Thought I’d continue with the “Showman’ style theme.
We had taken a walk to the far west of the You Yangs Park to where the fenceline runs parallel to Hovell’s Creek. The creek is on private property so the best we are able to do is peek over toward the creek. The Rainbow Bee-eaters come down each year to nest in the creek banks, and hunt out over the You Yangs side of the fence, so it’s possible on the right day to get good views and photos of them in action. Such, however was not to be on our day.
Isn’t marketing wonderful! Hovell’s Creek is one of the few places named for the second half of the Hume and Hovell exploration team that first travelled down this way. Hume gets all the good named spots and also all the good Marketing Opportunities. Hume Highway, Hume City Council, Hume Building Society, Hume Bank, and so it goes. Marketing is such that Hovell City Council just doesn’t have that right appeal, nor would you want to leave you money with Hovell Bank, or build your house along the Hovell Highway. Isn’t Marketing Wonderful!
How about a product we know well. Glad-Wrap. Imagine if it had been called Sad-Wrap. Not much future there I’d guess.
We did hear a few Bee-eater calls from the creek line, but no real glimpses.
However further along the track we did hear, and see Pied Currawongs. A family group of about a dozen or so birds were working over the grasses catching flying insects (Ants?)
They worked from several trees about 50-60m apart and simply flew from one branch over the open to another branch. Picking off an insect along the way. I’ve seen Wagtails, and Flycatchers, and Jacky Winters work this way, but not such big birds. Hard to imagine they had the twisting and turning skills, but they certainly showed a range of aeronautical abilities and held us spell-bound for about 15 minutes. A pity the light was running against us, but it was still great to be able to get a range of wing and body details.
One of the first times EE and I have been out just looking about.
We had been hoping to find some Eastern Yellow Robins, and or some evidences of the Scarlet Robins at the You Yangs, and EE also wanted to visit her water feature near the Big Rock carpark.
In the end, the big surprise was a family of Sittella, and their young recently fledged clan. I’m going to do a separate blog on that encounter.
In the meantime in spite of all the disaster that is around, and the challenges of the rest of summer ahead of us, it was good to see the birds had new life on the way.
Silvereye at the Water Feature
Young Australian Magpie engaged in some serious preening, while reminding the parents of its presence.
One of several juvenile Grey Shrike Thrush working in the area
A Yellow-faced Honeyeater waits, nervously and politely for its turn at the water.
Varied Sittella, circling the branch
Two young Varied Sittella preening and resting while the family feed nearby
A young Scarlet Robin, one of the first we’ve seen in many months. Presumably its a male beginning to moult in.
Spotty the Pardalote. This is the male that I showed feeding his young on my Flickr steam.
Well not every shot is a winner, but I rather liked the colour set of the Sittella wings
It’s been dry. Last decent soaking rain was over 2 months back.
Its dry.
EE is getting on quite comfortably with her walking aid, now dubbed “Dolly the Trolley”. So she said, that we might take a trip down to the You Yangs, and have a walk on some of the tracks around the carpark. Sounded good, but its dry, very dry. So I didn’t have much hope of finding many birds.
Suitably loaded with morning tea and a banana smoothie, and securing Dolly into the boot of the car, we set out. And what a fine morning the weather had put on. No wind and an enjoyable warm sunshine.
We arrived at the carpark at Big Rock and Dolly immediately sprang into action. First sighting was a Nankeen Kestrel, then a Brown Goshawk, and two families of White-winged Choughs. And to my amazement, the Scarlet Robin pair that normally are in residence. Off to a good start. Dolly is good about this, as EE can go to a spot, and instead of having to stand or sit awkwardly on a log or stone, Dolly is ready and willing. So a comfortably seated EE is a happy EE.
While she sat in the shade, I looked about a bit to see if any of the usual suspects were about. By the time I got back, EE was under a tree, near a piece of pvc pipe running out of the ground. And a red plastic cup! (?)
She had noted a couple of wrens inspecting the pipe, and concluded, rightly so, that it sometimes held water, and the birds were looking for a drink. Enterprisingly, she located the ominous red cup, filled it from the handbasin at the toilet, poured it into the end of the pipe, so the water dripped out slowly into a tiny pool she had created among the rocks, and…
Add water—Instant Birds!
They must be able to smell it.
Or hear the tinkle tinkle of it dropping. But within a few minutes, she had quite a mixed flock on hand. Only problem that the water was only good for a couple of minutes. Which is when I arrived. Now, we’ve seen the pipe dozens, if not hundreds of times, and never taken a lot of notice. But from the location, I figured it was the run-off from the handbasin at the toilet block. Let’s see. Hold down the tap, let a couple of litres of water run down and go see.
There.
Slowly a tiny trickle of water appeared, and then a stream. And before you could say, “What a waste of Water!!!!”, we had flocks of Red-browed Finches, Spotted Pardalotes, New Holland Honeyeaters, Silvereyes, White-naped and Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, a few familes of Superb Fairywrens, Brown Thornbills, Red Wattlebirds, and two bossy Magpies. Then to top it off both Scarlet Robins made a quick appearance.
So, we sat, occasionally egressing to push some more water down the pipeline, and drank a cuppa, enjoyed the fun, and felt pretty happy that they were able to enjoy such a precious commodity. When a few Crimson Rosellas came by to inspect, we thought we were made. But the Rosellas didn’t stay. Likewise a passing Grey Fantail, but being photographed was not on its todo list.
Satisfied with a morning’s work, and two memory cards bulging with images, it was time to leave. I gave the tap a run for an extra minute or so and didn’t feel the least stressed about ‘wasting’ water. The birds were more than happy.
We loaded EE and Dolly back in the car and went for a well-earned coffee at Gary’s at the local servo.
Enjoy.
The Red-browed Finches seemed to enjoy the water running over them.
The Finches seemed to have no trouble working out where the water was coming from
Silvereyes were happier to drink from the ground
A Striated Pardalote watching the bathing.
Interestingly the wrens seemed to be able to time the droplets and catch them in midair, just like insects I suppose. This one was taking advantage of the stream.
One of several White-naped Honeyeaters.
This is how you enjoy the water.
Brown Thornbill after a bath
New Holland Honeyeater using its long tongue to sip up the amazing nectar
Anytime you add water and New Hollands, you get the inevitable and rowdy discussion about whose turn is it next.
When the Magpies showed up, everybody else took off.
Spotted Pardalote Male
Yellow-faced Honeyeaters were very cautious about approaching with two cameras pointed at them
Oh, oh, please, just one more drop, one more drop.
It was one of those mornings when I looked out the window when I got out of bed and it looked clear. No Wind.
Bonus. Didn’t take long to work out what to do. Check again, just in case. Yep, no sun up yet. Crisp twinkling stars set against a perfect black velvet setting. Good to be alive.
Mind, most of the apprehension of the morning was based on dire predictions of Noahic proportion winds and rain from the weather prognosticators on the telly the previous evening. But most times they leave me amazed at the amount of descriptive words that can be used to create fear and despair among the masses, when it comes to describing the following day’s weather.
Flow with whatever may happen
and let your mind be free.
Stay centered by accepting
whatever you are doing.
This is the ultimate.
Chuang Tzu
We’d been sitting quietly for awhile. Infact long enough to enjoy at least one cuppa and think longingly for the Thermos for a second.
It’s the You Yangs. Near the old, now unused, Duckponds School building. We were making one last session at finding the Jacky Winter pair and to see what the Eastern Yellow Robins were up to.
And.
To tell all the truth. Not much. Yep, that’s it. Little, a void, devoid, uninhabited. Departed, moved on, relocated.
And its been like that for quite awhiles. Many of the more productive spots we’ve been visiting, have been, well, decidedly UNproductive.
I knew there were White-winged Choughs on the other side of the main road, as their calls were quite clear.
Long term readers will know of my fascination with all things Choughness.
White-winged Choughs can be both frustrating and rewarding to follow. Some families seem to have a high human tolerance and I’ve had them hunt around my feet and sit on the same log with me. Others. No matter how much time I spend, they just keep moving on.
They are not the world’s greatest aeronauts and I often think that if they can run to the next location that is their preferred method of locomotion.
They also have quite well established family rules. Which they understand, while I must guess what is going on. And at just about every encounter, I come away impressed by some new view of choughness.
One family we see regularly in the You Yangs have just managed to get a couple of young ones off the nest. Now comes the job of teaching these little ones all the rules of choughness. And its a big task. The young birds are quite clueless. And they have an average attention span of about 1 millisecond. “Is it food”, seems to be the total of their ability to reason. So the adults have to spend quite a bit of time working with young. And because of their lack of reason, they are easily enticed away by other families offering “bigger grubs”. Oh boy, I gotta go
Choughs need quite a large family size, at least six or seven adults to raise a young. Larger groups have more flexibility and its reported, more success.
Found the family at work around some rocks, and settled down for a sprinkle of choughness to add to my day.
Be like the forces of nature:
when it blows, there is only wind;
when it rains, there is only rain;
when the clouds pass, the sun shines through.
Lao Tzu
When I was a mere broth of a photographer, and knee deep in learning the craft, one of the big studio swings was away from formal portraits in a studio and more to ‘environmental portraits’, as they became known.
I’ve blogged on this process here before and over on Studio Werkz, and the studio I was working with, at the time, was quite slow in making the ‘customer’ perceived change and ‘that mob’ down the road with their shiny new Hasselblads made the running. Yet the young-gun in me was always eager to explore new opportunities. And like hand-coloured black and white photos, the old studio portrait gave way to the more ‘exciting and involving’ outdoor portrait.
As much of my own direction turned to product photography the need to embrace the new age really didn’t catch me. After all who wants to see their precious white-porcelain bathroom bowl posed against some tree/plant/water feature or industrial backdrop.
Yet, I have to be among the first to acknowledge, the chance to use the power of the ‘around’ and the available light has always given me a real pleasure when I get to do the occasional, informal portrait.
I’ve been contemplating my own bird photography of late, and while I enjoy the camaraderie of the Flickr page tis a tough medium to encapsulate the images that go into making a story of the birds. Long time readers will recall the earliest blogs here were much more the sharing of time with a bird or pair or family as it seemed to me to bring the story of their important lives.
So, I have considered combining Studio Werks into BirdasPoetry, and share the challenges of the craft of portrait stories.
Which of course takes us directly into the field and in this case a sunny morn at the You Yangs.
And almost before we had the cameras out of the car, the shrill, Zhhhhht, Zhhhhht, Zhhhht. Pling pling pling, of a Restless Flycatcher rang in our ears.
Been a bit frantic with a number of projects the past week or so, and have a bit more to add to Studio Werkz.
EE suggested a bit of a break from serious bird photography, and an early morning at the You Yangs Park sounded about right.
Went to visit the Jacky Nursery last evening.
Both parents are busy looking after the two fledglings, now ensconced in separate trees. One little dude had chosen to fly in and land in a tree that White-plumed Honeyeaters consider “their territory”.
I’ve made the statement before that Jacky Winter are birds that have stolen my heart.
They are not the most startling of colour, nor do they seem to have a particular outstanding feature that makes them a special bird. They used to carry the unfortunate name, “Lesser Fascinating Bird”, so that should be a hint as to how we’ve seen them in the past.
But
They have a pleasant nature, and don’ t seemed too fussed by us humans. And once they have id’d us, they seem to settle into tolerance bordering on disdain.
We were in the You Yangs some weeks back and it was casually mentioned, “Oh, I saw a Jacky Winter down near the old school building”, as in— well that ticked Lesser Fascinating Bird off my list, have you seen anything important? It was enough to make me stop on the way out and scout around.
Spotted Pardalote. The bird of rumour and voice. Mostly we never see them. Hidden among the topmost leaves, their tiny call recognisable, but impossible sometimes to locate.
Yet.
To nest, they descend to the earth, dig an incredible tunnel — up to 60cm or more and setup house for the 3 weeks it takes to lay, incubate, hatch and fledge their young.
Those of us who walk the earth with them will often find evidence of their nesting activity. So I suppose do all sorts of feral predators. Yet, each year they disard their cloak of invisibility and take to the task.
Once complete, its back to the treetops and small tiny peeps that discolose their presence.
They are one of our smallest birds. I’ve handled a dead one, (hit by a bicyle — the bird didn’t even know what happened, and the rider was oblivious —. I picked it up, still warm, it fitted into the very centre of the palm of my hand, my thumb twice as large as the bird. I took it to the side of the road, opened up a small hole in the earth and laid it ever-so-gently down. The warm earth welcomed its little wonder.
They are so prefectly marked. Rich black, white, deep orange yellow. Tiny legs that seem like rubber bands as they can stretch and seem to bend to any angle.
While EE was spending time with ‘her’ Juvenile Eastern Yellow Robin — it is now growing to be quite the impressive adult, keeping only just a hint of its juvenile brown feather set now — I looked to see what else was in the area.
A small family of Spotted Pardalote were feeding among some of the smaller gums in the area, and were happy to work in the lower branches while I followed their progress.
Then.
Peek-a-boo. Not often easy to find these lovely little birds in the open.
Often called “The Diamond Bird” because of the head markings
What ever the attraction its part of that white substance.
What ever it was eating fell to the ground and it made a quick trip to pick it up.
Quite happy to be up close and personal
Tiny burst of life and colour
Those amazing little legs seem to able to adapt to any angle.
I love Jacky Winter. There. I’ve said it. Now you know.
There is something about these little birds that just resonates with me. They are not the most brilliantly dressed, they don’t seem to perform mighty deeds, and they have a fairly limited song routine.
But.
They have a charming and endearing gentleness and unhurried approach, that just fascinates me.
Jacky hunts robin like by sitting quietly then pouncing on prey on the ground.
But
Jacky also hunts like a flycatcher, hovering over the ground while surveying for movement below (Boles). At one time in history, it used to be called the “Lesser Fascinating Bird”. (Boles again) ” As used here, ‘fascinate’ meant ‘transfix and hold spellbound’. from the belief that the hovering action mesmerised the prey…
I’ve talked this over with several pairs of Jacky Winter, as to why they should be called ‘lesser’, but on each occasion, the little bird’s reaction has been to glaze over its little eyes and settle in to the perch without further concern. So I figured they don’t care what they are called.
Buried in their scientific name is ‘fascinans’, – fascinating. Microeca translating as tiny house (Cayley)
Jacky also has a somewhat predictable habit of landing on a perch and then wagging its tail back and forth, (think Willie Wagtail, Grey Fantail). They also seem to perch down on the branch resting their tummy on the branch.
Jacky’s tail edge is white, and it makes quite a show as it lands and then flicks back and forth.
It’s most melodic tone is a somewhat plain “peter, peter, peter” And it has been reported to be among the very first to herald the dawn chorus. A second chitter is much more a scolding call, and Mr An Onymous loves to remind me of the day we were working with a pair and after 20 minutes or so, Jacky had reached its limit. And I got a really severe lecture, and no further pictures for the day.
Truth be told. EE and I were on a mission. We wanted to locate a pair of Scarlet Robins. They are locals to the area and he has featured in the blog before, long suffering reader that you are, you might just remember the shots of him attacking the ‘bird in the car’ reflection at the carpark!
We’d not seen much of them this season, and at least one nest had not been successful, nor had we seen any evidence of new birds in the area.
As we searched, we came to a opening in the forest near the track, and two Jacky Winter were hard at work. At first they were if nothing, disdainful, at having intruders. But it only took a minute of so to settle and A little bit of patient sitting and both birds were happy to provide various poses.
Then one of those great ‘rites of passage’ moments, and Jacky flew by me, circled about and landed about a metre away. The gracious little bird had accepted me. And then I was able to learn of the ways of the Lesser Fascinating Bird. It hunted on the roadway near my feet, looped up to catch insects and chatted away quietly to the second bird.
I know I talk a lot here about Jon Young’s approach, and sometimes it seems fanciful about the bird’s acceptance of my presence.
As we were working on a branch about 2m from the track, a dog was being walked down the track. Instant alert from Jacky 1 and response from Jacky 2. And remember this happened with the bird on a branch about 3 m from my position.
“Hey, did you see the dog?”
Yes, are you alright?
Yep, I’m up here in the branches.
Is it coming off the track?
No, don’t think so.
It’s passing by now, are you safe?
Yep, I’ve that silly human photographer in front of me., I’ll be alright.
Oh!
Dog’s going by.
That’s a relief.
Ok?
Yep, Ok.
Jacky watched the dog go up the track about 50m or so before it dropped its head and continued on with hunting.
Fanciful. Of course. But, what ever happened, the Jacky was on high alert for the dog and completely comfortable with my presence.
Oh, and we eventually found the Scarlet pair. But. That’s another story.
Enjoy
Contemplative Jacky
How to make any ordinary post look extraordinary. Put a Lesser Fascinating Bird on it.
Jacky on a Wing-stretch. The sign of a very relaxed about my presence bird
A model with a thousand poses.
Jacky closeup. I’m sitting on the ground and it came up to my feet
What a about a nice chat?
Jacky in colour
On Dog Alert. It watched the dog come by, and kept it in sight until it was well up the track.
We have, EE and I been following a pair of nesting Eastern Yellow Robins at the You Yangs since she began about late October to settle in to nesting.
Because EE has been working with them pretty closely, I’ve really tried not to get in the way, as the raising of an Eastern Yellow Robin is fraught with complications and doesn’t need people trampling all over the nursery.
For the uninitiated, Mum sits on the nest, Dad feeds, and after about 3 weeks the egg(s) hatch. Then a feeding frenzy gets the little one(s) to a point of being able to move but not quite fly. They then flutter down from the nest. Once into the leaf litter or small shrubs, they stay pretty much stationery unless really disturbed, and then the best they can do is to hop or jump away. Flight of any real significance doesn’t happen for 3-4 weeks.
They have two survival strategies.
One: remain absolutely still. No matter what. And I’ve seen them for up to 15 minutes or more, sitting in the leaf litter and not a move is made. It can be barely possible to see them breathing.
Two: A brilliantly designed brown and creamy chevron dress makes them almost impossible to see amongst the litter. Just ask someone who has located one, and then tries to explain to someone else. “There, by the small stick, under that overhanging branch, with the dark green leaves. Oh, better yet, look from just here, bend down, see, just there behind that pale grey leaf.” Oh. Forget it. About the only way is when an adult flies in with a food parcel. Then, “Oh, over there, you didn’t tell me that!” See first paragraph about not getting in the way for more details.
Mum and Dad, (This is one of the few pairs we’ve never struck names for, as we really can’t distinguish one from the other), have been working so well with EE, and occasionally I’ve been allowed a glimpse of the young one – they only seem to have succeeded in bringing one up.
But now that the young one is nearly moulted out of the brown and chevron, and is a fully developed flyer, and is able to fend for itself, things have changed a bit. And today, I got a few minutes where it came to visit me and see what I might be doing.
During that time, it also put itself into a secluded area behind some leaves and I think it practised its singing calls. It has the Robin contact call and what appears to be the warning call down pretty well, but the sharp distinct “PhTew’ call of the adults is still a ways off. So it sat among the leaves and seemed to run through the process of calling. A bit garbled, so more praccy needed I suspect.
Here are a few from the morning’s portraits.
Enjoy.
Most all of the brown is gone and the distinctive grey yellow is showing through.
Typical Tree side pose
Looking good in the sunshine
One of the adults checking up on the young one
Time for some vocal exercises
It’s not hard to see how well they fit in with the surrounds
In the You Yangs, looking for Red-capped Robins. What we did find is this handsome (?) young male just moulting out of his juvenile feathers and into his marvellous Male Adult feathers.
Long, long term readers may well recall, but you don’t lose points for not recalling that a number of years back I encountered another young male at Woodlands who subsequently stayed on, and became quite the dominate male in the area.
I also featured this new bird about 4 weeks back when we came across it earlier in the season. The shot is over on Flickr.
So here he is in all his resplendant dress. Well perhaps not so much at the moment, but given a few more weeks, and he’ll be the best looking bird.
Now don’t you look just a bit funny with some feathers in place and some still to change
Fine wing stretch.
A fine wing stretch. His head is in the shadow of a branch
His consort. I am not sure if its a sibling, or in fact a female that he is wooing. They were together about4 weeks back, so it might be they are related. We shall see.
All the colours are starting to give the right indications.
Another view of the consort. She seems to keep up a constant chatter with him.
Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER - --doesn't mean I'm LOST 