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Collared Sparrowhawk near Balyang.

November 16, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Yesterday, Sethy and I had a quick adventure at Balyang. I knew we wouldn’t have much chance to look at birds so I didn’t really try. My main goal was to be an awesome aunty. We ended up finding so many different species of bugs, which I will post about later.

We quickly went to the boardwalk at Yollinko wetlands. I had tried to get out of it so we could go home. I’m so glad we did because GUESS WHAT WE FOUND!

I heard a noise and looked up. Two red wattlebirds were flying away. I saw a shape in a tree that didn’t look right. It looked a bit too large and had a weird posture. I asked Sethy to be quiet and took about 50 photos. Through the lens, I was able to tell it was a bird of prey. I couldn’t tell what type. It was so difficult to focus because of the trees and leaves between me and the bird.

The photos show it eating something. I’m assuming it is a rabbit, I do see a number of them when walking to Balyang. It was just so unusual to see it in an area that is so close to suburbia. I’ve seen a black kite on a light pole near the bridge but that seemed to make more sense.

I don’t know if this is unusual for the area. A birding friend had seen the same species near Queens Park weeks earlier.

This experience was awesome. Not only because Sethy got a new lifer, but because I’m finally able to tell the difference between sparrowhawks and goshawks. I’m learning that I can’t just learn from a book, I need to experience it for it to make sense. I’m loving birding so much at the moment.

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Filed Under: Barwon River, Geelong Tagged With: balyang, collared sparrowhawk

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