A New Species and a Different Morph Found on my Property

Over the last few months I have done little photography but I have taken a few pictures on my property when I have seen or heard less common birds or new bird species for my property. I have seen this White Morph Grey Goshawk on the neighbours property about 12 months ago but by the time I went and got my camera and returned, it had disappeared and I hadn't seen it until several weeks ago. It was here for 2 days and hasn't been seen again. It is a magnificent looking bird and for some reason it had very different behaviour from all the normal Grey Goshawks that frequent the property. Usually the Grey Goshawks here are quite secretive, except when calling and when approached they take flight usually before you can spot them clearly.

I don't mind having them here as long as they don't take my poultry. During the goshawk's breeding season I can lose up to a few dozen ducks and chickens from the Grey Goshawks. For the rest of the year only the odd one gets captured. This white morph was very brazen. He landed on the pens and in low trees and flew at the birds out in the open. It's funny the poultry weren't even scared of it until it nearly grabbed them. While it was sitting in the tree the poultry were acting normal, rather than running for cover as they do when other birds of prey are around. In certain trees the Grey Goshawks are very well camouflaged whereas this white morph was easily sighted from a long distance.

Grey Goshawk (White Morph)

The White Morph of the Grey Goshawk was easy to sight in most locations

The first Grey Goshawk (White Morph) for my property

The Grey Goshawk (White Morph) watching the poultry

A close up of the Grey Goshawk (White Morph)

This Grey Goshawk (White Morph) was very bold compared to most specimens

The next two photos were taken at Bagara, near Neilson Beach, when I was up there visiting a few friends. They are common birds but they were in a good location, with great lighting to obtain a clear photo and my camera was sitting on the front seat. I was hoping to do some birding while I was up in the Bundaberg area but this was all I had time for. Both of these species, White-faced Herons and Intermediate Egrets are often seen here on the rocks.

White-faced Heron

Intermediate Egret

I was really pleased one morning a few weeks ago as I had a bit of spare time to do some photography and the weather was perfect. As I was driving through the gate I spotted a bird that looked a bit different. I thought it was a Weebill at first, which I have seen here on the odd occasion but I wanted to check. As I stepped out I realised the yellow feathering was too bright. As soon as I got the photo I realised it was a species I hadn't seen before. They were White-throated Gerygones!! A friend of mine saw them for the first time only a few weeks before as well at her house. There were a dozen or more of them in the trees feeding. For identification purposes they have a red eye like most gerygones, an obvious white throat, hence the name and they have the white bar just above the bill. Fairy Gerygones can look very similar in appearance. The White-throated Gerygones have a brighter yellow colour and don't have the whitish/pale ring around the eye like the Fairy Gerygones.

White-throated Gerygone

The first White-throated Gerygone sighted at my property

A White-throated Gerygone wiping its bill after feeding

The underside of a White-throated Gerygone

A White-throated Gerygone feeding

Another specimen of the dozen or more White-throated Gerygones sighted

Just down the road I saw an unusually large flock of Double-barred Finches. I usually only see them in small groups of a couple of birds up to 20 or so. This flock had about 50 individuals. I saw them fly from the side of the road so I parked the car and many came straight back out in the open to continue feeding. It was amazing watching the method they used to get the seeds from the grass heads. I have seen similar behaviour from other birds before but I can't remember seeing it so obvious and methodical. Usually it seems a bit more haphazard how the birds land on the stalk, then if it bends over they shuffle along the stalk to the end to get the seeds. If it stays upright they lean up to collect the seeds. These birds were working in pairs and it was organised. One flew onto the stalk and as it bent over another finch would grab the seed head on the ground and hold it with its feet, as the other bird made its way down the stalk. They then would both feed on the seeds together. Other individuals were just eating all the seeds from off the rocks that had fallen off. I find it fascinating how different birds and different flocks behave. I could have watched them for longer but I had to keep moving.

Juvenile Double-barred Finch

Double-barred Finches feeding on grass seeds

The Double-barred Finches working together to reach the seed heads

More updates and pics coming soon.

 

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Australian Birds Photography: KEUNEA PHOTOGRAPHY 

More Owling in the Hinterland and a Trip to the Brisbane Valley

This week I have been owling on a couple of occasions to find and photograph the Masked Owl. Each time I have gone with my friend or friends. On one trip we went around Elanda Point, Cootharaba, Wolvi and Kin Kin and the other trip we stayed more local, around Elanda Point to Cootharaba.
On the first trip we saw heaps of Tawny Frogmouths and a single Barn Owl and on the second trip we spotted the Masked Owl but failed to get a photo. They are not as approachable as the Barn Owls that's for sure! We also saw a few Barn Owls and a few Tawny Frogmouths on the second trip as well.

The Tawny Frogmouth with the damaged wing was spotted again

This Barn Owl with the damaged eye did have some difficulty landing on the branches on two occasions after being flushed off but it seemed to be coping.

A Barn Owl with a damaged left eye

Another Tawny Frogmouth located this week

On Wednesday two mates and I went down for a drive into the Brisbane Valley. We had to go to Ipswich to pick up some gear so I thought we may as well make a birding trip out of it too. As we came into Kilcoy I noticed a small dam on the right hand side of the road with lots of birds on it. We decided to pull up and have a look. I'm very glad we did. I finally found some of the Australasian Shovelers that I have been wanting to locate since they were sighted in SEQ, six months ago.
There was one pair of Australasian Shovelers on the dam with some Hardheads, Grey Teal, Pacific Black Ducks, Eurasian Coots, Darters, Australasian Grebes, Black Swans, Pink-eared Ducks, Australian Wood Ducks and some Australian Pelicans. Around the dam we saw a few Australian King Parrots, Pale-headed Rosellas, Rainbow Lorikeets and Little Lorikeets. Most of the lorikeets were too high in the tree to get decent photos. All of these birds except for the Australasian Shovelers and Australian Pelicans were in quite large numbers, especially the Darters. I was amazed with the amount of birds in such a small area! Just as we were about to leave a Spotted Harrier came gliding in just above the grass surrounding the dam and he gently glided alongside the dam and over the hill.

Australasian Shovelers

The pair of Australasian Shovelers

My first photos and sighting of Australasian Shovelers

Spotted Harrier

After leaving this location we headed down Esk-Kilcoy Road. We dropped in at the day use area at Lake Somerset or Somerset Dam. Not much to be seen here except for a few Hardheads out on the water and a mixed flock of Silver Gulls and Caspian Terns. This flock would have numbered 100 or more birds. They were all resting on the edge of the water on the grass.

Caspian Tern (Non-breeding plumage)

Silver Gull

Caspian Tern

Just after we left the day use area a Whistling Kite was spotted circling just near the road. I couldn't resist pulling over to get a photo. Luckily for me he came back for another few laps which enabled me to get a shot before he flew over the hills.

Whistling Kite

Whistling Kite from beneath

Not long later, my mate spotted this Spotted Harrier on a post on the side of the road. As soon as I pulled over it flew off but I got a few photos of it in flight which I was happy with. Then it landed on another post in the distance and I managed to obtain a few more shots of it roosting before it flew off again.

Spotted Harrier in flight

Spotted Harrier in flight again

The pattern beneath the wing of a Spotted Harrier

Shot of the Spotted Harrier flying off

Spotted Harrier roosting

The Spotted Harrier looking directly at the camera

The Spotted Harrier flying off into the distance

Only a few minutes drive down the road several Australian Pipits were seen on the side of the road. I drove past them and then turned around to see if I could get a shot of them. I spotted one, quickly stopped the car and I got a few shots before they flew off into the longer grass. They were only seen for about a one kilometre stretch and not again for the entire trip, even though the habitat was similar for much of this area.

Australian Pipit

Further down the road we were driving past and noticed some white ducks on the side of a dam wall. None of us could think of any ducks in this area that were white so we quickly turned the car around to see what they were. One of my mates was hoping they might be white Australian Wood Ducks, which have been spotted on the odd occasion. Much to his disappointment and our amusement this is what we found!

These ducks weren't going anywhere

This Black Swan was seen with its mate on the edge of a small dam in the Lockyer Valley.

Black Swan

We went to have a look around near Pechey's Lagoon. This area had a huge amount of birds again. Some of the more common birds that were seen and heard included about 15 Brown Quails, Double-barred Finches, many Red-backed Fairy-wrens, Eurasian Coots, Ducky Moorhens, Pacific Black Ducks, Masked Lapwings, Black Swans, Darters, Jacky Winters, Rufous Whistlers, Cockatiels, Galahs plus many others. All of these species were in really large numbers.

Double-barred Finches feeding on grass seeds

Rufous Whistler

Darter

Welcome Swallows

This bird below was seen but to be honest I'm not certain as to what it is. I am pretty sure that it is a female Golden Whistler or a Female Robin of some sort. I have seen many female Eastern Yellow Robins and Golden Whistlers on my property and they both look different, but similar to this bird. It was very dark on its belly which makes me unsure. I didn't see a male of either of these species here either.

If someone can help me identify this bird for certain please post a comment.





Unknown species front on

Unknown species from behind

Red-backed Fairy-wren

Male Red-backed Fairy-wren

Male Red-backed Fairy-wren calling



Female Red-backed Fairy-wren

Galah

Another predator arrived at my house this week. I thought it was the Collared Sparrowhawk back, that was here several weeks ago but when I got a better look at it I realised that it was in fact a Brown Goshawk. Hopefully soon enough it realises that it can't get into the cages and moves on like the Collared Sparrowhawk.

Brown Goshawk trying to get my birds

Brown Goshawk on the aviary

Brown Goshawk

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