Blog Archives
Pelicans prowling around fisherman
At Long Reef in Collaroy, a fisherman was washing out his bucket. Three pelicans followed in his footsteps, hoping for some tasty morsels to fall.
The birds weren’t too worried when I approached to take some photos.
Cosying up to a pair of sandals that someone left on the beach:
With a Silver Gull, giving some idea of scale:
Three pelicans, three poses:
Surf as a backdrop:
A moody shot of fisherman and bird:
Common name: Australian Pelican
Scientific name: Pelecanus conspicillatus
Approximate length: 170 cm
Approximate wingspan: 2.5m
Date spotted: 19 June 2024 (winter)
Location: Long Reef Aquatic Reserve, Collaroy, New South Wales, Australia: 33°44’19.7″S 151°18’42.0″E
Osprey chased off by raven and noisy miners
At Long Reef Headland today, an Eastern Osprey sat peacefully on a branch. Then an Australian Raven dived at the osprey, cawing and moaning. The resident Noisy Miners heard the fracas and joined in. After a few seconds, the Osprey decided enough was enough and took off to find a quieter spot.
Eastern Ospreys are magnificent birds. They measure up to 65 centimetres from head to tail, and have a wingspan of up to 1.7 metres. They eat fish, which they catch by diving into the water from a height and dragging the fish out of the water in their claws.
We first spotted this osprey perched on the edge of a cliff. Later, we saw it a few metres further on, in a tree high on a ledge above the beach.
Here’s the osprey enjoying the sun and the view, before the other birds arrive:
Then the Australian Raven arrived. Here the Osprey is warning the raven off:
That’s when I started the video recording, which you can watch at the top of this post.
Here’s the best picture I have of the osprey in flight:
Common name: Eastern Osprey
Scientific name: Pandion cristatus
Approximate length: 57 cm
Date spotted: 19 June 2024 (winter)
Location: Long Reef Aquatic Reserve, Collaroy, New South Wales, Australia: 33°44’19.7″S 151°18’42.0″E
Grey Fantail catching the sun
Early one morning, after some fairly ferocious rain, everyone was seeking sunlight and somewhere to dry out. This little Grey Fantail sat still on a branch for several minutes. Well, what passes for still, in a fantail’s world!
From the way it’s fluffing out its feathers and holding its wings, I’m sure it’s exposing as much of itself to the sun as possible!
Common name: Grey Fantail
Scientific name: Rhipidura fuliginosa
Approximate length: 14-17 cm
Date spotted: 3 June 2024 (winter)
Location: Manly Dam Reserve, New South Wales, Australia: 33°47’01.7″S 151°15’10.3″E
Black Cockatoo feeding a youngster
Every six months or so, a group of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos come to our Banksia for a feed. They come for a few days in a row, then move on to find another feeding area.
Sometimes they spend more time plucking and dropping than eating. Still, it always feels like such a privilege to have magnificent creatures like this just dropping by. I love the wild, screaming noise that they make. Some people call them the “squeaky door birds”:
The tree is a Banksia serrata, also known as Old Man Banksia.
On the birds’ second visit a day or so later, I filmed some interesting behaviour. One of the birds was making a continuous groaning noise. That’s not unusual, and I’ve wondered in the past if the bird is a youngster begging for food, or if it’s some kind of mating behaviour.
I think I have an answer! In this video, it looks like the male bird (he has a pink ring around his eye) is regurgitating food and then feeding it to the bird that’s making all the noise:
I added quite a lot of detail about these birds in a previous post: Those magnificent black cockatoos are back!
Common name: Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Scientific name: Calyptorhynchus funereus or Zanda funereus
Length: 58-65 cm
Date spotted: 27th and 29th May 2024 (autumn)
Location: Allambie Heights, NSW, Australia
Incoming!
I took this photo so that I could identify the black and white birds on a far off skeleton tree. I only saw the incoming missile when I examined the photos at home:
I think the missile is probably a Noisy Miner. The two birds on the tree are Magpie-larks. I’ve often seen Noisy Miners sitting on this strategically-placed dead tree branch, which has a good view over Manly Dam. I’ve seen several types of birds perched there, but the Magpie-larks are usually closer to the water rather than high in a tree.
Date spotted: 30 May 2024
Willie Wagtail enchanted by Grebe
This little Willie Wagtail seems intrigued by the way a Grebe keeps disappearing under the water and popping up again:
My camera battery died as I was taking the above video, which is a pity because the birds were quite close to me. Here’s another video, a bit noisy due to a plane flying overhead, and the birds are further away:
It’s funny how the Coot seems to be surprised by the Grebe’s disappearance too. I love Coots!
I watched the two birds for about fifteen minutes, as the Willie Wagtail tirelessly followed the Grebe around this reedy inlet of Manly Dam. I wonder if the Willie Wagtail was hoping for some insects to fly up each time the Grebe surfaced. Perhaps the Grebe’s activities would disturb a lily pad and cause an insect to jump?
Common names: Australasian Grebe and Willie Wagtail
Scientific names: Tachybaptus novaehollandiae and Rhipidura leucophrys
Approximate length: 23-25 cm and 20 cm
Date spotted: 5 June 2024 (autumn)
Location: Manly Dam Park, near Sydney, Australia: 33°46’34.8″S 151°14’49.6″E
Peregrine Falcon drops in to chat
This was such a wonderful experience! It was early one morning. I was strolling along the top of a cliff on North Head in Manly, and stopped to film some birds swooping around the cliff and the sea far below. To my surprise and delight, a Peregrine Falcon landed a few metres away and started calling.
You can see and hear the moment, at about 45 seconds into this video, when the falcon starts calling and the camera swings round to find it:
I don’t know if the birds swooping around the cliffs were Peregrine Falcons too. I suspect they were, as I heard their call, which came from a section of the cliff face that’s out of sight behind an outcrop. I’d been watching the birds for a while when one dropped in so suddenly.
The falcon stayed where it was, perched on a branch at the edge of the cliff, for a long time — at least 15 minutes. It was I who left in the end, not the bird.
In the middle of a feather shuffle:
In the next video, the bird calls a few times (little chirps at the beginning; longer squeals at time stamp 1:02; squeals, hiccoughs, and chirps at 2:03; more at 2:35). It spends most of its time preening its feathers, which do seem to be in a bit of a state. Perhaps it’s a juvenile.
At about 50 seconds into the video, the view moves off the falcon to take in the ocean and the cliffs, but the bird calls attention back to itself quite soon.
At time stamp 2:16, both the falcon and I hear another bird calling overhead. The view wanders up into the sky to spot the other bird. Towards the end of the video, at 2:55, an aeroplane passes overhead and the bird quints up at it.
Although the falcon checked me out several times, it wasn’t in the least bit worried about me:
Common name: Peregrine Falcon
Scientific name: Falco peregrinus
Approximate length: 35-50 cm; wing span 85-100 cm
Date spotted: 7 May 2024 (autumn)
Location: Fairfax Track, North Head, Manly, New South Wales, Australia: 33°49’16.9″S 151°18’01.7″E
Soft colours of the Crested Pigeon
A Crested Pigeon explores ground that was very recently underwater due to flooding. I like the lighting in this shot, and the way the pink of the uncovered roots echoes the colour of the bird’s feet:
The orange blush on the bird’s shoulders is a pretty accompaniment to the grey-blue of the head and breast feathers:
Common name: Crested Pigeon
Scientific name: Ocyphaps lophotes
Approximate length: 31-35 cm
Date spotted: 6 May 2024 (autumn)
Location: Manly Lagoon, New South Wales, Australia: 33°47’05.4″S 151°17’00.0″E
Battlestar Grebe
This little Australasian Grebe looks quite fierce, but cute at the same time:
Here’s another pic of the same bird:
I’ve seen a Grebe once before, way back in April 2020. It was in the same location as this one. Despite my few sightings, these birds are evidently common. They have lobed feet, like the Coot, rather than webbed feet like a duck, and they’re adept divers despite their plump appearance.
Common name: Australasian Grebe
Scientific name: Tachybaptus novaehollandiae
Approximate length: 23-25 cm
Date spotted: 4 May 2024 (autumn)
Location: Manly Dam Park, near Sydney, Australia: 33°46’34.8″S 151°14’49.6″E
Australasian Gannet high above Manly Beach
It was a stormy morning at Manly Beach. Birds circled high above the sea, swooping on the air currents.
My camera was at maximum zoom, so the pictures are fuzzy. I could see that this bird wasn’t a seagull. Is it an albatross, I wondered? I posted the question on Reddit, and got the answer that the bird is most likely an immature Australasian Gannet.
Here’s another shot of the bird:
Common name: Australasian Gannet
Scientific name: Morus serrator
Approximate length: 85-90 cm; wingspan: 1.7-1.9 m
Date spotted: 6 May 2024 (autumn)
Location: Manly Beach, New South Wales, Australia: 33°47’43.5″S 151°17’25.2″E
This is a first sighting for me! The description for Australasian Gannet in my bird book says that the gannets enter estuaries, bays, and harbours to shelter from rough seas. That would certainly fit the weather this morning. On Reddit, I learned that it’s quite common for the birds to come close to shore in autumn and winter.
There are more pics of the bird on my Reddit post, for those who want more details. In the meantime, I’ll leave with you with a view of the stormy sky and sea:
Sydney Birder 