Over the last week I have gone out looking with a few friends to locate the Masked Owl that has been seen in the Elanda Point area. Unfortunately we didn't see or hear it this week. We did see the usual Tawny Frogmouths and Barn Owls though. We have found that if it is raining the other owls don't like to come out as much but the Tawny Frogmouths come out in larger numbers. We spotted at least six Tawny Frogmouths one night within a few kilometres.
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| Tawny Frogmouth |
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| Another Tawny Frogmouth |
Yesterday I saw the Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos coming in to land in the trees not far from the house. They have been very common over the last few months on the property. Many of them are juvenile birds also. I went to the area where I saw them land and I was very surprised to see what they had done to the trees there. They were on a gum tree and they had chewed into the trunk of the tree to the middle where a chamber was. I assume by looking at this chamber that there was a large grub of some sort in there. They tree will most likely die as they had chewed it through to the centre of the tree and the area they chewed through was about 15cm in height. In a strong wind the tree will snap off even. I couldn't believe that they could chew into the tree like that!!
After I took the photos I noticed they had done this to about five trees in the same place. All of which are now quite unsafe, as they could easily snap off where they have chewed into the trunk, and if not they will die anyway. It appeared that the cockatoos knew that the grubs were in the places that they chewed as all had this small tunnel, where a grub or borer had lived, in the area where the cockatoos had been chewing. I'm unsure if this is regular behaviour or if they are hungry.
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| Male Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo |
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| Juvenile Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo |
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| Another male Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo |
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| One of the trees chewed by the Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos |
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| The pieces of timber chewed out by the Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos |
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| Another tree chewed by the Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos |
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| A close up of the tree above where they have chewed |
Walking back to the house I spotted this Laughing Kookaburra sitting in the tree not far from me. They are seen here daily but are not normally very approachable on the property as they are not hand fed. This one allowed me to get that little bit closer.
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| Laughing Kookaburra |
As I was watching the Laughing Kookaburra, I noticed all the White-throated Honeyeaters moving around busily in the trees feeding. One looked a bit different but it was following the White-throated Honeyeaters all around the trees. I used my camera to see a bit closer and it landed in front of where I was looking. It was a long way up in the tree and it only sat there for a second, so the picture isn't very good quality. It was a Yellow-faced Honeyeater. This is the first time I have knowingly viewed one and the first time I have photographed one.
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| Yellow-faced Honeyeater |
Last night a friend and I decided to go have a look for the Masked Owls out near Kenilworth, near the Charlie Moreland Campground and Booloumba Creek. We arrived around 7 o'clock and left after 11 o'clock. We didn't find any Masked Owls but we did hear numerous birds. We couldn't access any of the places where we could hear them though so we left without any photos. We were also hoping to see some Marbled Frogmouths but we didn't see or hear any of them either.
We did see heaps of Ringtail Possums and Red-necked Pademelons though in the Charlie Moreland Campground. We also found a species of frog that neither of us had seen before on the banks of Little Yabba Creek.
You can access more information about the frog by clicking on this link:
http://www.keuneafrogs.blogspot.com.au/
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| Ringtail Possum |
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| One of the many Red-necked Pademelons |
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| A Red-necked Pademelon eating |
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| The Red-necked Pademelon still chewing |
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| Another Red-necked Pademelon |
We found this family of Ringtail Possums at the turnoff to the Charlie Moreland Campground. It was a mother with two babies. The other baby was not to far below these two.
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| Mother Ringtail Possum with her baby |
Near Booloumba Creek we found another Tawny Frogmouth. This one was a different colouring from the ones I usually get at home.
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| Tawny Frogmouth |
Even though we didn't find any Marbled Frogmouths or and Masked Owls we still had a fun night out. It was pleasing that we heard so many Masked Owls in the area. I will be coming back out here in the next few weeks when the moon is more full. From all the owling trips that I have done in the last few months I have found that they seem to be more active when the moon is close to full, compared to when the moon is close to new. Tonight when we were here the moon was less than a quarter.
More updates and pics coming soon.
If you're interested in my blog check out my site below by clicking on the link.
Australian Birds KEUNEA PHOTOGRAPHY
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