Werribee River Park – Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER

Little Visits: The Tale of Wagtails

December 7, 2021Posted in Wathaurong Country, Werribee River Park, Willie WagtailTagged Wathaurong Country, Werribee River Park, Willie Wagtail8 Comments

Some things, as the credit card ad points out, Just can’t be purchased.

On our Kingfisher quest, we’ve crossed the paths of several Willie Wagtail pairs at nest. Not all of them are successful. But the agile and relentless little birds only try the harder. Most will, within a few days of loss, be hard at work on the next nest.

We found a pair that have survived with three happy little young—without any catastrophe. I don’t normally publish nesting photos of Wagtails until I am sure that they have been successful. No point in raising hopes and then seeing the nest disappear. The Wagtails take it as part of the cost of doing business, we humans seem to take the devastation personally.

A recent fledging of three out of four young Peregrine Falcons at 367 Collins Street is a case in point. The fb page had thousands of words of anguish at the loss of one of the young that succumbed before flying. Angry, “Why didn’t ‘they’ Do Something” posts seemed to miss the point that the parents had managed a magnificent feat in fledging three fat healthy young. It was as if people had lost their favourite teddybear when young and now had a reason to express their own personal loss.
But.
I digress.

It takes the Wagtails about a week to build the nest, about 14 days to hatch and about 14 days to bring them to wing.

This pair had a nest quite low down on a tree trunk that had only recently fallen in a previous storm. Some Wagtails seem to nest in quite secretive behind-the-leaves locations, and others take what seems to be the risk of exposing their work to the world. Such was this pair.

Several days back we’d seen the first of the young ‘branching’, so no doubt they would be on quite mobile when we checked again today. To add to our difficulty a light rain persisted in falling. However, the little tackers were quite dry and feisty safely under the leaves of a tree.

Well done, all round.

Not ready to fly, but the wings are starting to come away from the sheaths.

Filling them up keeps the adults busy all day

Testing the well developed wings. Not long to go now

Small nest. Growing birds. Time to take to the surrounding branches for a little extra space.
No doubt they all flew this day.

A neat little package. Ready for anything.

Moments: Learning (Brown) Patience

September 12, 2019September 12, 2019Posted in Brown Falcon, The Office, Werribee River ParkTagged Brown Falcon, The Office, Werribee River Park8 Comments

At “The Office”, there are a resident pair of Brown Falcon.

(Called the Office, because we spend a bit of time there as in—Just another day at the office—)

One of Brown’s qualities certainly must be their patience. Happy to sit quietly, seemingly disinterested, they take the scene in, work out where the food is, and then strategies to get to the spot, and return with the least amount of energy dissipation.

Not unusual to see Brown, sitting with its distinct upright stance on a post, branch or roadside sign for what seems hours. Passing traffic has little effect on the bird’s demure stance.

We’ve worked with this pair for a few years, and when they are around, its interesting to see them favour one or another perching locations.
I’ve featured this bird several times on the blog over the years, and have called him “Bernie”. Late evening sunshine ‘burnishes,’ his rich mottled chest, and so the name seemed appropriate. Not that he seems to care it must be said.

He was hunting for small crickets and the like on the edge of the river cliffs. A large melaleuca bush is one of the favoured perches. Gives a great view along the cliffs and he can prop into the branches and so be protected from attacks from the rear. Magpies, mudlarks, other raptors might swing by and attempt to dislodge him, but clever bird that he is, he simply sets back further among the branches and any attack is thwarted by the branches.

We had been working with him for about an hour or so and the light had been good, and as we headed for home, I peeked over the rim and there he was in the bush. But the light had diminished, still it was worth waiting for him to throw as it would have to be toward or at least to the side.

I don’t often shoot multi-burst, but figured that by the time he left the bush and got settled he’d have to stay pretty much in the same focus plane and most of the shots would be sharp (ish). Pity about the light and slow shutter speed.

So EE and I waited. Things happen slowly in Brown Falcon time. But you’ve got to keep your eye on the bird, as they don’t give a lot of warning that they are going to move.
So we waited.

Brown waited.

It’s one of the reasons why with a long lens we invest in a good tripod, and a Wimberley gimbal head. Takes all the weight off the arms. But, who wants to carry all that heavy gear out just on the off chance it might be needed. So, I was shooting handheld with the 500mm PF. Light enough, but after 10 minutes my aching muscles needed a rest. And then there is always the risk that is the moment the bird will throw.

Waiting.

Another round or two of holding until the muscles cramp, and then releasing.
Waiting.

I was just regrabbing focus and had the shutter half-pressed, when with barely a feather ruffle Bernie took to the air, straight toward me, and I ripped off a sequence.
“Oh No,” I heard on my right. And it was just at that moment EE had taken a muscle relief stretch. Sympathy doesn’t cut it. Gloating is not part of the process.

Here are all the frames from the sequence. I thought it was interesting how the wings are deployed to get him out of the bush, and turned for the run along the grass.

{EDIT} It wasn’t until I re-looked at the shots here on the blog that it shows that on the upwing strokes the rocks his legs forward pendulum like, on the more powerful down stroke, the legs go back to close to the body. Just like a kid on a swing. Brown, you always amaze me.

Enjoy

Bernie arriving at the bush. I shot this one earlier in the day, and you can just see the edge of the river cliff in the bottom of the frame.

Typical Brown Falcon flight. Ground hugging radar in action

This is a close flyby from earlier in the afternoon when the light was good. Go Bernie

Moments: Sharing a Little Love

May 15, 2019May 15, 2019Posted in Little Lorikeet, The Office, Werribee River ParkTagged Little Lorikeet, The Office, Werribee River Park9 Comments

We don’t get many Little Lorikeets down around The Office area. But there are several pairs that seem to come and go on a regular basis, and I suspect they might always be in the area, just too high up to notice.

With reports of Purple-crowned Lorikeets in the general area, we wondered if they might be at The Office, so took Dolly on a bit of a traverse to see what we could find. Despite EE’s best attempts, we couldn’t spot, let alone hear them. We were getting ready for the trek back out, when the “rattley rolling, squeaky” call came from a tree behind. And there was a pair of Little Lorikeets engaged in some preening and pairbonding alopreening.

I think the photos tell the story.

Enjoy

Moments: Whistling Kite does Takeaway

May 1, 2019Posted in The Office, Werribee River Park, Whistling KiteTagged The Office, Werribee River Park, Whistling Kite3 Comments

It’s beginning to look like I’m getting in a rut with raptors and food.
Mostly just a bit of a backlog of other work and the natural progression of things.

Interesting to be posting such work on the blog, as it fulfills a learning process I’m journeying on at the moment.
Exploring photography, my own work in particular, as an iterative process. Or a journey of versions that lead to new discoveries.

That is: the repetition that builds on the previous shot. It is where the concept of ‘multi-burst’ and I diverge. I need to have thought out the changes, or the visual differences from shot to shot. Not just blaze away and pick out the ‘best looking one’, to tidy up in Photoshop.

Not, as I’m sure you can imagine a simple step by step process when it comes to birds that are unpredictable at best, and downright difficult to get to understand at the worst. Which I think is why ‘iterative’ is such a useful motif.

EE and I were at The Office. The Red Gum picnic area to be specific. Its a short trip down for Dolly, and if all goes well, there can be an interesting array of birds on a good day.
We were sitting enjoying the Grey of Earl, and a snack, when a grey shadow moved over our heads and flew toward the large dead skeleton of a tree by the river’s edge.
“A Whistling Kite,” quoth she.

Then it became, as we moved nearer, that said Kite also had bought a snack too. It had found a discarded Shingleback Lizard carcass remains. Now, it might be that the Kite had made the kill, but the condition of the carcass suggested it more likely had retrieved it after it was abandoned. Most of the rich middle parts of the hapless creature were already gone.

So we sat and watched it play with its food, and all went well until a ‘murder of crows’ in the form of a group of ravens moved in to help the Kite. They believed it seems, in ‘share and share alike’, so long as they got the goodies to share.
Our hero was having none of that and scooping up its meal, it departed to a more secure area.

Enjoy

Snapshots: Dusky Woodswallow Morning

April 10, 2019Posted in Dusky Woodswallows, Werribee River ParkTagged Dusky Woodswallows, Werribee River Park4 Comments

EE and I went to the Office a couple of mornings ago.

As we were walking over the river bridge we were discussing the small number of Dusky Woodswallows that had nested in the area. And how they were now probably well on their way north.
When to our surprise, as much as anything, we heard the calls of them as hawked for insects in the sky overhead.
Like Choughs they are very community dependent, and its not unusual to see dozens of them sitting on the one branch all jostling for the best position. These are no exceptions. However with good grace the birds make room for one another, even if it means flying off and relanding.

They were still feeding young ones, so I concluded they must have had a late season nesting before the cold weather sets in.

If you can’t get the spot you want, you go underneath and then popup on the other side. Everybody always moves up graciously

Woodswallows have the ability to both fly and glide like swallows.

They have a wonderful marking set on the wing edges, which is not always easy to see

Spent a few minutes with the patient bird, making portraits. While it talked constantly to its neighbours

Hard to guess, but this one is a juvenile, now looking like the adults

Snapshots: Biting of More than You can Chew

April 7, 2019April 7, 2019Posted in Great Egret, Werribee River ParkTagged Great Egret, The Shallows, Werribee River Park6 Comments

Here’s a quickie, hope it makes you smile.

Sometimes a day at the office for this Great Egret brings on more than expected.

Or
The tale of the Egret that hoped to grow up to be an Osprey.

As my old footy coach used to say, “Never let you Ambitions Outweigh your Capabilities.”

I was sitting at The Shallows, and well, it wasn’t as the tide was running high, so not much happening. And the weather was blowing all get out and deep dark clouds were appearing.

I saw this Egret on the other side of the river. Too far for much real work, and besides it was mostly hunkered down among the small trees, trying to keep out of the wind. I spent more time with some dotterels and a few spoonbills, and was well into my second cup of Grey of Earl, when I heard a loud “SPLASH”, and without turning round, I knew instantly what had happen. The Egret had gone into the water. What I didn’t know was what it had caught. Hard to get it in the water and it was on the bank and behind the trees before you could say, “That’s a big Fish!”.

The next few minutes were between hilarious and painful, as it wrestled to get that size fish into a position to swallow. And to make things worse its new friends the Straw-necked Ibis were getting close hoping to get a morsel or two.
In the end after much neck manipulation, and headshaking, it decided that a new approach was needed and it took off behind the river bank, and I lost sight of the outcome.

I waited, but in the end the weather, and time ran out, and I left not knowing how it had fared.

Enjoy

Snapshots: Crested Tern Feeding Young

March 21, 2019Posted in Great Crested Tern, The Shallows, Werribee River ParkTagged Great Crested Tern, Werribee River Park4 Comments

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on a new “Sit” spot at “The Office”.
At one point the Werribee River as it cuts through the old sandhills that once were part of the lake that became Port Philip Bay, runs over a stony bottom and has not been able to cut deeply, but rather has formed an area of shallow water at low tide.

To compensate, the river water spreads out into a number of small backwater lagoons or billabongs, so there is quite a range of areas for the birds to congregate and feed.

The Werribee Golf Club skirts the river at this point, so access to the area is relatively easy from the K Road carpark. A great feature is that the afternoon light is coming from behind the photographer, and as my Mum used to say when we used the Box Camera, “Keep the Sun over your left shoulder dear”, so she’d love the lighting happening here.

It’s only a couple of kilometres to the River Mouth at South Werribee, and the fish regularly come and go with the tides.

No doubt I’ll feature more of this area as I settle into working from the river bank. A couple of hours with a ‘cuppa’, and a bit of patience brings all sorts of activity along the river.

One of the birds in the area are Great Crested Terns, and at the moment they are feeding their juveniles. I just can’t get close enough to the far bank, but sometimes the Tern will sweep by with its payload.

Enjoy

I know when food is on the way as the young one puts up quite a racket

While I was waiting a flock of Fairy Martins began to hunt insects among the reeds.

Snapshots: The Eloise Collection

March 7, 2019March 7, 2019Posted in Eastern Osprey, K Road Cliffs, Werribee River ParkTagged Eastern Osprey, K Road Cliffs, Werribee River Park8 Comments

Been amassing quite a collection of shots of the Eastern Osprey as she has been working in the Werribee River area. Rather than break it up into various days or activities, I’ve become a bit self-indulgent and also saving myself some time by making a collection.

Enjoy.

On second thoughts I’ll wait for a bigger one.

All systems locked on and ready for impact

Taking a bit of effort to get free from the water

Snapshots: Breakfast at Tiffany’s

February 19, 2019February 19, 2019Posted in Eastern Osprey, Werribee River ParkTagged Eastern Osprey, Werribee River Park12 Comments

Well not quite, but I went down early this morning as the light looked like being great, and promised to be back ‘soon’, but stayed a bit longer.
EE has done a fetlock, or pulled a ‘hammie”, and is a bit out of circulation at the moment, so I set off on me lonesome, hoping the sunshine might stay.

The Lady was in residence by the time I arrived, and was no doubt looking for breakfast. She had several attempts but missed, then stretched out upriver and within a few minutes returned with a sizeable fish.

I’m really getting a feel for her contrasted against the cliffs behind

The first swing and miss for the morning. Have to say I really thought she was on a winner here

The tail kicks up and must give her some extra speed

Plenty of light to make the water sparkle

The fantastic head shake that flings off all the excess water

A mintue later and she was back with a fish

There was a young family in the carpark, and their baby cried. The long stare took it all in

And there goes the last of the tail. All done at that.

Snapshots: An Eloise Collection

February 12, 2019Posted in Eastern Osprey, Werribee River ParkTagged Eastern Osprey, Werribee River Park7 Comments

Enough of this photography vision inspired techno mumbo jumbo.
How about some photographs.

Good point.

As I rack up harddiskfulls of Osprey pictures, it getting hard to put them all on Flickr.
I know there is way to make project pages here on WordPress, however I just can’t figure out how to make it work the way I want. But the story telling of the blog suits my photo journalism style I think, so I’ll persevere a bit longer.

In the meantime here is a few so that you don’t miss out.

Enjoy

This is like a layup in basketball, straight onto the perch

A hit and miss. One fish that got the chance of another day

Sometimes photographers talk about “Pre-visualising the image” it’s an Ansel Adams term. Here I more ‘pre-willed’ as I knew she was swinging up, and was lucky she chose the small shaft of light through the trees.

Soft melded light that just reeks character

A really tight turn with the head held level

Sometimes the poetry just happens in the best light

Atmospherics

February 7, 2019February 7, 2019Posted in Eastern Osprey, Mists, Werribee River ParkTagged Eastern Osprey, Mists, Werribee River Park3 Comments

It rained overnight. Not a lot really, we were promised a deluge, but like all good weather cells, some places were more fortunate than others. And the weather prognosticators, of the tv weather. in their usual scramble to spread fear and anxiousness among the masses were predicting a morning that would have made Noach tremble in his galoshes.

We, EE and I were keen—insert obsessed—with going back out and seeing Eloise, and as I had an early morning appointment, we figured on an early start and then home for breakfast. Good plan.
Weather looked pretty nice with stars asparkling in the rich blue predawn sky. But by the time we’d pulled into the parking area, an ominous dark cloud was rolling in behind. However because of the rain, and the heat, what we also had was the area festooned in mist. Everywhere. and the photographer was beginning to lament leaving the landscape lens at home.

Eloise must have had similar Osprey thoughts about the weather and she didn’t turn up until about an hour and a half after sunup. Caught a glimpse of her wafting through the mists. She sat on the furtherest tree and showed no sign of going fishing. We concluded she must have eaten an early breakfast elsewhere today.

But in the meantime the mists and the birds in the area were a pleasant interlude.

1902-07_DWJ_8809 — The mist lay a carpet of pearl across the landscape

1902-07_DWJ_8838 — Lack of light and high ISO were the order of the day.

1902-07_DWJ_8843 — Eloise coming out of the mists

1902-07_DWJ_8943 — The Royal Spoonbill decided to sleep in.

1902-07_DWJ_8977 — Even when a burst of sunshine came, the Spoonbill carried on

1902-07_DWJ_8971 — Eloise perched a long way from our camera point

1902-07_DWJ_9034 — The Dusky Moorhens were happy with a fresh supply coming down on the river

1902-07_DWJ_8982 — No wonder the mists lingered. The air was still, the water mirror smooth

Snapshots: Learning the Fine Art of Fishing

February 4, 2019February 4, 2019Posted in Eastern Osprey, Werribee River ParkTagged Eastern Osprey, Werribee River Park10 Comments

or: Eloise Does Fast-food Breakfast.

You knew it was coming right? Of course you did.

With such a bird in the vicinity, and the possibility of her taking a fish sometime when I was there, it was too much not to expect I’d sacrifice a couple of hours sleep, and go down to K Road Cliffs in the early morning. EE had somewhat offhandedly remarked that perhaps I should sleep down there in the car.

So armed with the ever reliable D810 and the 300mm f/2.8 and TC2.0, I set out. The only thing that made the plan look less than successful was the weather. Overcast. Porridge. Classic 3200ISO weather.

I found her sitting high in a tree overlooking the horseshoe bend and its big fishing hole. The tide was at the end of running in high, and that seems to be her preferred time.
So I waited. Did I mention that lack of light. I’m not a great high iso at any cost person, but it was high or go home, and I took the former not the latter option.

And waited. So did she.

Here’s the long sequence. Enjoy

Eloise was sitting high above the river on a favoured perch.

A first strike

The next attempt. What I learned from all this is that she prefers to hunt close to the river bank. Each strike was only a few metres from the edge. I’m not sure if that makes it easier to see the fish or if the fish work close along the river bank

Tail up and grappling hooks going down

I put this not so good one in to see how close she runs to the edge. Another miss

Back up to the far bank. Here is part of the high cliffs on K Road. They sometimes appear in movie and tv dramas.

Another try another miss

The look and the wingspread say it allAnd away for another attempt

I missed the strike, but here it’s possible to see how close to the edge she is working

Gathering the energy for extraction

I’ve included this as I love that just over the wing view. However the fish is not coming out without a fight.

Sinking back in to try again

WIngs spread out, she spent a few seconds regathering her strength and perhaps rearranging the fish underneath for better lift

Swing and away

Now to find a quiet spot of enjoy breakfast

A little later some Whistling Kites thought they could freeload so she took off again with her half-eaten prize.

Snapshots: Hangin’ out the Sheets with Eloise

January 30, 2019January 30, 2019Posted in Eastern Osprey, Werribee River ParkTagged Eastern Osprey, Werribee River Park7 Comments

This gracious lady is currently settled in to the K Road Cliffs area at Werribee. There is a horseshoe bend in the river and it obviously suits her fishing style. Not being a fishing sort of person, I don’t understand how the fish run up the estuary but suspect now, that it is more likely on the turn of the tide as the water flow out. Today that would have happend around sunup, and most likely she had hunted on the early morning light.
By the time we, and 10 or so of our new close personal friends, rocked up after breakfast, she was well fed and/or the fish had gone as she showed little inclination for hunting.

However she did manage to make the photographers smile. On a tree close to the river edge, and in full sunlight.

So given an appreciative audience, she ran through the entire preening process, making sure every feather had a lick, and was back in the right place. By 10:30 am, it was all over she packed up the sheets, took a long stretch and headed up river for her own reasons.

I thought I’d post a small selection, as I can quickly see that I am going to end up with days of work that don’t get sorted nor published.

So prepare for a few more blogs as the days progress.

Enjoy.

One of my favourite activites with raptors is that ‘zipping’ up of the tail feathers.

After stiting in the hot sun for several hours she was panting and drooping out her wings

She is folding up the sheets, and I rather like the look of the power and depth of the wings shown here.

Time to turn around. A delicate process and a test of balance and wing work

A final big stretch of wings, tail, body and legs. It must be time to go

Feathers, feet and tail hard at work to regain equilibrium

SnapShots: The Account of The Magpie and the Little Eagle

May 27, 2018May 27, 2018Posted in Australian Magpie, Little Eagle, The Office, Werribee River ParkTagged Australian Magpie, Blogg, Little Eagle, The Office, Werribee River Park11 Comments

All good tales have a protagonist and of course the antagonist. From Romeo and Juliet to Jane Eyre, or a Hitchcock movie, the ‘player of the first part’, has always to experience the consequences of decisions.

So as our hero the Little Eagle made its way across the paddocks in the sunshine, oblivious of the dangers, it was soon to learn that not all skies are clear, blue and free.