aussiebirder

Finally, there came a day when I could walk in our favorite reserve after days of rain. While it was still overcast and my wife was busy teaching English for Living, I decided to take a walk alone and chat with God in the quietness of our Autumn forest, which is characteristically the most bird few month of the year, where all migratory birds have left and nectar producing wild flowers are finished.

So I was not expecting to see much, and the forest was fairly quit due to overcast conditions, but for the raucous calls of the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and the occasional territorial call of the local Laughing Kookaburra clan. This fruiting Pittosporum undulatum (also called: Mock Orange, Sweet Pittosporum or Native Daphne) is the only new native flora seen on my walk. While it’s fruit is poisonous to humans it is food for flying foxes and many fruit eating birds.

As I walked and talked I had a quick look at the Powerful Owl nesting tree and look carefully into the Mangroves to see if he was there guarding the nest, as this is when the nesting pair come, but did not see him. I noticed that small birds such as the Fairy Wren and Brown Thornbills were not working the surrounding area as they would in summer months. However, I heard a thornbill like sound which was not familiar to me in the Grey Mangrove trees near the creek, and managed to get some decent shots of it, to later excitedly find it was our less familiar Striated Thornbill. This tiny insectivorous bird rapidly moves about the canopy of the Mangroves and is a challenge in the dark canopy to see, but my Sony A6700 camera is known for its amazing light sensitivity with its ability to make dark areas light with no flash being required, which I love, as I never use flash on any of our native fauna. Click on images to enlarge them.

I am really loving my new Sony A6700 mirrorless camera with its 70-350mm lens ! I love that I now can stay in auto mode and instantly revert to manual and back to auto again without any button pushing. Sony made it possible. I have also been using their compact movie cameras for years, they are so good and small, I can carry it in my shirt pocket. The above photos are a good example.

As I walked on I noticed the absence of the usual Australian Magpie clan scanning the grasses at Frog Hollow. Nesting was taking place for both Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and Rainbow Lorikeet as they have an extended nesting period and share the same trees and compete for tree holes each year in the classic Angophora costata trees which provide excellent nesting trees along the east coast of NSW.

The Rainbow Lorikeet is probably the most feared bird to take on in a fight. It is the bird that seldom is attacked by other birds because of its vicious bite and the fact that they pair for life and use good team work in defence.

I came across several birders with very long and large lenses, which made my much smaller and lighter Sony look insufficient. But I knew this was not the case, you do not need a big heavy lens and camera to get good shots. I am suffering severe arthritis in my left thumb because of using the very heavy glass and steel L series Canon lens in the last ten years, which has placed limits on my guitaring and certain other tasks. They were observing a female Rose Robin which we all knew frequented the park during the winter months having travelled north from Victoria to escape the cold. Sightings of the male had been reported, but not seen on this occasion. I walked a little down the track and, what a gift ! the male Rose Robyn in all his beauty landed right in front of me on a branch only a few feet away. Thank you Lord ! Click on photos to enlarge them.

My book Flight of a Fledgling compares our many Australian red robins with the English. Over 160 beautiful photos of our Aussie birds spanning many species, some rare. This is an excellent book to learn about our birds and their interesting behaviours while learning how to do life better from them, as birds are very intelligent. An ideal gift for a young adult. Click on the side image to find out more.

This bird unlike other Robins feeds from the trees not the ground, so it can be a challenge normally to get a good shot, as it is often up under the canopy. This was a magic moment shared with this bird as it sat and watched me for about 20 seconds. As I walked past duck-less ponds only a lone male Kookaburra sat quietly by the track. They are quite friendly and do not fear us, similar to Magpies.

I came to the site of the nesting tree for the Powerful Owl which I passed previously and to my surprise I saw the Powerful Owl sitting deep in among the mangroves opposite the nesting hole. At that stage when I was photographing I thought it was the male guarding the nest, and the female may have been in the nest. However, on viewing my photos at home found that a second owl was hiding close by behind a tree.

I wondered about this. Why were they both sitting observing the tree hole ? The next day my wife and her friend, who was quite excited to see the owls, came but they were gone.

However, we thought a pair of Rainbow Lorikeet had taken the hole and were guarding it, but a few days later found that a Boobook Owl, a resident of the park, had taken it, as you can see it had beaten the Powerful Owls to the nesting site, which the owls had been using year after year. In terms of the unwritten code of bird respect, ‘If the hole is taken look elsewhere.’ I marvel at how Australia’s largest owl can fit down the hole, which is not round. The smaller Boobook is seen here peering out at me.

I was very pleased and thankful for the lovely unexpected gifts I encountered on my walk at a time when very few birds were about.

Have a wonderful week and enjoy the birds !

“Show proper respect to everyone,” – 1 Peter 2:17 (NIV)

“Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.” – Romans 13:7

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you,  so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” – 1 Thessalonians 4:11,12

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Adv. Dip. in Counselling and Family Therapy.

Member of Birdlife Australia

To introduce people to our unique Australian birds,

And learn from them how to live a healthy and happy life.

NOTE: All photos, videos and music used on this website are photographed, composed, performed  by the site owner and remains his copyrighted property, unless otherwise stated. The use of any material that is not original material of the site owner is duly acknowledged as such. © W. A. Hewson 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.