Tag Archives: Black Shouldered Kite

Braeside Birding

Posted on September 26, 2016 | 2 comments

On the weekend I went for a walk around Braeside Park. I wanted to see if I could find any of the resident Tawny Frogmouths. I know quite a few of their regular roosting trees but with the breeding season well underway it can be a bit more difficult to find them. I only found one Tawny and it happened to be a large one sitting on a well made nest. The nests I have previously seen have been quite flimsy but this one looked more robust. Along with the Rainbow Lorikeets, and the nesting Tawny Frogmouth, I found a White-faced Heron, a wind-blown Black Shouldered Kite and a Wood Duck that seemed confused by my antics – I was standing on the walking path with my binoculars looking up into the trees looking for Tawny’s. I heard a squawk and just above me was the duck. It must have had a nest in the tree hollow or  it would not have stayed on the branch so close to me…

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Tawny Frogmouth, Braeside Park, Victoria

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White-faced Heron

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Black-shouldered Kite

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Australian Wood duck

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trying to figure out what I was doing…

 

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Posted in Bird Behaviour, Birds, Victoria

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A deadly hunt

Posted on August 14, 2016 | 4 comments

On a recent trip to the Western Treatment Plant, we saw and photographed a number of raptors including several Black-shouldered Kites. We drove along the lagoon tracks and found a kite feeding on a recently caught rat.  The kites favoured prey are the mice and rats that inhabit the long grass fringes of the lagoons at the treatment plant. The kite is one of the two Australian species of raptor that can hover above a hunting ground and drop with sudden speed onto its prey. (the blog’s image logo was a kite that was hunting and hovering). After it catches the rat, it then flies to a regular feeding post or branch and consumes the prey by tearing the rat apart and eating until the rat is small enough to swallow the rest whole. Rather gruesome but interesting to watch and photograph.

Black-shouldered Kite, Western Treatment Plant, Victoria

Black-shouldered Kite, Western Treatment Plant, Victoria

Black-shouldered Kite, Western Treatment Plant, Victoria

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Black-shouldered Kite, Western Treatment Plant, Victoria

Black-shouldered Kite with a rat

Black-shouldered Kite, Western Treatment Plant, Victoria

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Black-shouldered Kite, Western Treatment Plant, Victoria

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Black-shouldered Kite, Western Treatment Plant, Victoria

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Posted in Bird Behaviour, Birds, Victoria

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Hunters and Prey

Posted on July 16, 2015 | Leave a comment

The small birds are very aware of what is around and above them and are always on the lookout for the raptors that are everywhere at the Western Treatment Plant lagoons. The images below are from a few visits to the lagoons over the last several weeks. Even in winter it is a haven for many species of birds.

Superb Fairy Wren

Superb Fairy Wren

Superb Fairy Wren

Superb Fairy Wren

Little Grassbird

Little Grassbird

Zebra Finch, Western Treatment Plant,

Zebra Finch

Blue Winged Parrot

Blue Winged Parrot

Red Necked Avocet

Red Necked Avocet

Black Falcon

Black Falcon

Brown Falcon

Brown Falcon

Black Kite, Western Treatment Plant, Victoria

Black Kite

Black Shouldered Kite

Black Shouldered Kite

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On the Hunt

Posted on July 10, 2015 | Leave a comment

A very photogenic raptor – The Black Shouldered Kite. There are at least a dozen of them at the Western Treatment Plant at the moment. They catch mice and other smaller prey. There must be quite of bit of food around for them as they have started to nest already and it is only mid-winter here in Southern Victoria.

Click image to enlarge

Black Shouldered Kite, Western Treatment Plant

Black Shouldered Kite, Western Treatment Plant

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Flight

Posted on July 9, 2015 | 3 comments

A few images from one of the recent visits I have made to the Western Treatment Plant in the last month. It is a great place to photograph birds in flight – always a tough subject. There are many raptors always on the prowl that are constantly spooking the flocks on the water giving you opportunities to practice. The reaction of the flocks tell you that something good is above and you have to quickly spin around and look for the raptor that is causing the fuss. Some are ignored like the Black Shouldered Kite and others are taken very seriously – like the large mature Whistling Kites.

Click image to enlarge.

Pink Eared Ducks, Western Treatment Plant

Large flock of Pink Eared Ducks (aka Zebra Duck), Western Treatment Plant – one of my favourite ducks  – very photogenic and quite strange looking, and no other Aussie duck sounds like it.

Black Shouldered Kite, Western Treatment Plant

Black Shouldered Kite on the hunt – beautiful wing structure and displaying its black shoulder.

Whiskered Tern, Western Treatment Plant,

Whiskered Tern – two were flying and hunting along the lagoons and one would keep dive-bombing the other. This pic is of the lower tern avoiding its hunting partner that had just dived past it.

Black Kite, Western Treatment Plant

Black Kite – a different angle

Whistling Kite, Western Treatment Plant,

Whistling Kite prowling the lagoons.

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Posted in Bird Behaviour, Birds, Victoria

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A Hunter’s Gaze

Posted on May 19, 2015 | 3 comments

While looking for Tawny Frogmouths at Braeside Park recently, I spotted a Black Shouldered Kite at the top of a dead tree in one of the dried out lagoons. The Kite of course saw me immediately moving from the scrub out into the waist high grass and thistles towards the tree. I did not make eye contact as I moved slowly and just stopped a few times to take a few photos. In the end I was quite surprised at how close close I managed to get. I had to back up a bit so I could use my 400mm Lens. Every now and again he would look at me and then go back to gazing down, around and up. He never did spook and after I took my shots I turned around and went back through the thorns and thistles to the lakeside path. The Kite is a stunning bird and a very successful hunter of mice and other smaller birds and animals. Another of my top 10 birds.

Black Shouldered Kite

Black Shouldered Kite keeping an eye on me

Black Shouldered Kite

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Black Shouldered Kite

One of the smaller Raptors in Australia. It still has the large talons, sharp eyes and the hooked beak

Black Shouldered Kite

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Black Shouldered Kite

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Black Shouldered Kite

Black Shouldered Kite – his glance up told me that something was flying above me…

When I turned around and looked up I saw a half dozen large Australian Pelicans flying in a wingtip formation.

Pelicans

Australian Pelicans

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