Friday, November 4, 2016

25 Sep 16 Woodlands














Spring was very much in the air today. The yellow rumped thornbill was busy catching and transporting tasty bugs to his female in the nest.












And they might be 'common' starlings but they are still beautiful. This one by a opening in a tree which could well be a nest.















And finally a rufous whistler



24 Sep 16 Eurasian coot nest Manningham Wetlands, Parkville
















The coots have a nest with three eggs, possibly more. The female spends a lot of time on the eggs but occasionally rises to allow me a quick photo. Hopefully they all hatch OK soon. Watch this space!

23 Sep 2016 Peregrine Falcons at Valley Lake, Keilor










Valley Lake is a new housing estate in East Keilor, a suburb of Melbourne. Properties are being built on the site of the disused Niddrie Quarry. The vertical cliff face is perfect for peregrines. Thank
Anna Lanigan for putting me onto the peregrines via the Facebook group Birds of Oz, a wonderful forum.

Today was my first visit to check out the peregrines and it took a while to find them but they were there OK. The female is low on the nest, which I guess means she has an egg or more then one. The male was out hunting as the pictures show.






23 Sep 2016 The tawnys are returning!














In another sign of Spring, our tawny frogmouth has start to return to Princes Hill. The two previous years have seen two adults appear with one or more chicks on or around Melbourne Cup day in early Nov. This year to date we have only seen a single adult, so hopefully the other is in the nest right now raising a chick that we will see soon. Watch this space!