Close view of Birds of Prey
This weekend I am in Clare in the mid-north of South Australia. My daughter teaches in the local high school and my wife is currently doing ten days of teaching there too.
Today we were invited to visit family in Jamestown, about 40 minutes north. We drove there in time for lunch and had a very pleasant afternoon sitting in the lovely sunshine. This was a complete contrast to some of the windy, cold and showery weather of recent weeks.
On our way back to Clare we had the delight of seeing two magnificent Wedge-tail Eagles gliding slowly across the road some thirty metres in front of the car. They were barely two metres off the ground. Several very frightened ducks (species unknown) were flying away at a great rate from the swampy ground near the roadside. I guess they figured that they might easily have been the eagles’ supper. The camera was in the back of the car, but they would have been well out of view before I’d stopped and switched it on.
On the journey up to Jamestown I saw plenty of Nankeen Kestrels soaring near or over the road as we drove along. I did not count them but there must have been about a dozen during the 70km trip.
Related article:
Wedge-tailed Eagles
13 Comments »24th July, 2008; Category: Eagles Hawks and Kites
On a recent trip to Adelaide I was delighted to see two Wedge-tailed Eagles soaring high over the freeway near Mt Barker. I have driven this route many hundreds of times over the last twenty five years but this is the first time I’ve seen this species while using the freeway.
This sighting was just north of the golf course and the Laratinga Wetlands area on the eastern edge of town. It is good to see that this species is surviving in an area of the Mt Lofty Ranges that is rapidly becoming swallowed by suburbia. Several thousand houses have been built in this area over the last decade.
I didn’t have my camera with me at the time. Moreover, I couldn’t legally stop at that point anyway. Instead I have included a photo of a captive Wedge-tailed Eagle taken by my son Sim’ at Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria.
Wedge Tailed Eagle - Healesville Sanctuary
An awesome sight
Hanging the washing out on the clothes line is often a very interesting birding time. It has the advantage of casting one’s eyes skywards and I have frequently been delighted with the sightings I’ve made during this otherwise mundane household chore.
Yesterday morning was one of those awesome moments not easily forgotten. I heard the alarm call of the resident New Holland Honeyeaters; this always prompts me to quickly scan the sky for any birds of prey lurking around.
I was just quick enough to see the final stages of the stoop of a Peregrine Falcon, wings swept right back, as it swept low over the trees heading for a small group of Common Starlings. I couldn’t see if it caught its breakfast.
The traffic past our property travels at about 80kph. This bird was going at least twice that speed.
What an awesome sight!
Pity I wasn’t quick enough to race inside, get the camera and take a photo.
Nature in the raw
On our daily early morning walks I usually take a keen interest in the birds seen and heard. Normally I see or hear only the most common birds around this area. On Friday, however, I was delighted to observe an Australian Hobby (also called Little Falcon) sitting on a dead branch atop a mallee tree on the side of the road we were walking on. It stayed sitting there watching us as we passed by, giving us very good views of its markings.
This morning the same bird (I presume) was sitting on the same branch. As we approached it zoomed off low through the roadside trees and began pursuing a Common Starling. I lost sight of the chase as they headed towards a nearby scrub. I hope that the falcon caught his breakfast. Common Starlings are an introduced feral bird here in Australia. They are also a pest species, taking food and nesting sites from our native species. Most people do not like them as they do great damage to fruit crops.
The Australian Hobby is widespread but not all that common in this area. It is therefore always good to see this magnificent species.
Australian Hobby
1 Comment »29th February, 2008; Category: Eagles Hawks and Kites
Last weekend we visited our daughter at Clare in the mid-north of South Australia. She was going away for the weekend and needed us to dog-sit for her. (You can read about the Adventures of Nancy – the dog with attitude here.) On the Saturday we went further north for a few hours to visit my wife’s sister in Peterborough. It had been quite a while since our last visit.
I didn’t have much opportunity to go birding while there; just a half hour in the garden before sunset was all. From previous visits over the years I have quite a healthy list for the district, about seventy species in all. On this occasion I only saw a few of the regulars: Galah, House Sparrow, Common Starling, Common Blackbird, Australian Magpie, Magpie Lark, Mallee Ringneck, Crested Pigeon, Yellow-throated Miner, and Red Wattlebird.
One unusual bird I saw was a single Australian Hobby (also called Little Falcon). This is one species I had not recorded for that area before. This bird was continually perching on a high television antenna (Peterborough is a long way from the nearest station) and then swooping down to attempt to catch its prey. At no stage did I see it catch or eat anything. This continued for about ten minutes while I watched it, before it flew off elsewhere.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a photo of the bird as it was about a hundred metres away.
Further reading:
- Australian Hobby
- What is your hobby? This article and the comments discusses the origins of the name “hobby.”