Birds (feathered ones)

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by .:4:.

Ill pass on that. Its bad enough when i peragrin falcon just wants an inpection. Im no avion expert, but i beleive when the dive bomb another bird like say a homing pigeon, theyre one of the fastest in the world.
My apprentice at the time, knowing about the falcon and seeing about from inside refused to go on the roof with the lightning protection guy and myself. But after we came down was showing me videos off the youtube of eagles vs mountain goats. Food chain stuff really. Mountain goats are heavy, but the eagles drag them off the cliff face and drop them. Its savage but interesting about the adaptive hunting method.

There's a cliff walk around to Pearl Baech from Ettalong. We would ride this single track to get to Patonga mountain bike trail and do a loop back to Phegans Bay where we lived once. The Falcons there were beautiful to watch.
Once we came upon a fledgling that had fallen down from the nest, we wrap him in a towel we had which didn't have our scent on, so I could clamber up the cliff face and stick him back in while there was no sign of momma. We waited as momma returned and just simply fed the little bugger with the others non the wiser.
They say the parents will always reject the young if handled by humans but we disproved this there and then.
The old Pacific Hwy around Calga (mid week) is the perfect place to spot a Wedgetail on the ground feeding. Massive birds. We were lucky to see this several times riding there.

[asagaai]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Isn't that a Kakka, spotted a large colony on Steward Island when I was there.

Great pic.

My mornings spot, was a family of grey crown Babbler and the usual group of white winged Choughs.

Actually the New Zealand Parrot is a "Kea" a large parrot that is said to be the smartest bird on the planet, with intelligence equivalent to a monkey.

They are alpine and forest birds.

The ones that were on the summit of Ben Lomond that I had contact with were bluddy smart. The big ones sussed you out, looked into your eyes, and once made connection came real close - almost like little dogs.


That little teenager, when he was playing with my pack and went over to make sure he was not damaging it, looked at me and saw I was watching and made sure he was playing gently with my pack. So I left him- thinking Oh no harm he is just curious about the colour and fabric.

It was when I got distracted taking photos and looking at views and Mt Cook that the little bugger went bezerk with the rubber badge, knowing I was not paying attention. Actually come to think of it, he probably took a fancy to the badge and was trying to steal it.

[Tonz]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Isn't that a Kakka, spotted a large colony on Steward Island when I was there.

Great pic.

My mornings spot, was a family of grey crown Babbler and the usual group of white winged Choughs.

Kea nasty little shots. perverted too, they have a delight in removing rubber things, windscreen wiper blades, mirror edging,

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Tonz

Kea nasty little shots. perverted too, they have a delight in removing rubber things, windscreen wiper blades, mirror edging,

Yeah that's right I remember people complaining about them.
Ones on Steward Is were Kaka parrots, smaller.

Reckon I could live there. (well in Summer) no room for trucks but.

[Rallye Sport]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Wait till you see a Wedgetail Eagle up close.

Awesome bird, had an up close experience with one recently.

We've been getting plagues of white Corella's on the golf course. I don't have a problem with them as such, with all the housing development going on in the area they've got no where else to go. They are destructive though and will destroy a whole green in a matter of an hour.
We hired a wedgie and its handler to give them a scare. We brought him out onto the fairway and with one flap of its wings all hell broke loose as thousands of corella's scattered for their lives. Its worked a charm, we get him back once a fortnight and fly an eagle shaped kite if they start getting destructive in the meantime.

[stock1991]

male peregrine, in falcons, in most birds of prey the females are always bigger

[xkxlxm]

During lock down I ventured out on a back road past Bacchus Marsh towards Ballan. Virtually no traffic. There was a dead kangaroo, a biggish one, on the side of the road with an eagle taking some free food. I stopped, the eagle flew to the fence on the other side of the narrow road and I stuffed around too long to get a photo before it flew off. I dragged the kangaroo as far as I could off the road.

It's not uncommon for me to see dead raptors on the side of the Western Highway. I guess they get hit by cars as they come down to eat something or as they take off. I saw one three or four weeks ago. It would be interesting to stop and see what they were but I don't really want to see it.

Sometimes I will stop to throw dead rabbits as far away from the road as I can.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by xkxlxm

Sometimes I will stop to throw dead rabbits as far away from the road as I can.

That also applies to food thrown out of car windows, and some stupid road cyclists who think its OK to throw banana skins on the road.
Will always attract poor animals to their own demise.

[ford71V8]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Wait till you see a Wedgetail Eagle up close.

I'll say...wow.
Story time.
I was driving to and from Woomera for work many years ago. Had hired the then new EL Falcon station wagon.
Driving home one late arvo and came across some roadkill sitting on the road. I would sound the horn on approach to scare off all the birds feeding...beep beep and they would scatter. This time though they unusually flew towards me rather than away. Then it was like a movie scene. There was this shadow that came across and then this eagle landed on the road next to the dead roo. I slowed right down, I had never seen a bird so large (ok, emus). This eagle put one foot on the roo and friggin stared me down. I was very much WTF?! I drive slowly towards and then past thus bird and it just glared at me, turning its neck as I crawled past.Think of the height of the passenger window of a Falcon wagon....this bird was standing and looking in at me. I was a bit freaked out, not gonna lie, intimidated by a bird alone in the outback
That was some time ago, and Ive never forgotten it, and never seen another that size or close up since

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by xkxlxm

During lock down I ventured out on a back road past Bacchus Marsh towards Ballan. Virtually no traffic. There was a dead kangaroo, a biggish one, on the side of the road with an eagle taking some free food. I stopped, the eagle flew to the fence on the other side of the narrow road and I stuffed around too long to get a photo before it flew off. I dragged the kangaroo as far as I could off the road.

It's not uncommon for me to see dead raptors on the side of the Western Highway. I guess they get hit by cars as they come down to eat something or as they take off. I saw one three or four weeks ago. It would be interesting to stop and see what they were but I don't really want to see it.

Sometimes I will stop to throw dead rabbits as far away from the road as I can.

I remember years ago going to Australia Zoo, where they had a female Wedgie on display, including an active display. Unfortunately, the female was injured in a car accident and was never going to be able to fend for herself in the wild, so a permanent resident.

During the handling exhibit, I distinctly recall them saying that Wedgies were prone to being hit by cars because of the way they shielded their catch from others. In the wild, they would shield their catch from other birds and competitors so that they couldn't see it. However, with a car, of course, most drivers would expect the bird to fly off before they got there, but Wedgies just wouldn't move.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by ford71V8

I'll say...wow.
Story time.
I was driving to and from Woomera for work many years ago. Had hired the then new EL Falcon station wagon.
Driving home one late arvo and came across some roadkill sitting on the road. I would sound the horn on approach to scare off all the birds feeding...beep beep and they would scatter. This time though they unusually flew towards me rather than away. Then it was like a movie scene. There was this shadow that came across and then this eagle landed on the road next to the dead roo. I slowed right down, I had never seen a bird so large (ok, emus). This eagle put one foot on the roo and friggin stared me down. I was very much WTF?! I drive slowly towards and then past thus bird and it just glared at me, turning its neck as I crawled past.Think of the height of the passenger window of a Falcon wagon....this bird was standing and looking in at me. I was a bit freaked out, not gonna lie, intimidated by a bird alone in the outback
That was some time ago, and Ive never forgotten it, and never seen another that size or close up since

Huge buggers when their wings extent for take off.
One of the ones we encountered was right at the top of old Pacific Hwy climb up from Mooney Mooney bridge. We had ridden a pretty good place from the bottom challenging each other, just as we topped the crest, a wedgey had been feeding on roadkill so we unfortunately startled it. To take off they need to face into the wind which was from behind us so it seemed at the time , it was about to attack us. Turns out it needed the space as a runway to gain lift. It would have missed us by around 3 mtrs over our heads. Another reason why they are likely to be hit while on the ground.

Such a great place to ride at the time due to the road being closed due to landslide, they took years to fix at Cheero Point, was a sanctuary for wildlife.
Down at the bottom of the climb (near Mooney Mooney bridge) is one of the straightest and most beautiful blue gum tree.
Probably still my all time favourite tree we have spotted.

[.:4:.]

So this isnt overly interesting. Yes owls and a few nocturnal birds can see in the dark, the majority cant. Hence why birds arent really around after dark.
So my olds had a holiday house in culburra beach. Drive south from sydney, get to nowra and turn left. So about 30 minutes from nowra. In the warmer months, one stretch of road with bushland both sides, at night it wasnt uncommon at all to wang atleast 1 bird on that stretch. Reason being, the road surface was warm so insects loved it. Tree lined stretch of road so birds sat in there, cars with high beams on or people with spotties. The birds could now see the insects in the dark, go for a feed and pow.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by .:4:.

So this isnt overly interesting. Yes owls and a few nocturnal birds can see in the dark, the majority cant. Hence why birds arent really around after dark.
So my olds had a holiday house in culburra beach. Drive south from sydney, get to nowra and turn left. So about 30 minutes from nowra. In the warmer months, one stretch of road with bushland both sides, at night it wasnt uncommon at all to wang atleast 1 bird on that stretch. Reason being, the road surface was warm so insects loved it. Tree lined stretch of road so birds sat in there, cars with high beams on or people with spotties. The birds could now see the insects in the dark, go for a feed and pow.

Poor things, always find owls are cool. There's a great forest ride to Culburra Beach from Nowra.

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by roKWiz

Poor things, always find owls are cool. There's a great forest ride to Culburra Beach from Nowra.

It was never owls, just normal birds, so high beams on then they dart down infront of a car doing 80 in the 80 zone. Pretty sure owls eat rodents not insects.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by .:4:.

It was never owls, just normal birds, so high beams on then they dart down infront of a car doing 80 in the 80 zone. Pretty sure owls eat rodents not insects.

I've seen Owls eat insects, Tawny Frogmouths, one example.

[.:4:.]

That guy was in my yard, busted wing.
Tawney frogmouth. I called wires and a nice lady took it away to be rehabilitated. I gave wires a $50 donation.

[Tonz]

over this way, if your driving around 70 -75kph and on dirt roads don't be surprised to have a pigeon/dove, fly in front of your windscreen. I've had one did it for about 800meters, then they simply swing off to the side.

[xkxlxm]

Yesterday I took a train trip out west ... I saw what was probably an eagle being chased by a smaller bird but it was a bit far from the train to be sure; I saw some smaller raptors, probably kites or hobbies (looking at my book). On the way back I saw a pair of similar grey/white-ish birds; also three yellow tail black cockatoos and a New Holland honey eater.

[290GTP]

We found a very water logged Osprey behind our backyard last year during an Eastcoast low. He couldn't fly anymore than a few metres at a time & was clearly exhausted. The missus managed to throw a blanket over him & we called Wires who took him away saying that his chances of survival were slim.

Anyway, about a week later the same bird (not the feathered one, the one from Wires) rings us to let us know that the Osprey has made a full recovery & would we like to watch him being released down at the beach near our place. Hell yeah.

Got some real crappy pics from my phone.

[xkxlxm]

That would have been very satisfying to see.

[roKWiz]

So glad you saved him.

[290GTP]

It was surprising to see how big he actually was when he was released, quite majestic.

He flew around for a bit, then landed at the waters edge & started to guzzle sea water. Apparently this is normal for an Osprey.

[xkxlxm]

If it could, it would have said a big, big "thank you" to you and your wife and its wings look big enough to give you a hug.

[stock1991]

Just posting this for anyone interested, it's nesting season in Australia and this is one nest webcam. She has just laid eggs and unless you catch them changing egg sitting duties it will be pretty boring for about a month. Once the eggs hatch though it's kind of like blink and you miss it, they go from blind and helpless to fully grown feathered and left the nest in roughly 30 days

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtG3qakph4w

[xkxlxm]

This morning, 8:15 Am, saw a fox in the park (not the first time). It ran away and there was at least one magpie following (chasing?) it. Later I saw a wallaby which I guess could be hunted by a fox.

[hawkgirl]

Cool thread.

Tawny Frogmouths are not owls, hence they eat insects. They are from the Nightjar family.

Im lucky enough to live in a very rural area, and get lots of birds here. The field guide & binos are never far from the door.

On most days, there are fairy wrens, finches, silvereyes, pardalotes, king parrots and the usual suspects of kookaburras, cockies, galahs, rosellas.
Recently spotted a yellow robin, and have a common bronzewing nesting in the apple gum in the paddock.
Have had this large mottled brown bird here on and off. Has a voice like nails down a blackboard. Only when i caught it picking through the white stones on the path and stealing the nicest ones did i realise it was a bowerbird.

[xkxlxm]

I guess the 'theft' of stones is something you can tolerate ... Five years ago I would never have seen a king parrot but they have started to appear here. Usually one, maybe two, but once in the park I saw seven or eight together. Bronzewings are also in the park. I used to hear this weird call sound; it was hard to pinpoint where it was coming from or how far away it was but it's the bronzewing.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by xkxlxm

I guess the 'theft' of stones is something you can tolerate ... Five years ago I would never have seen a king parrot but they have started to appear here. Usually one, maybe two, but once in the park I saw seven or eight together. Bronzewings are also in the park. I used to hear this weird call sound; it was hard to pinpoint where it was coming from or how far away it was but it's the bronzewing.

Love the call they make in the forests, that very low frequency OOM, repeated a few times.
Noticed I have my friendly pair of Currawongs back nesting at the moment. She'll take on the Maggies and Ravens (and me sometimes) to defend her territory.

[Cav]

Seagull

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Cav

Seagull

image

Where ?