20 Sep 2016 Woodlands

It was a beautiful spring day at Woodlands with lots of flowers and wildlife out. Good news for photographers. The roos were active...

Watched a grey shrike thrush drop to the ground, pick up a juicy caterpillar, fly back to a branch then put on a show as he ate it.

In this nest is a yellow rumped thornbill

And this is a better shot of the male, fetching either nesting materials or food

Not for the first time a little eagle was circling overhead, looking for prey

And the final two birds might be common but they are stunning all the same. First a cockatoo

And it wouldn't be spring without another shot of a male superb fairy wren

19 Sep 2016 Newstead

I nipped up to Castlemaine to get some work done on one of the basses and popped across to Newstead on the way home. Its a great spot for wildlife, especially birds. The Loddon had overflowed in the week, it was on the way back down when I got there.

A superb fairy wren in full voice

White plumbed honeyeaters can be tricky to photograph as they don't hang around long, but this one obliged

The aptly named SilverEyes are very cute...

And a cute weebill made an appearance

And finally, down by the bridge over the Loddon a couple of red rumped parrots were busy in a tree. they didn't seem overly bothered by me

18 Sep 2016 Princes Hill Wattle Chicks

The chicks have hatched. Mum has left the nest and if frantically fetching food for the two hungry mouths

11 Sep 2016 Bald Hills

Today was a day for forest birds at Bald Hills. I think this is a brown thornbill, but it looks like many of the other thornbills. There were heaps of them darting from tree to tree, very difficult to capture, but I got a few decent shots among the photos of just a tree!

I was lucky enough to watch this grey shrike thrush pecking the tree bark for bugs, and come up with one

I think this is a varied sitella, a new sighting for me

A yellow faced honeyeater

And finally, what looks to be a striated pardelote nest

6 Sep 2016 Princes Hill

A pair of red wattlebirds have nested in our next door neighbour's garden in Princes Hill (Nth Carlton). We hope for chicks soon...

28 Aug 2016 Woodlands

Some bird sites are consistent - you know what you are going to see more or less. Woodlands is incredibly varied. Other blog entries show lots of raptors on previous visits - not today. It was all about roos and smaller birds.

Spotted pardelotes present but are harder to find and Woodlands but striated pardelotes are more common

The red rumped parrots seem to be pairing up for Spring

Long billed corellas are quite common but this was a first sighting and shot for me

And his big relative the Sulphur crested cockatoo put on a bit of a show

And finally a two headed kangaroo!

20 Aug 2016 The Briars, Mornington Peninsula

Whilst doing a series of concerts at the Beleura Homestead on Mornington Peninsula I nipped over to a few birding sites inbetween the gigs. One of them was The Briars. I didn't have much time but will return - the wildlife is awesome.

Common Bronzewings are anything other than being common. They are beautiful birds with remarkable wing colours

The eastern yellow robin might be seen regularly but its still an awesome bird. Its bright yellow tummy reminds me of the red robins from the UK. Its remarkable it survives as it stands out against the bush.

And this wallaby was just about tame - I got within a metre or so and it didn't seem to bother. I had to move further away to get a good shot with the big lens