Collared Sparrowhawk – Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER doesn't mean I'm LOST

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

From the Field Notebook: Raptor Morning

June 9, 2023Posted in Black-shouldered Kite, Brown Falcon, Collared Sparrowhawk, Nankeen Kestrel, Point Cook, Whistling Kite10 Comments

We had chosen to go to Point Cook to see if we might get some close in Gannet hunting pics.

Well they were there, but so, so far out. Perhaps 40-50 of them, and a great splash was in progress. Lovely to watch, but no photos of distinction.

However, the day was not lost, as we managed to have visits from no less than 7 different raptor species. Didn’t manage a worthwhile shot of the Collared Sparrowhawk or a departing Swamp Harraier, but we were entertained over a cup of the Grey of Earl, by 5 Whistling Kites that seemed to want to play through the tall pines at the water’s edge.

Mike the Black-shouldered Kite is still busy as Madeline is sitting on a new clutch.

Interesting to find a pair of Little Eagles. They kept high in the air to prevent the local Magpie neighbourhood watch from harassing them

Cassia, of Cinnamon, and Alistair made a brief appearance, and were happy to sit together and exchange calls.

While not a resident, this Hobby is making occassional shows through the park

Five Whistling Kites were out for a morning’s fun. They kept us entertained as they chased each other through the trees

We haven’t seen good number of the kites for a couple of seasons. The wonderful rich wing markings that kind of resemble a studded jacket were a treat.

Such big birds, yet so highly manoeuvreable through the trees.

And as we headed for home we found two Kestrels at hunt

Just shows that sometimes a day is unpredictable.
Enjoy

Saturday Evening Post #171 : Hide and Seek

January 22, 2022Posted in Collared Sparrowhawk, Saturday Evening PostTagged Collared Sparrowhawk, Saturday Evening Post12 Comments

When I first became interested in photographing birds, and I knowingly told myself “How easy will this be!’, one of the first books I acquired was written by Australian doctor, David Hollands, titled, “Eagles, Hawks and Falcons of Australia“.
My copy is getting somewhat dilapidated from use, but I learned several important lessons from that book.
The photos all would have been shot on ‘filum’, and no doubt most with manual focus lenses. Or perhaps autofocus that was a precursor to the algorithms in our modern slick digital cameras.
The second thing was a very thorough field guide in the back that had great info on id of birds.
The third thing was the stories he wrote of encounters and searches for the raptors across Australia.
And, the fourth thing was the empathetic, glowing way that he described those encounters. A style that I have tried, in a humble way, to emulate in the stories that roll of the press here in BirdsasPoetry.

David had released a new book. Not an update or revision, but a new book. “Birds of Prey of Australia”
My copy turned up this week.
Now this is not a book review nor an encouragement to rush out and buy the book, that is not what happens on my blog.

The new book has new photos, new stories and is quite different in size and weight to the previous book. Infact it’s over 700 pages and would keep the average table quite secure if it was sitting on it and a hurricane tore through the house 😉

Some of the stories are quite interesting to me, as they tell of the same encounters with the same birds we have experienced.
He tells of an Osprey that visited for awhile out of its normal territory. Many will recall Eloise who gave many a heart turn to those of us on the Werribee River about the same time
He also recounts the iteration of around 40 Black-shouldered Kites behind Avalon Airport a couple of years ago. Photographing so many Kites in the mist is a memorable experience.
And finally his recent encounters with a family of Australian Hobbys as they grew up on a golfclub fairway.

There is also a full page of a Brown Falcon at WTP, and I’m pretty confident from the markings that I’ve featured that bird several times here and on Flickr. Search here for “My Kitchen Rules”

There is so much in his writing that I pause and say, “Oh, yes, I’ve seen just that exact behaviour and wondered about it.” It’s like sitting having a fireside chat and being able to part of the discussion.

His website is: https://www.davidhollandsbirds.com.au
or Andrew Isles Books: https://www.andrewisles.com/pages/books/43127/david-hollands/david-hollands-birds-of-prey-of-australia

Here is the cover.

And a page spread of the Brahminy Kite a bird that I would dearly love to photograph. I also turned over the dustjacket flap as there is a small shot of David sitting alongside an Osprey as it enjoys its meal. Fascinating.

We went back for another morning with the young Collared Sparrowhawks. We might have guessed that the previous few days flying about would come to an end.
It did.
Instead we found them among the pines in the carpark playing what can only be described as “Hide and Seek”. No doubt I’ve got it wrong, but it seemed that the object of the exercise was two-fold. One. Learn to sit quietly and still in the tree so noone can see you, and Two. Learn to search through the trees to find a prey sitting quietly and still to be avoided.
Once discovered there were the usual screams of delight and defeat, both birds would fly out and about and resume the game. I’ve no idea if they changed places from hunter to hunted.

Finding a Sparrowhawk sitting in a tree is an art that even EE baulks at. So without that superwoman power, the rest of us are ‘outtaluck’.

I was searching for ten or fifteen minutes through the trees when the game change-over occurred and this bird dropped into the tree in front of me. I moved a few steps and was able to get a clear shot as it settled into its wait and see mode.
The softer light filtering through the tree enabled a great look at the three main features of distinguishing a Sparrowhawk from a Goshawk.
The ‘stare’ rather than ‘beetle-brow look’, the longer middle toe, and the square-tail.

The light also melded well over the form and shape to give the bird a real presence, even if it wanted to be inconspicuous.