After my last trip to Nurragingy, I was keen to head back there for some more bird photography. A hot day was forecast, so I got there not long after 8 am. I was hoping to photograph the Pacific Baza and the Azure Kingfishers I had seen the week before.
I went first to the Pacific Baza nest area, and could see the chick doing well in the nest. It was making plenty of noise. One of it parents was perched in a tree nearby, and seems oblivious to the chick’s noise. It was preening itself, and seemed preoccupied with that. Another bird photographer was there and said there had been little action over the past hour.
I then walked along the pool to see if the Azure Kingfishers were in the same spot I had seen them last week. No. I then did a circuit of some of the pools without seeing the Azure Kingfishers. Mot many other birds were around except for Nosy Miners, Indian Mynas and a few overflying Ravens and Sulphur Crested Cockatoos.
Back at the Pacific Baza nest, at last something was happening. The parent had headed off, hopefully it would return soon with food for the chick. I waited a while and the parent did return with food (a grasshopper?). However, I missed some photos talking to a passerby.
Luckily, I did not have long to wait until the parent returned with some more food, another insect. But it very quickly deserved the food to the chick. A minute or so later, the other parent appeared. It too had an insect to feed to the chick. This provided better photographic opportunities.
Both parents now flew off, and I didn’t see them again. Perhaps they came back while I was out of that area? I did return a few times but could not spot them.
But I did see one of the Azure Kingfishers. It was hunting for food and flying between three of the pools. It would stay at one pool for a while, dive in a few times, sometimes getting a small fish, then fly off to one of the other pools. I had to walk around a bit, but it did provide some photographic opportunities.
In one of the pools, the Kingfisher caught a rather large fish. It was difficult to get a good photos of it with the fish, and as I was trying to get into a better position, it flew away with the fish – perhaps to a nest? the fish may be food for young, or perhaps food for its mate sitting on eggs?
It was not getting quite hot, so I had lunch in a shady spot, and got ready to leave.
In the distance, I could hear a Sacred Kingfisher calling. I saw it a long way off, but it had flown off by the time I got close.
I then photographed an Australian Darter that was on the bank of one of the duckponds. It seemed to be staring up in the air. I thought perhaps it was trying to catch one of the many Dragonflies flying overhead.
But it didn’t seem to know how to do it. One time, a Dragonfly actually settled on its beak. The Darter didn’t know how to handle this!
It lunged for a few of the Dragonflies but with no luck.
It then dived into the pool and swam underwater. They seem to be able to stay under much longer than Cormorants. And it did catch a fish (a very small fish).
In the same pond, I saw the same Eurasian Coot nest I had seen the week before.
