Bandicoot Big Brother House – Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER

Not a bad morning’s work. Eastern Yellow Robins

October 30, 2012October 30, 2012Posted in Bandicoot Big Brother House, Eastern Yellow RobinTagged Bandicoot Big Brother House, Eastern Yellow RobinLeave a comment

Now that the Bandicoot Big Brother House has evicted us, we’ve taken to travelling about a bit more.

Today, we left early, to beat the heat, and set ourselves up in an area where we’d spotted Eastern Yellow Robins before, and waited. And waited. it soon became obvious that they weren’t putting on a show today. We checked a nest site, and it was abandoned, and pulled out. Perhaps the work of ravens or currawongs, or …

We moved further down the tree line, and while we enjoying the obligatory cuppa, I heard the call of one in the open forest behind us. After a few minutes I’d located both birds. And quite happy they were to feed and to let us get quite close. The male at one stage flew directly toward my camera position, and just pulled up a the last second, going by my ear so close I could hear the wing whirr. Spectacular.

He spent a lot of his time feeding her, and she would sit on a nearby branch, and wing flutter, and he would zoom in, and deposit his offering straight into her open beak. The speed of the transfer was literally blink speed, and I didn’t get any great shots of it happening, either too early or miles too late.

After about 20 minutes of viewing, it became clear that one tree in small strand of trees was getting more attention, and I moved round to look and sure enough, she was busy at work on a new nest. She was quite oblivious to our presence and carried on without any fuss. Far cry from her relatives the red-caps who will abandon the nest quite readily.

To round it all off, they both came and hunted on the logs in the area where we were sitting, so much so that the camera couldn’t get close focus without me moving back. Who said photographing birds was tough?

5298 — Eastern Yellow Robin just about close enough to reach out and touch.

5213 — Eastern Yellow Robin and a big beetle that was taken back to the waiting female

5283 — Eastern Yellow Robin nest building. She sort of pokes the bits of bark into one another and it slowly builds up into a shape.

Looking for Kestrels

October 28, 2012October 30, 2012Posted in Bandicoot Big Brother House, Redcapped Robin, Tree MartinTagged Bandicoot Big Brother House, Redcapped Robin, Tree MartinLeave a comment

Its been quite awhile since I logged in here and added some pics.

With the Bandicoot Hilton (aka Bandicoot Big Brother House) (aka Backpaddock) now likely to be inaccessible to mere mortals, the chance to follow the nesting success of the Red-capped Robins is going to elude me I think.

The only pair I’ve access to is down by the dam, and a week ago she was back building nests again, indicating a lack of success so far. Just to many Ravens and other egg stealers in the area.

Consequently I’ve been round in the western paddocks mostly looking for the elusive Nankeen Kestrels. To date the score is Kestrels 0.

However I did spend an hour with a large flock of Tree Martins who were hard at work setting up a nesting site. After a few minutes, they concluded, correctly that I was not a threat and returned to the work at hand, collecting building materials.

They are such agile creatures and can fly to the opening at full tilt, and then brake, just as they touch down. Up to three at a time were stuffing leaves, grass and other things into the hole, and then after a few minutes would all take a break, and sit about and discuss the progress so far. Lots of tail flicking and wing waggling is part of the discussion.

On the way back to the carpark, I bumped into the Birdlife Australia Group from the Bayside, and they were out for the day. I continued on and just before the carpark, heard a very familiar call. It WAS a Red-capped Robin. I managed to track him down to a small stand off grey box, and got quite a few sighings, but no great photos. He didn’t have any company, but I took that as a good sign, she must be on a nest somewhere near. Perhaps he too is an Eviction from the Bandicoot Hilton.

In over 20 years of walking in the park, I have not seen a red-cap in the area near the carpark, so it was great day for no other reason.