26 Mar 2016 Werribee water treatment plant

Today was the day for Whistling Kites. I have made many trips to the "poo farm" and it seems that on any given day one species is very common. The next time its another bird. We must have seen dozens of whistlers today.

But there plenty of other bird out today. Werribee is wonderful for raptors and we saw a black shouldered kite.

We were busy trying to snap a goldfinch when a collared sparrowhawk did just that, literally. She flew from the adjacent tree, picked up a finch, returned to her tree and dismantled her prey feather by feather. And the other finches stayed up, chattering. I would be a long way from there!

But its not all about the big raptors. One of the cutest birds of the day was this glorious golden headed cisticola, taken by the bird hide on the bay

Welcome to Stuart Riley's bird blog

Welcome to my new blog. I have become a bird watcher then photographer over the past few years. I think its a sign of aging! I find it a really peaceful thing to do - it takes me away from the pressures of life. We all run around like idiots in the big City, maybe the birds have got it right.

I live in Melbourne, Australia. I am a full time musician, working with three professional orchestras as a free lancer. And between the sessions I take my camera to see what I can find. In 2016 I got a bit more serious with the hardware, buying a Canon EOS80D to go with my Tamron 150-600mm zoom. I sometimes use a tripod and do a little post processing on Lightroom.

The aim of this blog is to share shots and locations of birds and other wildlife. I have benefitted from finding birds thro web forums and blogs - I hope other people may do the same from this one. And if you just want to look at some pictures of our glorious wildlife here in Australia then you go for it

Stuart