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
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.
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 on the hunt – beautiful wing structure and displaying its black shoulder.
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 – a different angle
Whistling Kite prowling the lagoons.
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The Gap Year and Beyond 