At this time of year, the number of raptors at the Western Treatment Plant are steadily building up. It can be a good place to practice your flight photography. Along with the raptors that search the ponds and lagoons for prey there are many flocks of ducks and terns .
Brown Falcon, Western Treatment Plant,
Juvenile Sea Eagle flying over the car and spooking 1000s of Pink Eared Ducks
Black Kite
Whiskered Tern
Whiskered Tern flock hawking for insects near the surface of the ponds
The day can be cold, wet and windy out at the Western Treatment Plant but when the sun comes out and the wind calms down, a little Golden Headed Cisticola comes out to sing and compete with his fellow Cisticolas for territories and mates.
You Yangs, Western Treatment Plant
Golden Headed Cisticola, Western Treatment Plant
My turn to sing
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Eastern Spinebill perched waiting for snacks to come his way….
Eastern Spinebill, Langwarrin,
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With Spring in full swing, everywhere I go at the moment I am seeing signs of the change of season and birds well into a new breeding season. I watched for a while as Australian White Ibis started to claim spots on the roosting platforms at the Coolart Wetlands. Ibis would claim a spot and then defend it against new fly-ins with much show and bravado, leaping at each other and snapping away with their long bills. While I was watching at the bird hide a curious Yellow-Faced Honeyeater popped onto a stump in front of my viewing spot to investigate the strange object poking out of the hide and making all the clicking noise.
White Ibis, Coolart Wetlands
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White Ibis defending his patch against interlopers
Curious Yellow Faced Honeyeater, Coolart Wetlands
Flowering Green She-Oak, Coolart Wetlands
The Shining Bronze Cuckoo is the worlds smallest Cuckoo. They are often heard in woodlands but not often seen. The Cuckoo is parasitic, laying a single egg in the nest of small Thornbills, Gerygones and Scrubwrens. The new parent then raises the chick as its own. The one below I found at the Coolart Wetlands watching a small group of Brown Thornbills.
Shining Bronze Cuckoo – well camouflaged
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I followed the sound of the Kookaburras hoping to get a clear shot of one. In the forests they don’t tend to let you get too close. I found this one enjoying some late afternoon sun. After a few moments he noticed something behind me and took off and flew straight at me, swerving at the last second and down onto the path 10 or so meters behind me, pouncing onto some prey and then flying back up into the trees.
Kookaburra, Moorooduc Quarry
Kookaburra spotting prey (or my hat)
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At this time of year one of the predominate sounds of the woodlands behind the Australia Gardens at the Cranbourne Botanical Gardens comes from the White Eared Honeyeater. It has a variety of distinctive calls and can be quite photogenic when it stays still long enough. It makes a low level, deep, thick sided bowl type nest and lines it with animal fur and hair. We found the Honeyeater below collecting spider webs for its nest.
White Eared Honeyeater, Cranbourne Botanical Gardens
White Eared Honeyeater collecting spider webs for nesting material
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With so many Honeyeaters it is little wonder that we also heard and saw Fan Tailed Cuckoos. The nests of White Eared Honeyeaters are parasitised by Fan Tailed Cuckoos.
Fan-Tailed Cuckoo, Cranbourne Botanical Gardens
New Holland Honeyeaters dominate the formal parts of the Cranbourne Botanical Gardens. They are generally easy to get a nice image of but it can be much more time consuming trying to get a shot with a bit of personality. Many of the native plants are flowering at the moment so there are good opportunities to find an ideal bush with nectar filled flowers and wait for a Honeyeater to turn up. Many times they land on a high point behind you, you notice, you spin around and it takes off, then you curse yourself as you realise you just missed the shot that was right in front of you. I recently visited with a few bird photography friends and we had a challenging time attempting to find “the” shot – a never ending quest. It seems harder to get a good shot, that you are happy with, of a fairly common subject while often we seem happier with average shots of a rarer subject.
New Holland Honeyeater, Cranbourne Botanical Gardens
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Olive Backed Oriole, Cranbourne Botanical Gardens – a rare bird for me, only seen a few times before.
There is nothing like a nice afternoon bath in a small fresh puddle – perfect temperature, perfect depth. This New Holland Honeyeater was one of several birds that made quick flights into the water. After a quick dip and a splash around it would take off to a nearby branch to groom and then back into the water again. Bathing, grooming and keeping the feathers in good condition are extremely important to birds. It is fun and challenging to try and take decent images when the opportunity arises…
Bathing New Holland Honeyeater, Cranbourne Botanical Gardens,
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Spotted Pardalotes are tiny colourful birds that mostly feed in the tree canopy. They have quite a distinctive call but are not often seen. During the breeding season they come down from the trees and rather than build a nest in the branches they dig a small tunnel in a sandy bank – the tunnel has a small mouse sized opening but can be a metre long. I found this little family trying out a bank near where I happened to be photographing a family of nesting Yellow Robins. They had dug a few test holes and were looking at each others work. For such a shy bird they were very focussed on the potential nest holes and ignored my presence.
Female Pardalote, Moorooduc Quarry
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Male Pardalote, Moorooduc Quarry
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Above the Pardalotes were three White-naped Honeyeaters chasing each other. This one stopped and watched the Pardalotes for a while. The White-nape has a interesting call and bright Orange eye marking.
White Naped Honeyeater, Moorooduc Quarry
Moorooduc Quarry is fast becoming one of my favourite places to bird. It is a compact site with a variety of vegetation and landscapes and many bird species.
On the latest visit to check in on the Yellow Robin family I found the Robin now sitting on eggs in the nest.
Brooding Eastern Yellow Robin.
Keeping a careful eye on me – I kept my distance
I also found a few regulars and a new one for my site records – a Bassian Thrush – a speckled bird a little larger than a blackbird that loves to forage in the understory of thick cooler forests. While I was trying to photograph the Yellow Robins it popped out to see what the fuss was – posed for a few moments and then dashed back into the thick scrub. I have rarely seen a Bassian Thrush and this is only the second time I have been fast enough to get a photo.
Bassian Thrush, Moorooduc Quarry
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Grey Butcherbird watching the antics of the Galahs
Female Galah watching the nearby group of male Galahs, Moorooduc Quarry
Male Galah enjoying some dandelion seed heads.
In a follow-up visit to the Moorooduc Quarry to check on the progress of the little Eastern Yellow Robin nest, I found a completed nest, many other birds and another Drey (they seem to be popping out everywhere now I know they exist). A busy flock of Male Golden Whistlers came through and it soon became a little crazy with birds flying everywhere. The Robins were trying to protect their patch and the male Whistlers seem to be chasing each other. A few Brown Thornbills dropped into the mix as well to check out the fuss.
Eastern Yellow Robin in a typical perched hunting pose…ready to pounce on its prey from above.
Eastern Yellow Robin II
The completed nest of our Eastern Yellow Robin, made of paperbark strips and camouflaged with moss and lichen held in place by spider web netting – amazing engineering
One of the bright male Golden Whistlers that moved through the Robin’s nest area…
A curious Brown Thornbill, watching the action
A possum Drey, Moorooduc Quarry
Moorooduc Quarry is a very good site for woodlands birds and for the Peregrine Falcon. The quarry is cut out from a hillside in Mt Eliza and from the top has vast views of the surrounding countryside. With such great views and an abundance of potential prey it is no wonder that the Peregrines can be found here all year round. They also breed at the site each year.
On a recent visit I walked into the quarry and looked for the Peregrines amongst the tall dead trees that overhang at the top of the cliffs. Spotting a Peregrine on a tall tree near one of the tracks that circle the lip of the quarry I thought I would try my luck and sneak up for a photo. I am pretty sure he watched me all the way, gave me a bit of chance for a photo through the fringing bushes and then took off and flew to the other side of the quarry. When the Peregrine took off he just leaned forward and dropped straight down to build up speed, glided for a while and then flew up to the other side.
Near the top of the Quarry, Moorooduc Quarry Flora and Fauna Reserve
View into part of the lake at Moorooduc
Peregrine Falcon – a regular at the site, watching me puff my way up the steep track.
Dropping straight down the cliff edge to build up speed.
With only a few days to go until Spring officially starts, the local trees and Ducks are right on schedule. A late afternoon walk along Elster Creek to see what was about started with trying to find the Lorikeets I could hear in the flowering tree that hangs over the fence in my backyard into the creek. The Rainbow Lorikeets were feeding on the small white flowers and seemed to be enjoying the sun. They allowed me to get quite close before they flew onto the next flowering tree.
Rainbow Lorikeet, Elster Creek, Elwood
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At the local wetlands lake I ran into a birding friend Gio, and we walked along the banks together planning our next day trip into the bush. We came across a family of Wood Ducks that had nested nearby and were now raising 10 checks. Wood Ducks have quite large families and I think it is needed as quite a few chicks are taken by many predators. Wood Ducks are usually pretty calm around people and just wander back to the water if you approach but these adults were much more nervous of us and took to the water straight away.
Female Wood Duck and Chicks, Elster Creek
Is the male Wood Duck sticking his tongue out at me?
The Australian Garden is located at Cranbourne and is part of the Royal Botanic Gardens. It is dedicated to Australian plants and landscapes and displays the various regions of Australia and its native plants. A great place to take visitors. It has large formal created gardens and larger areas of open natural parkland, woodlands, heathlands and even wetlands. It has many species of birds and quite a few Black or Swamp Wallabies as well as Wombats and Echidnas. I have visited a few times in the last couple of weeks. The previous Post at this site was about the Bandicoots that I had photographed. [I have since found out that the Bandicoot without the tail and the healed scars is called Stumpy and is a regular at the Stringybark Picnic area.
Australian Garden, Royal Botanical Gardens, Cranbourne – red centre section
Black Fronted Dotterel – a pair were working the waters edge along one of the ponds
By far the most abundant bird in the formal part of the Garden is the New Holland Honeyeater. Due to their numbers and ready food source available with the flowering Australian natives they are a great target for taking photos.
New Holland Honeyeater
New Holland Honeyeater
New Holland Honeyeater
New Holland Honeyeater on a standard weeping Grevillea.
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A pair of New Holland Honeyeaters – spring was definitely in the air…
The Gap Year and Beyond 