Winding up the Week

It has been a busy week but I have still managed a few bird walks. On Wednesday I walked Boys Walk and was despairing of getting any photos at all. There were plenty of birds around but they were all too fast or two shy to photograph. Then I managed to find a little Brown Gerygone in the sunlight against a dark background. In 15 seconds I had half a dozen photographs and then the moment was gone.

They were in a playful mood with a lot of chasing going on so I suspect that they may be courting. But even courting birds have to stop for breath at times and with a bit of luck those pauses are near enough for me to photograph them.

A pair of Eastern Rosellas flew in for a feed of Privet berries and were almost oblivious of my presence. They are usually fairly difficult to approach and I think the fact that I was fairly still when they flew in helped. They were aware of my presence but continued to eat while I photographed them.

The Grey Butcherbird near the factory was active. I did not see the immature bird this time. They are usually in the trees between the factory and the sewerage treatment ponds.

There are one or two Fantail Cuckoos calling in the area most mornings. Apart from the one I photographed a couple of weeks ago, I have not sighted them. For a bird that makes such a distinctive call, they can be rather difficult to see.

On Thursday I had to take Danny to the Berkeley Vale Hopsital for a medical procedure, so I went to Chittaway Bay to see what birds were around. I found the little flock of Red-rumped Parrots that are known to live in the area. This one is an immature male I think. I have another photograph of the same bird with a single red feather on its rump. There were adult birds present as well but I did not get a clear photograph of them.

A cheeky Willie Wagtail came quite close to me and I took some rather nice photographs of it against a dark background. I like the lighting on this one.

One of the main reasons for going to Chittaway Bay is to try and photograph Little Egrets fishing. I had hoped to get them doing their wing-flapping act but apart from one episode when I first saw it, this one was quite content to fish more like a Great Egret. I photographed some nice spashes to compensate. These photographs were taken at 1/1000th of a second to stop the motion of the water.

A White-faced Heron in breeding plumage was stalking the shallows as well. I don't think that there is any difference in the male and female plumage but this one appeared to be posturing in spite of the fact that I could not see a mate around.

 It was interesting to see both the heron and egret using similar fishing tactics. They would stand in one location and paddle one foot up and down stirring up the bottom. My guess is that they are looking for the little transparent shimp that we often see here (glass shrimp).

 There were several Black-winged Stilts feeding along the foreshore as well. It was almost 4:30pm and the light was fading by the time I saw them. I wish I could find flocks of them like I found several years ago. They make stunning in-flight photographs when they wheel around. They often fly around and come back where they started.