, Spotless Crake, Western Treatment Plant, WTPTagged Australian Spotted Crake, Baillon's Crake, Spotless Crake6 Comments

I was writing to Mr An Onymous t’other day about the weather, or lack of it in fine proportions, and lamenting being unable to get out in the wind and the rain.

I mentioned that I’d concluded that I’m no longer a member of the Upwardly Mobile and was rapidly sliding into the Downwardly Mobile. Just seems too hard to get out and about regularly.

Still, there is a lot to be said for quietly sitting. EE has made a science of it and half her magic comes from such experiences, I percieve.

So I thought I must take advantage of such a change in direction and rejig the blog at least one more time. Rather than look for the ‘big’ stories of bird-world/land I might just cover a few pics from one connected set of birds.
Which if I recall correctly, (and that you might want to check against para 2 above), was roughly what my journalism instructor(ess) had to say. Write the little stories with insight. The big stories can wait. (In my case they still are!) Well I might have missed her quote a bit, but the intent was the same.

After a week or more of rain, we took an opportunity between all the unimportant life missions we are on, to leave home early and head to just one location. The T-Section at the Western Treatment Plant. And to spend the morning at the “Crake Pool/Pond” For the initiated, it’s easy to find. For those who’ve never been there, its not a pool or a pond, its part of a reed bed that is on the edge of a typical, large, former waste-treatment pond.
Yet for some reason, water density, coverage, food, shelter and a host of Crakie sort of things the Baillon’s, Spotted and Spotless seem to favour. Most times they skulk (love that word) about in between the reeds and are hardly seen. At present, all bets are off and they are mostly feeding in the open.

Birders and Photographers have devised some pretty sneaky plans of their own to be able to see the birds without scaring them off.
But.
In the interests of brevity I’m going to ignore all that at this time.

We parked the car at a junction, walked the 150m or so down to the pool, and there they were. Happy in their litte Crake world and the only thing that seemed to scare them back into the reeds were a few aggressive Australasian Swamphens that kept maurauding across the open areas in pursuit of one another. They’d scare me too.

So here here we are. It’s Rained Crakes.

As it Happened: The Family that bathes together…

December 3, 2023December 3, 2023Posted in Australian MagpieTagged Australian Magpie10 Comments

So many cliches that could be used as a title for this little series.

We’ve had well over a week of soaking rain. Fortunately not driving heavy rain so many of the nesting birds have been able to deal with it. But, of course some in early stages of hatching with downless young have succumbed.

After a week of sitting in wet trees, eating of the wet ground and flying through the downpours, you’d think your average magpie would be sick of water. But. No!

We ventured out to monitor a few of the nests locally, and managed a bit of a break in the weather with a spot of sunshine coming through. We found this small Magpie family making the most of the bathing facitilies offered in the puddles along the tracks.

Their young one didn’t seem all that keen, but Mum and Dad got right into the business and soaked it all up. I wonder if they were using the gravel to help clean out the underfeathers. They certainly stepped out of the puddle soaking wet. Both made several excursions into the water and then flew to a nearby tree for the shaking out and preening.

Junior had overcome its fears by then and stepped in to the water as well.

And it just goes to show the folk with birdbaths at home, that you should keep them clean no telling what might turn up if there is any muck in the water.

Enjoy.

Along the Track: The Flight of the Heron

November 14, 2023November 14, 2023Posted in Uncategorized11 Comments

Mr An Onymous has been laid up a bit of late with some eye-surgery. He recieved the all clear from Dr Slice’n’Dice the other day, so we decided on a trip to the Western Treatment Plant to try out his new “eyes”

We had been watching a White-necked Heron feeding in the open grass in one of the ponds, when on a moment, a number of Australasian Swamphens decided to take battle, and the Heron was caught up in the middle of it, and took off. It flew across the pond to a safer and quieter spot.

Enjoy

Along The Track: Night Heron Mania

October 18, 2023October 18, 2023Posted in Nankeen Night Heron, Werribee River ParkTagged Nankeen Night Heron, Werribee River Park7 Comments

One bird we seldom see out and about is the Nankeen Night Heron.
For a number of years, a small colony roosted in a large pine tree on an access track into the Werribee River Park.
Then for some reason, they disappeared for about four years.

Recently we’ve been noticing those lovely rich apricot-tan coloured feathers sprinkled along the track, so it’s always worthwhile checking. Almost all the time, they are high up, and surrounded by as many branches as possible and good looks, let along good photos are pretty difficult.

The last couple of visits we’ve seen around five or six in the tree and several of them are juveniles.

The other morning as we passed by, they seemed very nervous and with a ‘grunt’ took to wing. This suited the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos as it gave them something to chase and complain about.
What we didn’t expect was that just about every other tree nearby, also ‘grunted’ and in the end we had as many as 25 Nankeen Night Herons in the air looking for a quiet place away from the Cockatoos.

We continued down along the river edge and found eight to ten had moved down to the river to sit on some of the old trees overlooking the water. Just couldn’t get close, but at least we could say they are in good numbers.

Enjoy

As it Happened: Possession Is…

October 1, 2023October 1, 2023Posted in Black-shouldered Kite, Point CookTagged Black-shouldered Kite, Point Cook Coastal Park12 Comments

Our most recent outings have all been in the one location at Point Cook Coastal Park.
At least three families of young Black-shoudered Kites have been working in the area.
As best we’ve been able to count there have been nine young Kites, with at least two of their supervising male adults, one semi-resident male, who has a second clutch on the go and is busy feeding Madeline, and perhaps two or three late juveniles that have started to lose their apricot colouring and take on the rich red eye colour.

Intruiging to walk down a roadway with up to eight or more of them sitting on fence posts all calling and tail-wagging in territorial poses. While in the air around them several others are applying their skills for a feed.

But with finite amounts of mice, and so many kites a few squabbles were inevitable. And Mike was not happy about having so many extra mouths to feed when he has the new clutch growing.

As I said to someone the other day, it’s the stuff to fill memory cards on.
And I’ve wondered how many feeding Kite pictures does a blog need. Still I don’t know.
So here are the dramas from a few days.

Enjoy!

This one seemed to me to be an adult the way it was hunting, and I was suprised to see when I looked closely it was a juvenile. They pull out of the headlong dive just before the ground and the feet are swung in to land on the prey-mouse. I’ve been near them from time to time and they hit the ground with quite a distinct, “THUD”

If you can’t catch a mouse, then it’s fair game to stop the next bird in their hunting efforts, which always results in a few circles of the paddock as they sort out the differences.

Now this I’ve never seen before.
This bird is eating the mouse on the wing. It’s a bit to dangerous to land on a post to have a leisurely meal as one or other other the others will make a pass and try to relieve you of your catch.
They fly quite high to do this action, and then hover-fall as they reach down and take pieces, until it can be swallowed whole.

This is one of the older two or three that have lately come to the paddock. It has easily secured a meal and is keeping it quite hidden from everybody else

Old enough to defend itself, it was lining up for a fence post landing

A large tail-flick is a warning to all that is prepared to claim territory. It has also dropped the wings to ‘mantle’ over the mouse.

And here the tail is covering any sign of its possession.

Meanwhile Mike is running off any birds that try to hunt in his area.

I’m not sure where the boundary was, but the young were continually hunted over the far side of the roadway.

The young were quite capable of squabbling amonst themselves for the best positions. I came to the conclusion from the way they each returned to a specific area, that the mice were in that location.

Another successful strike. And now to find a place to enjoy the meal.

Ths is the same bird and its easy to see that it has the mouse very tightly tucked up to keep safe from the others. It spiralled up to gain height to eat it on the wing

Here, it is enjoying the fruits of its labour. As it lazily difted down in a slow descent.

No doubt by this week, the fields will be pretty bare as the young will begin to move further down the coast or inland to find their own hunting grounds.

As it Happened: Six Young Kites

September 13, 2023Posted in As it Happened, Black-shouldered KiteTagged As it Happened, Black-shouldered Kite12 Comments

With a welcome change in the weather for a sunny morning without wind, we went to check on the young carpark Kite of Madeline and Mike.

They are now old enough to fend for themselves, so we didn’t expect to see them in the old hometree.

A little searching found them in the air about 700m down the paddock. So we trudged on down. Trudged of course is a euphemism for went with high expectations and we weren’t disappointed.

As we began to count Kites in the air and on the fence posts, it became apparent that there were two families of Kites working in the paddock as we could see at any one time, six young either sitting or flying about. There was also just one adult, and its likely that this one was not Mike and he is now kept busy further afield suppling the incubating Madeline.

The six seemed to get on together pretty well, and it gave them plenty of chances for hunting as well as mock aerial battles. The young fence sitters seemed to do a lot of tail-lifting, which is a sign of territory ownership, so each one was aware of the presence of the others.

Unsure where the other three would have come from as suitable trees are a bit of a rarity in the long paddocks.

They were all happy to work from the fence posts, and allow either close approaches, or fly in close on their own. A main access track and walking trail is about a chain (about 20m) from the fences on both sides and the track are well used by walker and bicycle riders so the young were quite human tolerant.

And in the warm sunshine, with plenty of action, time just drifted by and two hours later we did trudged back to IamGrey for a spot of the Earl’s best.

Along the Track: On Falcon Wings

September 4, 2023Posted in Along the Track, Brown FalconTagged Along the Track, Brown Falcon10 Comments

We have of late been following the courtship and mating activities of a pair of Brown Falcons.
You are probably familiar with Cassia, of Cinnamon, and her pale morph mate, Alistair.

If she has a nesting location chosen, it’s still very much a secret, and she certainly is not showing any signs of incubating. However they are both favouring two trees and no doubt we’ll know soon enough

Cassia, of Cinnamon is relatively comfortable with our presence and has been known to fly onto branches near where I’m standing or sitting. Alistair on the other hand has a zero tolerance program and will take to wing well before a close approach.

The other morning, for reasons, Brown Falcon, he decided to fly out around the treelines in the two close paddocks and made several circuits that gave us some lovely views of his wing and tail details and of his masterful airmanship.
I don’t think there was any aggresion, and he seemed more to be performing for her, before flying off to hunt for a morsel or two to bring in as she waited on the very top of an Umbrella pine. (Pinus pinea)

Not much to comment on, so enjoy the circuits.

Something high up must have got his attention

As it Happened: Ringside Seat

August 28, 2023Posted in "Western Treatment Plant", Western Treatment Plant, White-faced HeronTagged Western Treatment Plant, White-faced Heron10 Comments

Wrestling, I have to admit has never been “my” sport. Too much huffing, puffing and sweaty armpits for me.

So you can imagine my surprise when I came across two White-faced Herons in the middle of a ding-dong battle.

A lot of name calling began, as they sized one-another up on the roadside. The bird, that I think, throught it owned the territory arrived with neck outstretched and loud calls to intimidate the pretender.

From there it escalated quite rapidly.

Gracefuness is not an essential sparring technique

It might seem like chest bumping, but its designed to get the advantage

It’s bar-room brawl scruff of the neck time

In the end, the challenger made one move too many with enthusiasm and less skill

And the old hand was ready to press home the advantage

That beak is good for more than just catching fish

Released, the pretender admitted defeat and flew off. Seemingly none the worse for wear, but perhaps a little wiser.

The local champion flew up and down the pond with neck outstrectched and very vocal. Now everyone knows whose pond it is.

As it Happened: Gannets Galore Take #2

August 22, 2023August 22, 2023Posted in "Australasian Gannet", Point CookTagged "Australasian Gannet", Point Cook Coastal Park9 Comments

I didn’t expect to be showing another Gannet trip so soon, but the other day, the strong northerly winds and a very low tide exposed the sand and mudflats over the end of the basalt flow into the bay, and the conditions somehow suit the shoals of fish that work along the edge of the flats.

And of course the Gannets come up the bay to feast.

There is something quite magical about watching these creatures slice through the 40kmph+ winds, a flick of the tail, an adjustment of wing angle, a feather tip control and picking the right body angle into the everchanging winds is wonderful entertainment.

Here are a few from your wind-blown scribe standing in the mudflat at the water’s edge.

One photo does not do justice to the fine control they seem to have in the strong winds

In that strong wind, it was just one wingflap and a jump and it was easily airborne again

Timing, timing, oh well, Just missed the best angle on the obligatory body shake to get rid of the excess water

Pretty excited today to see several young. They seemed to not come into close to the beach preferring to work in the deeper water

Pleasing to see that rich young colour set

Because of the shallow water they don’t do straight vertical dives.

Enjoy

Along the Track: Such a Thrill

August 17, 2023Posted in Scarlet RobinTagged Scarlet Robin6 Comments

We found this Scarlet Robin lass hard at work on preparing for the next generation.

Normally I don’t pubish small bird nesting cycles (Willie Wagtails being a notable exception).
You’ll note there is no photo of the nest location, and I’m pretty confident that no one is going to stumble over its location.

Only spotted her as she darted from one side of a small clearing to another. And after standing still for awhile, it was obvious she was hard at work on her little home.

The male flew in a couple of times to see how things were progressing.

In the end, I walked away thrilled to have watched the process and ever so hopeful that she would be successful, both for the species and because of her hard work paying off.

Enjoy

She came out in front of me, checked it out and disappeared again into the nest site.

It took a few moments to realise she wasn’t just hunting food, but looking for web and suitable materials

Her little beak can only carry so much stuff

He seemed pleased that it was all under control

I waited for one final image, she seemed to oblige and I wished her well and moved on.

As it Happened: In the Early Morning Light

August 10, 2023Posted in Brolga, WTPTagged Brolga, Western Treatment Plant, WTP12 Comments

+D4 had turned up for a couple of days, and we decided a trip to the Western Treatment Plant would be possible given the weather looked like it was going to be pleasant for most of the day.

Despite the need to get up early in the cold, we took an early morning run down the freeway and arrived not too long after sunup.

Breaking from usual tradition we started at the “Western Lagoons”. The clever plan was to look for, see, and photograph Black Falcon. Great idea, but not very well implemented as the Falcon didn’t seem to get out of bed early.

There is a spot about halfway along the Lagoons where the ponds are much higher than the abutting farm fields, and a water channel seperates the road on the bund of the ponds with the lower paddocks.

As we travelled along the pond road, EE took great delight in pointing out there were Brolga ahead, and sure enough, of course, you dear reader would not have doubted, she was right.

They were gathering together in the lower paddock, and eventually we saw eight of them. We sat on the upper road for around an hour or so, as it was easy to look down toward them, they were comfortable with the distance we were away, and the channel also gave them protection from close approaches.
So unpreterbed, they walked back and forth, preened, feed and did a few dances and introductions.

The one thing I noted, as I sat there was because of the richness of the early morning light, was how their feathers have a most attractive sheen.

So in no particular order here are a few from the morning’s visit. ro