white faced heron

Baby Herons: After The Floods

October 31, 2016 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

I first spotted the nest in September and was hoping it was still intact. The wild weather has been destroying a number of nests in the region.

I was so happy to see them in the nest and it turned out I wasn’t the only one. There were two other people there, including a lady with a telephoto lens.

I think they are 3-4 weeks old and hopefully should be fledging soon. I managed to see the fledglings last year however missed them in the nest. 😉 If you look closely, you’ll see I even managed to get both birds pooping. Now THAT is a skill.

Cockatoos and Corellas Starting To Fledge At Balyang. With Bonus Poo shots.

November 24, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Those that know me know that I’ve been after the elusive bird poop shots. They’ve heard be ranting about the near misses. They’ve nodded in support when I’ve actually gotten one. They’ve feigned interested at the appropriate moments.

At Balyang last week, I was fortunate enough to get THREE shite shots in one morning. This has been unprecedented. I’ve been trying to get all three of these birds for a while. I can watch the cormorants for 30 minutes without much luck. If they do go, they’d go when I was itching my face.

The following shots are weird. I also think they are hilarious. Glenn has commented that they almost look fake.

Nah. I got pooped on twice by little birdies trying to get these, so they are definitely real.

Young long billed corella

I noticed that the corellas had left a hollow that they had been in for some time, and that a sulpher crested cockatoo had moved in. I didn’t know whether this was normal and hoped all was okay.

Sethy and I were at Balyang when I saw this. Alas, we were too busy looking for bugs and they weren’t there the next day.

I’ve also seen little corellas in the area. Regardless of species, that sulpher crested cockatoo doesn’t like any of them getting to close to its hollow. It was frequently scaring birds off.

Smaller birds

Again, lots of smaller birds flittering about. Got this white plumed honeyeater with breakfast.

Below is probably the lovely lorikeet that defecated on me. Oh well. Shit happens.

I was also fortunate the get photos of the juvenile white faced heron. They loved hanging around the mating tree for a while but I am noticing them venturing further away. 🙂 They’ve done a good job staying safe.

Cockatoo

I was looking at the cockatoos in the mating tree when I noticed some weird behaviour. It looked one of them was feeding the other. I watched for a little while longer… and saw a third head pop out! I’m guessing it must be fledging season for cacatuas. Good on them 🙂

Whew! So many updates from just the Barwon River area recently. Who knew that there could be so much activity in such a small space? I missed out on so much during the years I lived near there.

Yummy Photos at Buckley Falls

November 23, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

One of the main reasons we visited Buckley Falls last week was to look for skinks. Lets face it, a 7 year old kid has different priorities. We did see a couple but didn’t have much luck with catching them. We settled playing in a little ‘rock pool’ area. It’s where there are are a bunch of rocks that lead to really small falls. A lot of water gets pooled between some of the rocks and it’s a popular place for kids to play.

I was half watching Seth and half looking around me when I noticed the friendly kookaburra had returned. The initial photos just showed a blur between branches. That was fine, I just needed to confirm the species for ebird. Then I noticed – he/she was hunting!

In the following series of shots, you can see that the kookaburra managed to catch a skink. It isn’t the clearest shot – not like the kingfisher with a skink at Yea wetlands. Still, it was pretty exciting. A shame it also caught that bit of reed at the same time.

White Faced Heron Eating

The kookaburra wasn’t the only highlight of the day. There was a white faced heron that was tolerant of our presence and fished close to where Seth and I were sitting. It ducked its head in the water quickly and pulled out this.

I have no idea whether it caught a fish or an eel. It was astonishing to see. Even Sethy was captivated.

I highly recommend Buckley Falls for those who are patient and are into this type of photography. You can get so many interesting photos of birds fishing if you are willing to wait. It’s better to do this on a weekend when there are less kinds around.

Balyang: Early November

November 18, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

This trip took place on November 9.

There is a problem with repeated visits to the one location. You see all these interesting things that warrant documenting. Yet, that don’t fit into a normal narrative. Normally this is fine. Lately, however, it means a whole bunch of posts titled ‘Location: other.’

I have no idea if there is an easier way to process these notes. Feel free to email me with ideas. For now, as I have a small readership, this will do.

I saw this raven while walking along a street towards Balyang. I’m assuming the purple bit is a gape and that it indicates it is a juvenile.

There was a raven seemingly collecting nesting material. It did drop it, without provocation from the cantankerous willy wagtail.

A beautiful long billed corella was hanging around. It was coorporative for my project of taking photos of birds drinking. As was this red rumped parrot.

I was photographing the white faced heron when I saw what I’m assuming is the parent flew towards it. I have no idea why they still hang out and what the dynamics are of their relationship.

I hate mynas – but I still enjoy getting photos of them with food in their mouth.

There was a lot of activity in the tree above me at one point. I’m assuming some of these are juveniles.

The above is a sulpher crested cockatoo without the crest. At first I wondered whether it was a hybrid, as I don’t believe I’ve seen one without a crest before. It made no sense. Could it be a young?

I asked online and they said it could have lost its crest for a number of reasons. I don’t think it is a juvenile. I’ll tell you why in a future post. Babies, babies galore at the moment!

There appears to be ducklings galore too, but they never hang around for long. I think they realize pretty quickly that it isn’t safe.

I also saw these two feral ducks mating. Couldn’t understand why the duck was sitting so funny in the water until I saw the other ducks head bob up. Apparently this makes me a perv. I reckon it just makes me weird. Science is science. And I can never compete with the other birders so I need unusual areas where no-one will bother to compete.

A juvenile masked lapwing. I was disappointed to miss out again on seeing a younger one, however that disappointment didn’t last long. I love the markings on its feathers and the shorter wattle.

Another corella. Perhaps the same one?

This eurasion coot photo almost isn’t worth sharing. Really, I was trying to get a poop shot. I *just* missed. I still love it poking its little tongue out.

I kinda can’t wait until the mating/breeding season is over and I can start revisiting other places again. It’s going to be weird NOT posting daily.

Other Buckley Falls Shenanigans

November 13, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Earlier today, I shared photos of a hungry night heron at Buckley Falls. Sethy and I were there for a couple of hours and there were a number of other interesting observations.

These photos are a bit generic, but they highlight some of the photographic opportunities currently available.

I often go to the lower lookout that is overlooking the man made area of the falls. It’s hard to explain. The below photo shows it best.

In the above photo you can see the falls themselves. On the rocks at, and in front of the falls, you’ll often find various species of heron. I’ve been seeing night herons occasionally, but they require more patience. There is usually 2-3 white faced herons. This is an incredibly popular area for birds looking for fish.

If you look in the rocks that are in the still water behind the falls, you can occasionally see other species of bird. On this visit, I saw this hot little pied cormorant. I’m not sure what is up with the white on the wings, I think that some feathers must be askew.

If you are patient enough, you can also see herons leaping across the stones at the top of the falls. You can get some awesome photos if you are quick enough. You have to be very observant as they can stay still for ages before they decide to move.

The herons also like hanging out at some rocks at the bottom of some steep steps. If you sit still they will get very close to you and fish in front of you. You can get a lot of photos of them doing a variety of everyday stuff. The ones here are less skittish then the ones I’ve seen elsewhere. This can also be useful if you are learning about photography and want to experiment with settings.

There are a lot of dragonflies here, and elsewhere, at the moment. Good luck trying to get a decent shot.

No idea what the below bug is. I’m working on getting various critters identified.

It has taken me a while to really like Buckley falls as a birdwatching place. It’s mostly because it requires more patience then other places. You have to wait in the one place for an hour or two and just watch the various birds as they move around. In the past, I wasn’t mature enough to do this. It didn’t help that I was struggling to leave the house. You can expect to see a lot of birds in a short period of time like you can at other environments.

I’m very keen to visit here a bit more often now 🙂