Brown Falcon – Page 6 – Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER doesn't mean I'm LOST

Counting at Mt Rothwell

January 19, 2014January 26, 2014Posted in Australian Kestrel, Black Kite, Brown Falcon, Little Eagle, Mt Rothwell, Uncategorized, Werribee Wagtails, Whistling Kite2 Comments

One of the nice new pleasures we get from being in the area is to catch up with the Werribee Wagtails birding group.
They have a number of projects for bird counting and one them is at Mt Rothwell.

So we followed the roads out the back of Little River and met up with the eager bird counters.
Mt Rothwell is near the excellent You Yangs and is a fully enclosed area so there are some heavy duty gates to get through before the serious counting begins.

On this day, however there was a wonderful strong breeze at work, and it was the first really cool day after the heat so the big birds were up in numbers all looking to catchup on their dietary requirements.

The area also has a very strong educational programme and there are some great walking tracks covering the area which is mostly light scrub, trees and some great rolling hills with lots of boulders and rocky outcrops.

So we set off. I got side tracked by a Striated Pardalote, and spent about 10 minutes photographing it, and by the time I’d gotten back on the track. Well, the count and counters had moved on. Easy enough, just go along the track thought I. Till I came to a Y in the road. Always take the ‘right’ one is the advice I’ve worked with over the years. Not always good advice and in this case dead wrong. After about 10 minutes I came to an open field and looking along the track not a counter to be seen. Wrong track I thought. So a bit of bush bashing got me across to the ‘right’ left track, and no sign of said counters.
After a bit of scouting about, I found that Arthur had left an “Arrow” of sticks at the next junction, and from there it was walk fast until I caught up. But, the track swept around to the right, and I figured the track had to sweep back again. Remember its a fenced off area. Easy said I. Over the top of the rise in front of me, stand on the top of a rock and they should be visible. So saying I did. And. Yep, there they were way over there. More scrub work.

Needless to say EE was not to happy with my tardiness, and I think I got a black mark on my name from the walk leader who was getting a bit concerned about having to ‘find’ said missing dude.

No more Pardalotes for me for the rest of the day.

With the strong wind running the raptors, which include, Whistling Kites, Black Kites, Brown Falcons, Little Eagles and Australian Kestrels, were in their element. Such a great site to see so many soaring birds. And I didn’t have to get misplaced to see them.

In the afternoon we walked the opposite side of the park and came to a large open field. “Hmm,” said I, “I’ve been here already once earlier today!”

Hopefully I’ll be allowed back next time.

This is why they are called Diamond "Firetails" — This is why they are called Diamond “Firetails”

A Striated Pardalote. Probably at the last one I'll photograph. — A Striated Pardalote. Probably at the last one I’ll photograph.

Juvenile Red-browed Finch at a small waterhole.

How to tell the difference between a Tree Martin and two Welcome Swallows.

Over the tree tops at a great rate. This Brown Falcon was no doubt enjoying the strong winds

Delightful evening on Gellibrand Hill

October 5, 2012November 1, 2012Posted in Bandicoot Big Brother House, Brown Falcon, Gellibrand Hill, Pallid Cuckoo, Wedge-tailed EagleLeave a comment

I love Friday’s. At the moment, after work there are a couple of hours of daylight, and I finished work early, and popped up to Gellibrand Hill for the evening.

Mostly to see if there where any sign of Brown Falcons and Kestrels.

There are really four distinct birdy areas on the hill, and I choose the one looking down over the paddocks to the airport. A Brown Falcon put in an appearance, and then a second one and they played in the sky just too far away for great shots.
I also heard the odd kid’s flute, cry of a Wedge-tail eagle. Its a funny noise from a great bird. It must have been behind the door when great calls were given out. Or too busy up on the “Bigger Wings” and “Claws” section of the production line. I grew up in the Mallee, and around the Long Paddock (technical term look it up) they could often be heard with the little wheezy whistle. I didn’t take too much notice of them in those days, had other boy things to grow up with.

Anyway my investigation turned up two birds sitting just a bit too far down the hill in the fenced off Bandicoot Hilton.

I had a 300 with a Kenko 1.4 TC on board. Mr An Onymous had been using on his D800, and it came back for a visit. As my Nikon TC1.4 is practically mated to the 500 for life, it was nice to try this out again. I bought it when I was using the old style 300 F4 AF Lens. It was a bit slow to focus, but once locked on it was great. But for inflight, it left a bit to be desired and I took the AF-S on a trade at Camera Exchange. Anyway. Just a bit too far down the paddock for great, but close enough for interesting.

Also had a half hour with a Pallid Cuckoo pair hunting on the old fence line. Why don’t they just take that part of the fence out now. There are no Bandicoots in that part, and I could get easy access down along the paddocks of interest. Or. Visitors could roam down along the open paddocks and enjoy the different atmosphere the open fields offer. (there spoken just like marketing person). If there is a job available to pull it down, I’ll volunteer.

And to top it off a lovely sunset with a big orange ball on the horizon, and two friendly Kookaburras to share it with. They were gracious enough to share their nest location with me, and while the sunset wasn’t behind them, I left with their merry laughter ringing in my ears.

DWJ1210-06-01 — Two Wedgetailed Eagles enjoying the evening sunshine

Wedgetail Eagle flying in. Love the expression on the stationery bird.

DWJ1210-06-02 — Wedgetailed Eagle and some very aggressive Ravens

DWJ1210-06-03 — Pallid Cuckoo enjoying an evening snack.

dwj121005-06 — As the sun sets slowly in the west, the call of the Kookaburra brings another day to a close. Roll the MovieTone music track.

Western Treatment Plant: Timing is everything

August 3, 2012August 22, 2012Posted in Australian Kestrel, Black-shouldered Kite, Brown Falcon, PhotographersTagged Australian Kestrel, Black-shouldered Kite, Brown Falcon, Western Treatment Plant3 Comments

There is no doubt about it, timing in the bird photo world is just about everything. You can come back from the Camera Exchange with some of the best goodies on the planet,(and a severe bend in the credit card), and walk about for days and not see much at all.

You can turn up with your old gear, not well prepared and not expecting much, and it suddenly all happens around you.

We, Dieter, Dorothy and I, took an early morning mark down to the Western Treatment Plant on Thursday.
Weather was supposed to be cloudy overcast, and we mostly went for the cups of tea, the chats, the play with the cameras (two of us are breaking in new kit from Camera Exchange), I had to make do with my ‘old’ technology stuff. Feel almost antiquated now.

We strarted out on the river on the road to Ryan’s Swamp. A female Nankeen was in the dead trees in the creek, and was pretty happy to let us get close enough for some good shots in the early morning light. A good start, but it got better.

As it turned, the sun burnt of the soft mist clouds by mid-morning and we had some decent sunny-breaks.

Down near the outflow at the end of 15 East Road ( I Bet it has a name, I just don’t know it), we were greeted by a small flock, yes, a flock of Black-shouldered Kites at play, or mating, or territorial. Bit hard to work out when they don’t put up signs.

Anyways, these four birds were engaged in aerial combat right over our heads, some times coming alarmingly close. What a great sight. What a great picture opportunity. A couple of unfortunate Silver Gulls found themselves the target of this aerial mayhem, and were hopelessly out gunned.

The main feature of the event was birds that locked talons and then spiralled down. I wonder if the bird who gets to turn head-first wins? while the other has to be unceremoniously twisted backwards? No one I guess seems to know.
A female sat on a post on the beach, and offered lots of screaming encouragement , and then too joined in the foray.

At that point we would have been satisfied for the day.

We drove back along the track past the Bird-hide by the beach, and found a Brown Falcon (think it be the same bird from a previous post.) It sat while the team inched up toward it, and then the magic line was crossed and it was airborne. All of about 5 metres. And again, and again. Good stuff.

I drove the car up to where it was perched on a box-thorn bush on the side on the road, and it didn’t flinch. Needless to say the team got some good pics, while I positioned the car. We moved on. About two minutes later it passed by the driver’s side window of the car about 3 metres off the ground and about 5 metres away. It paced us for a few seconds then sped up, and sat on another box-thorn bush. This time I assembled the camera kit and edged the car up to where it was. Again it held its ground.

So there we were, me and the bird. It was so close, even a vertical could not get it all in, so I opted for head and shoulders portraits. We are thinking of name it Elvis, as it just didn’t want to leave the building.

It flinched when I started the car, but held its nerve and we drove on leaving it in peace. A nice day’s work.

A little further on, I spotted a female Nankeen Kestrel on a post near the road, and at first thought she must have damaged a leg as she was having difficulty on the post top, but she flew to the next post, and lo and behold, she was holding a mouse in the foot, and couldn’t get a grip on the post. Then she settled herself and enjoyed the mouse from one end to the other. Lots of mouse fur flying in the strong breeze.

Black-shouldered Kite aerial combat — A couple of over enthusiastic kites who locked talons and twisted about in the air. The noise of the talons scraping was like fingers down a blackboard.

Nankeen Kestrel Restaurant — This female Nankeen Kestrel made short work of her mouse-takeaway

This Brown Falcon was hardly camera shy. We think he might be Elvis in disguise.

Sunshiny day at WTP

July 19, 2012July 24, 2012Posted in Australian Kestrel, Brown Falcon, Spotted Harrier, Swamp HarrierTagged Brown Falcon, Spotted Harrier, Western Treatment PlantLeave a comment

At last the weather gave a bit of relief, and with an onshore breeze, a resonably low tide at around mid-day, it looked like a good time to re-visit the WTP.
So we loaded up the car, picked up Dieter early in the morning and progressed to see what was happening.

We found a Brown Falcon that has mastered the art of hovering. Mostly Brown Falcons hover like a house-brick, but this one has been able to figure out the technique. We’ve seen it down around the Kirk Point area before exhibiting its skills. A Swamp Harrier had made a kill and had been pursued by a number of Ravens, and had dropped the victim. This Brown Falcon had been somewhat in the middle of it all and was pretty certain that a free feed was waiting somewhere in the grass. It was completely oblivious to our presence and hunted quite close going over Dieter’s head at only a few metres. It was a great few minutes to watch.

Further along we came across a Spotted Harrier, ‘Languidly- that’s how its described in all the books’ making its way along one of the small channels. It passed quite close to the car and seemed un-preturbed by us. It has a primary feather that is loose, perhaps its moulting.

A second Spot turned up with what looks like a Eurasian Coot as its lunch. The coot can weigh upwards of 1 kilo, so it must have been quite an effort to get airborne, and maintain a steady course.

All in all a good day out with the birds and with plenty of Black-shouldered Kites and Nankeen Kestrels on the wing there was always something to be photographing.

Dipped on the Oriental Pratincole, which is always too far away to get great shots anyway.

DWJ-1207-19-DSC_1949 — Hovering Brown Falcon. It skimmed over the waters edge looking for the prey dropped by a Swamp Harrier. It didn’t have any success in the few minutes we watched. Perhaps the mouse or rat escaped for another day.

DWJ-1207-19-DSC_2087 — Spotted Harrier casually making its way along a water channel at WTP

DWJ-1207-19-DSC_2318 — Another Spotted Harrier, this time with takeaway lunch.

A morning at Western Treatment Plant

April 30, 2012May 2, 2012Posted in Black-shouldered Kite, Brown Falcon, Buff-banded Rail, Flame Robin, Swamp Harrier, Whistling Kite2 Comments

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.

Flame Robin — This one is at Chirnside Road Gate

Swamp Harrier — It 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.

Black Swan at WTP

April 12, 2012April 16, 2012Posted in Black Swan, Brown Falcon, Buff-banded RailTagged Black Swan, Buff-banded RailLeave a comment

There is a banding program with the Black Swans run by www.myswan.org.au and today we had the chance to get up close and personal to J19. Now this is not going to be a tirade on the fors and againsts of banding, but they are doing some interesting work in collecting data about the swan’s movements and mating and breeding.

So we decided to adopt J19. Turns out it is a female, about 4 years old, or at least if I figure out the numbers that is when she was banded. She was banded at Albert Park Lake and has been there for about three years. She seems to have first been sighted at WTP in January 2012. At the moment, because of the huge population of juvenile birds, there is much pairing going on I suspect.

She is up in 145A Lagoon Area at WTP, and we will keep a check on her movements if at all possible. I will open up a blog page just to keep updates. See blog Here J19 info

Here she is.

Black Swan J19 — J19 in her best dressed banded number

Also found a co-operative Brown Falcon. It stayed on the post as I inched the car closer and closer. Just managed to slip away a split second before I could get back on the camera. Love the backwards glance.

Just as we were leaving with the sun setting as I was closing the exit gate on Paradise Road, Dorothy spotted a Buff Banded Rail hunting in the mud-flats. Dieter who was with us thought it was quick enough to be a road-runner.

The sun was well set by the time we were on the road home, but the Rail did provide a few minutes entertainment.

DWJ-1204-12-_DSC2294 — Buff-banded Rail. The blue spots are reflections of the overhead blue sky. We have a photoshop trick to fix that.

Black Falcon and Brown Falcon Antics

March 26, 2012April 2, 2012Posted in Black Falcon, Black-shouldered Kite, Brown FalconLeave a comment

It comes as no surprise that Birdos go out for various reasons. For some it might be to see a new area and see what birds are about, for others a trip to a location to add one more bird to the great bird list. Others enjoy the chance to see birds in their habitat doing bird things. For others it might just be the keeping track of the birds and any environmental changes. Others go because the birds are there. Some even go to take cameras and record something of what they have seen.

For others, like us, it is even more intangible. We just love to see them, to watch their antics and to enjoy a day out in the wide open spaces. “A bad day in the bush is better than a good day in the office” or so the bumper sticker goes.

Which leads us to driving down the Beach Road to the Werribee Treatment Plant.

There have been plenty of reports of Black Falcons in the area, but in-spite of trying hard, we hadn’t had any success, and figured while it would be nice, probably not this season.
Till we got to the Beach Road/29 Mile Road junction on Monday, and in the trees in front of us there were two black shapes. Probably didn’t get the car parked right, and we ended up a bit too far away, and I didn’t want to tramp down the road and send them into the air, but I needn’t have worried. They spent about 10 minutes or so in personal grooming, and then both took to the air, to work their way up and around in an air current off the road. Then they spent about 5 minutes overhead and around us, playing in the breeze. With a bit of exercise behind them, they both pursued every Raven, Magpie, Pigeon, and any other birds flying by. The intention didn’t seem to be direct attack, but rather close passes just because they could.

Tiring of this game they hunted on down the tree line becoming the usual black blobs in the distance, then both turned and gained height before plunging down the roadway and racing past at incredible speeds, just where we were standing.

The speed was phenomenal. It would make a Peregrine look up and take notice, and then with a dash of wing tip, they would turn on nothing and repeat the performance up the road again. This is our first encounter with these birds, and it goes with out saying, we were simply awestruck at the speed and agility. Satisfied with themselves, they proceeded down the 29 Mile Road and we lost sight of them.

DWJ-1203-26-_DSC5817 - Version 2 — Black Falcon in the early evening breeze. It is gaining height for a sweep down the roadway.

More Black Falcon shots here

Our next encounter in the evening light was a Black-shouldered Kite that had just taken a mouse. Again I missed with parking the car, and ended up about 10 metres too far back. So the shot is a bit from the back of the bird. But it polished off the mouse in record time and went to look for another.

dwj113 — Black-Shouldered Kite and fresh mouse take-away. Just a snack before sunset.

Our next major find was to engross us both for the best part of half an hour. We had just turned off the main track past the Little River Ford, when we noticed two Brown Falcons about 60 metres further down on the roadway. What ensued next was worthy of David Attenborough.

They began to play chasing games, which led to aerial dogfights and then a game of hide-and-seek among the shrubs and bushes, one would disappear and the other would trundle (how else do you describe the way they walk about) along until both would leap into the air in mock attack. This lead to another game which has to be called “king of the castle’. One took up a position on a high clump of weeds, and then the other would move around trying to gain attack advantage. When it was in position it would crouch down in the same was as a cat or dog might and then leap up and onto the stack, hoping to push the other one off.

It became clear to us that the ‘king’ had the advantage and didn’t get dethroned. So after about 10 minutes, the attacker trundled down the road to its own grass heap, and the other bird came down to attack. It then turned into a game of sneak aerial attack, as it swooped over the head of the ‘king’ causing it to duck and weave.

When we next looked at the time, over 3o minutes had gone by and the light was rapidly fading. Both seemed to have tired of the games and went to hunt.

I will put up a number of images from the sequence on another page in the next day or so. Such an interesting pair.

dwj112 — Brown Falcons in mock attack game.

Raptor evening at WTP

January 25, 2012January 27, 2012Posted in Brown FalconTagged Brown Falcon, Spotted Harrier, Swamp Harrier, Western Treatment PlantLeave a comment

I am really beginning to like the light at the Treatment plant in the late afternoon. Sun sets way round to the south west and it gives a great cross light along many of the access roads. Particularly where there is a line of trees.

For some reason this evening, the raptors seemed to be at every turn and on just about every tree, post, or fence. Here is a youngish brown falcon, but click the link, for some Spotted Harrier, Brown Falcon, Swamp Harrier and Whistling Kite shots as well.

Many of the young falcons seem to be hanging around together, and we found 5 in just one corner on Paradise road.

We both are pretty certain that a Black Falcon was in a clearing down along 29 Mile Road past the access gate 1. But by the time we had: 1. Noticed it, 2. Stopped the car, 3. got over the oohs and aahs, and then 4. Got serious, it was but a mere black spec in the sky speeding toward Avalon.

More here.

Brown falcon and young bird at Western Treatment Plant

December 4, 2011December 12, 2011Posted in Brown FalconTagged Brown Falcon, Juvenile, WTPLeave a comment

We have been watching a Brown Falcon for about 6 weeks, she is usually agitated and quite agressive swooping over the car and calling aggressively. We (Dorothy and I) supposed she must have nested close by.

On Thursday 1 Dec 2011, we found the reason why. She has a newly fledged young bird

This is a shot of them together, she will shepherd it about often flying interference against ravens and magpies.