Hunting for nightlife

After adding all my spottings to the checklist it was clear that I was lacking in the night bird section. I started thinking about where I would go spotlighting and how I was going to get any good photos. I didn't really like the thought of wandering along the river tracks at night by myself and wondered who I would be able to drag along with me.

I started doing some googling to try and find some likely locations when I came across recent news of Powerful Owls roosting nearby. That is when I discovered that you don't need to go out at night to find Owls, you just have to know where to look.

Of course nobody would divulge information of the exact location (which I think is a good thing) and it made for a fun little adventure. I was able to piece together little bits of information from various people's spottings and with the help of google's sattelite maps and some of my own local knowledge of the area narrowed it down to two likely areas.

I found them in the first area - 5 minutes after leaving the car! It helped that they are gigantic birds (60-66cm) and I knew I was looking for 3 of them - 2 adults and a juvenile.

Powerful Owl (juvenile), Ninox strenua

Powerful Owl (juvenile), Ninox strenua

Powerful Owl (2 adults + juvenile), Ninox strenua

Powerful Owl, Ninox strenua

Powerful Owl, Ninox strenua

There was also talk of another lone Powerful Owl, 400m up the river. Once again, a few cryptic directions led me to a place that I was all too familiar with - down a steep muddy track that is inaccessible when the water level is high - a favorite spot that our dog, Tesla used to love running around getting muddy at.

But instead of finding an Owl, I found a family of Tawny Frogmouths. What a great morning!

Tawny Frogmouth, Podargus strigoides 

Tawny Frogmouth (adult + juvenile),Podargus strigoides 

The previous night I had been on a ranger guided walk at the Darebin Parklands and they had pointed out this pair of Tawnies. I guess it's true that once you find one, then you start seeing them everywhere!

Tawny Frogmouth (female on nest), Podargus strigoides 

Tawny Frogmouth (male), Podargus strigoides 

Blog update

I have now added the Australian Bird Photos tab and the Australian Bird Checklist tab to the top of this blog.

The first tab has links to all my bird photos thus far.

The second tab has a running tally of the birds I've photographed. It currently stands at 156 of 907 (not counting the extinct ones, for obvious reasons).  Looks like I've got some work ahead of me!
I am making it a little harder for myself by only checking off birds I get photos of and they must be shot in the wild.

So it looks like I need to head to the beach and see some seabirds, and start spotlighting to find some night birds :-)

Around the Banyule flats #1

Over the past few weeks I've headed out around my local area to see what I could find. I'm out there most days walking the dog but it's a little tricky finding birds with Tesla in tow.

So the cuckoo still isn't my favorite bird (see the last post) but I do love this shot!

Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Cacomantis flabelliformis

There was much debate whether this next shot was of an Australian Raven or Little Raven. In Australia there are 6 members of the Corvidae family - 3 crows and 3 ravens - and they all look exactly the same! The easiest way to distinguish is by their call. Unfortunately for me this one wasn't too keen to talk. After that you can check the range they live in which narrowed it down to 2. Australian Raven's have throat feathers (hackles) that are much longer than the other species. Once again, a little hard to see when they are not raised during calling. Anyway, a few people have suggested that from the hackles and distribution this is a Little Raven. I'm going to go with that!

Little Raven, Corvus mellori

After taking photos of the raven, I turned around to see a flash of colour bomb the bushes beside the river and return to a branch high up in a gum tree. A Sacred Kingfisher had just caught some lunch.

Sacred Kingfisher, Todiramphus sanctus

Masked Woodswallow, Artamus personatus

We have flocks of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos around our place and I've always seen one or two Corella's in with their flock. I finally got a close up of one the other day and was so suprised by the length of its beak! I guess it's not called a Long-billed Corella for nothing!

Long-billed Corella, Cacatua tenuirostris

Before this birding obsession, I spent a lot of time in the bushes searching for bugs and insects - trying to get that perfect macro shot (that might have to be another blog one day). So every now and then when I come across a great opportunity I pull out the macro lens.

Cape White Butterfly (male), Belenois java

Over at the wetlands I was able to tick off another duck species - the Hardhead. These ducks are the only true 'diving ducks' of Australia - meaning that they feed by diving under the water. They can swim up to 40m underwater and stay submerged for up to a minute.

Hardhead, Aythya australis

Pacific Black Duck (duckling), Anas superciliosa

Pacific Black Duck, Anas superciliosa

There are so many pairs of brilliantly coloured Rainbow lorikeets around. This is my new favorite shot of one.

Rainbow Lorikeet, Trichoglossus haematodus

They are monogomous and pair for life.

There are also lots of Nankeen Night Herons that live along the Yarra river. I've seen lots of them from a kayak but could never get a good shot from the boat with my smaller, waterproof camera. I was fortunate to get this shot on a walk near one of the swampy areas. It's the first time I've seen the 3 white feathers protuding from their head, which are grown for the breeding season.

Nankeen Night Heron, Nycticorax caledonicus

The Eastern Long-necked turtle is common in the Yarra river and nearby wetlands but I've only ever seen them from a distance. The other day on my walk I came across 2 sitting in the grass. It's a type of side-necked turtle, meaning they bend their long necks sideways to hide in their shell rather than retracting straight back. After a short time this turtle relaxed and brought it's head out of hiding for these shots.

Eastern Long-necked Turtle, Chelodina longicollis

White-faced Heron, Egretta novaehollandiae

Grey Teal, Anas castanea

Galah, Cacatua roseicapilla

The gum trees are in flower at the moment and full of squawking parrots. I've always assumed that they were Rainbow Lorikeets as they are so common and it's really hard to actually see the birds so high up in the trees. The other day I spent about half an hour staring up into a tree to confirm my thoughts and give myself a sore neck. Well the sore neck was worth it because I found myself looking at a flock of Musk Lorikeets!

They moved around quickly and were difficult to get a shot of (unlike the one from my Adelaide post) but I've included these because I noticed something a little different with this one. It seems to have a deformity around it's beak and forehead. Does anyone know what this might be?

Musk Lorikeet, Glosopsitta concinna

 Now I just have to wait for the weather to improve so I can get back out there again :-)

Swan Lake #3, Phillip Island - Sept 2013

7 months later I was back at the wetlands with a stronger passion to find and photograph new bird species.
Early spring showed lots of activity with nesting and raising young.

I was patiently sitting in the hide when a Welcome Swallow flew straight towards me and up to it's nest above my head. I discovered that two breeding pairs had built nests - one in each hide.

Welcome Swallow, Hirundo neoxena

White-browed Scrubwren, Sericornis frontalis

White-browed Scrubwren, Sericornis frontalis

Black Swans pair for life and both help raise a brood each year. The chicks are covered in fluffy grey down and are able to swim and feed themselves as soon as they hatch.

Black Swan (with Cygnets), Cygnus atratus

This kite looked like it had had it's wings clipped. I later found out this is a normal look when molting. Obviously they can't molt all their primary feathers at once otherwise they wouldn't be able to fly, so it happens in stages.

Whistling Kite, Haliastur sphenurus

Whistling Kite, Haliastur sphenurus

Eurasian Coot, Fulica atra

I did get a little carried away taking shots of the swans but they were such poses for the camera! This is the 'blue steel' look I believe.

Welcome Swallow, Hirundo neoxena

Away from Swan Lake, I discovered another little haven for birds. It's another small "wetlands" but I'd never seen water in it and it was always quite barren of life. On this occasion it had a few puddles and the spring air had given it a new lease on life.

Numerous New Holland Honeyeaters were flying about and I found 3 new spottings - a Finch, a Cuckoo and a Thornbill.

New Holland Honeyeater, Phylidonyris novaehollandiae

European Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis

Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Acanthiza chrysorrhoa

It took me a while to work out what this next bird was. Now I know that we have Cuckoos in Victoria - I had no idea! I was very excited and started to find out more information of this very vocal little bird. Then I came across some horrifying information that changed my views of this cute little bird.

They are NEST PARASITES. That means the female lays a single egg in someone else's nest (usually a fairy-wren, thornbill or chat). She may also remove one of the hosts eggs at the same time. The unbeknown host mum will incubate the cuckoo egg and feed it until it fledges. The nasty newly hatched cuckoo will immediately eject the other eggs or hatchlings of the host.

Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo, Chrysococcyx basalis

I'm going to finish on that shattering note.