Several Photographic Firsts for Me

Over the last few weeks I have been going with a friend to do most of my bird watching. We have done a few trips at night to look for owls and we have had a few trips during the day to get decent photos of a few scrub birds that we have been chasing.

About 2 weeks ago I noticed the Varied Sittellas had returned to my property. I have never seen them here at this time of year before. Usually they are present here just before the wet season starts and usually only stay for a few weeks. There must have been 30 or more. I rang my friend who has never seen them to come over. We both got some good photos of them, considering their size and location in the trees.

Varied Sittella

Another Varied Sittella

The Varied Sittellas are usually found in this type of tree

After photographing the Sittellas for a while we went for a quick walk around the property. We didn't get far and it started raining. Before we left to go back to the house I got this quick photo of a Brown Honeyeater.

Brown Honeyeater

We decided to go for a drive towards Pomona. As we were driving into town this Pied Butcherbird was seen on the power lines. A terrible photo but the best I could get in the late and overcast conditions in a hurry. It's funny, I see certain birds like this and don't bother taking a photo generally as they are so common. I'm going to start taking photos of these common birds too.

Pied Butcherbird

We headed towards some of the creeks and tributaries that feed into Six Mile Creek just out of Pomona as we knew there were Brown Thornbills and other small scrub birds. We both wanted to get a good photo of the Brown Thornbill. The sun came back out, but it was getting quite late to get good photos. Before we saw the Brown Thornbills we saw some Brown Gerygones. I was pleased with this sighting as it was only the second time I had seen them and the first time I had photographed them. They came quite close and we got a few good snaps. The Brown Thornbills came out in large numbers but it was too dark to get any decent shots.

Brown Gerygone

Another Brown Gerygone

The same Brown Gerygone from above

Another photo of the same Brown Gerygone

A few nights later I went back out around my property to have a look around for the Masked Owl I had heard a week or so prior with my friend. I didn't find the Masked Owl but I did hear it clearly again, and it was quite close. I did find a Barn Owl just near the shed and a few other birds like Purple Swamphens, King Quail, Plumed Whistling-Ducks, Laughing Kookaburras and Pacific Black Ducks.

Barn Owl

Laughing Kookaburras roosting at the top of a big gum tree

Unfortunately the Collared Sparrowhawk has been harassing my aviary birds again. As soon as you go outside he takes flight and stays at least 60 meters away at all times. This photo is poor quality but good enough to identify it.

Collared Sparrowhawk

Last weekend another friend and I went out to look around Kandanga. We didn't actually go out looking for birds but we did see and hear heaps of birds. Just as we were about to leave I noticed the camera in the back of the car and a few seconds later a Fan-tailed Cuckoo called out in the tree above us. Within minutes we could hear and see about 6 of them moving around in the trees. I have seen them before but this is the first time I have photographed them also.

Fan-tailed Cuckoo

Last weekend my friend and I went back to the same spot to get a good shot of the Brown Thornbills. We saw a few Brown Gerygones again but the Brown Thornbills were in fairly large numbers. We left it a bit late again so the lighting wasn't as good as we had hoped.

Brown Gerygone

Brown Thornbill

A pair of Brown Thornbills displaying

This weekend I went back to the creeks and tributaries that feed into Six Mile Creek to get some good shots of the Brown Thornbills. This time it was mid morning so I had plenty of good light available. I saw a few Brown Gerygones again but the Brown Thornbills are very aggressive towards them, and as soon as they came out from the foliage they were chased off by the Brown Thornbills.

Brown Thornbill

The same Brown Thornbill

Another Brown Thornbill

The same Brown Thornbill from above

Brown Thornbill

While I was watching the scrub birds all around me, a Willie Wagtail came in and landed close by. It was enjoying the warm sun. It must have felt unthreatened by me and within a minute it decided to sun itself for a few minutes before taking flight to catch more of the plentiful insects that were flying around.

Willie Wagtail

Willie Wagtail sunning itself

The next visitors to make their way to me were several Fan-tailed Cuckoos. They were taking advantage of all the caterpillars in the trees. As soon as I moved to get a closer shot they flew deeper into the scrub, but before they flew off I managed to get a few decent shots.

Fan-tailed Cuckoo having a caterpillar for breakfast

Another Fan-tailed Cuckoo with the same type of caterpillar

Fan-tailed Cuckoo roosting in the tree

Fan-tailed Cuckoo

Another Fan-tailed Cuckoo roosting in the tree

Willie Wagtail looking for insects

After a while the Brown Thornbills seemed to move away from the area where I was sitting. As a result the Brown Gerygones moved into the area. They too were feeding on the bounty of caterpillars in the trees.

Brown Gerygone feeding on a caterpillar

The Brown Gerygone after eating his meal

Brown Gerygone

Another Brown Gerygone

When I got back home I had a quick look around before I had to leave again. Heaps of birds were out today. There were dozens of Grey Fantails and Eastern Yellow Robins, many Striated Pardalotes, White-browed Scrub-wrens, Red-browed Finches and many others.

Grey Fantail

Red-browed Finch

Eastern Yellow Robin

Eastern Yellow Robin looking for insects

Eastern Yellow Robin

Another Eastern Yellow Robin

A few friends and I have made a few trips in the last few weeks to a private property just outside of Pomona. On the first night we didn't see much and just before we were about to leave a small bird flew close to our head. We heard it call not long later and it was a Owlet Nightjar. Within minutes we heard about 4 calling out. We only saw one in the torch beam but before we could get a photo it had flown off. That night we did hear a Masked Owl calling out too, but it was a long way off.

The following trip we heard numerous Owlet Nightjars. They stretched the entire property. At one time we could hear 6 calling out. It may have been the same birds following us along the whole property or they may have been much more numerous. We saw them dart out just above our heads several times but were unable to get a photo. Finally we heard one calling, then it flew and we heard it land in a tree nearby. We were lucky enough to be able to get a few very quick photos before it flew off again. They are very difficult to photograph at night as they don't like the torch shining on them at all and they seem to be able to throw their voice quite a distance which makes them hard to pinpoint.

Once we finally got a photo we were very excited as it is the first time we've seen them, other than flying and it is the first time I have photographed them. Just as exciting was the fact we heard the Masked Owl again, a little closer than last time and we heard the very distinctive Powerful Owl calling out. I couldn't believe my ears. My friend was sure to. It sounded like it was a long way from us though, which is highly possible as their call can be heard from over 1km away. We heard it call several more times over the next hour or so, each time getting closer to our position. We will definitely be back to see if we can get some better photos of the Owlet Nightjar and to hopefully locate and photograph the Powerful Owl and Masked Owl. Unfortunately the scrub on this property is very dense and hard to move through and we don't have access to it on a regular basis. Hopefully my friends can organise for me to get to the property again in the near future.

Owlet Nightjar

Owlet Nightjar again

 

 

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

Birding Around my Coles Creek Property

After a month or two with little or no birding it was great to finally get out there again taking some photos. With work, the rainy weather and two floods going through the property in the last two months I have been unable to get many photos. This is a collection of the few shots I got over the last few months from around the property.

Each year the Varied Sittellas come to the property. This is usually just before the rain comes and they are only seen on the property for a few weeks and then they move on once again. This year was the largest flock that I have seen pass through since I have lived here. There was about 40 individuals in the group this year.

Varied Sittella

A Varied Sittella lifting bark looking for food

Another Varied Sittella

A Varied Sittella ready to take flight

Another bird that seems to come and go around the property is the Leaden Flycatcher. They can be seen and heard for most of the year except for Winter. This year they also seemed to be more common than usual. Unfortunately they always perch close to the top of the big gums though so obtaining a good photo is difficult.

Leaden Flycatcher in flight

Two male Leaden Flycatchers

Leaden Flycatcher cleaning itself

 

For the three years I have lived at the property I have heard a bird calling on a regular basis but usually in hard to access parts of the property. This bird can also be heard on moonlit nights where it can call for hours at a time. I often wondered what the bird was. Finally a few weeks ago several of them began calling out in the trees not far from the house. It took quite a while to even locate them in the tree tops and I was surprised to find that they were Brush Cuckoos. It is actually the first time I have seen them, even though I have been hearing them call regularly for years. While I watched them I noticed they are not a very social bird. If they weren't sitting very still they were attacking each other quite ruthlessly.

Brush Cuckoo



Another one of the Brush Cuckoos

All three of the birds in the next two photos are regularly seen on the property, especially during the wet season. One solitary White-necked Heron is only ever seen at a time. The Pacific Black Ducks are very common and can be seen any day. They range from groups of 4 or so up to 40 or more.

White-necked Heron and a Pacific Black Duck

White-faced Heron

The Scaly-breasted Lorikeets are also very common on the property. I'm pleased that they are much more common than the Rainbow Lorikeets here. As the numbers of Rainbow Lorikeets increase in an area, sadly the number of Scaly-breasted Lorikeets decline as they are smaller and not as aggressive as the Rainbow Lorikeets.

 Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

The same Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

Around all the dams and creeks the Purple Swamphens can be regularly seen or heard. They are very numerous around the property all year round.

Purple Swamphen

Another common resident here are the Fairy-wrens. Since the floods there are definitely less around. I'm not sure if this is a direct effect of the flood or if possibly the Sparrowhawk that has moved in since the floods has been catching them in large numbers. They can still be heard any given day but there numbers have deteriorated. Hopefully over the coming months their numbers increase once again.

Juvenile Male Variegated Fairy-wren 

This Sparrowhawk moved onto the property after the floods. We have regularly seen the Grey and Brown Goshawks on the property which cause a lot of problems with the free range poultry, but they only seem to catch the poultry when they have chicks. After the chicks fledge, which they did nearly two months ago they seem to leave the animals alone. This Collared Sparrowhawk on the other hand has been harassing all the birds in the aviaries and all the poultry that are in pens. As soon as it spots me it flies off and lands in the trees in the distance. Hopefully he leaves them alone soon.

Collared Sparrowhawk

The Varied Trillers were first sighted about 6 months ago and have now taken up residence in one corner of the property. There numbers have nearly doubles since I started observing them. They can be seen regularly in this part of the property.



Female Varied Triller


More updates and pics regularly.

If you're interested in my blog check out my site below by clicking on the link.

Australian Birds KEUNEA PHOTOGRAPHY