Another interesting day of bird photography. I started off at Centennial Park.
Pink-eared Ducks
One of the key birds I wanted to photograph there was the Powerful Owl. I had taken nice photo of it on my previous visit. But on the way to where it usually perches, I ran into Steve, a local bird watcher. He has been watching the Powerful Owls in the park for a number of years, and he told me that after recent storms, they seem to have left their nesting area and moved to another location.
I had met Steve on previous visits to the Park, and he is very generous with his knowledge of he birds and with what birds are likely to be present and where you can see them. We then looked around for Barn Owls – but had no success.
We did find one of the Tawny Frogmouths. But only one. The pair had recently rebuilt there nest, but it now seems to be vacant.
No luck with Nankeen Night Herons. But we did manage to find some Freckled Ducks. A long way off however.
And we saw a number of Pink-eared Ducks.
Here are some of the other birds –
Australasian Grebe
Black Swan
Butcherbird
Great Cormorant
Eurasian Coot
Fairy Martin
Australasian Darter
Willie Wagtail
After lunch, I left the park at headed to the Royal Botanic Gardens in the city. Steve had told me where the Powerful Owls there can currently be found. At the Gardens, I struggled to late them, but fortunately, I noticed a lady looking up into a tree. She asked if I was looking for the Powerful Owls. She had relative who worked at the Gardens who had shown her he right place to look. It was fortunate meeting her – as the two Powerful Owls (a mother and a juvenile) were rather hard to see high up near a gloomy canopy.
These owls sleep during the day and are hard to photograph. But the juvenile, was partly awake and looked down while I was there.
A little while later, a pair of Ravens arrived. They were being harassed by flock of Noisy Miners. A hullaballoo broke out, which woke both the owls. Bad for them – but I could at least get some better photos.
I finished my visit by photographing some of the birds at the Duck Ponds – a Little Black Cormorant and some Noisy Miners –
