I spent a couple of hours visiting the Cooks River to check the status again of some local birds. The trip ended up being very similar to my previous visit. More Striated Herons and Tawny Frogmouths.
At the Boat Harbour, probably the same Striated Heron I had seen on my last visit was there again – hunting for fish. A little bit further away this time, as the tide was lower.
I suspect this Heron is gettng food for a chick in a nest nearby. Perhaps upstream?
Next, to look at the Tawny Frogmouths. It was easy to find both of the adult birds. This one is the mother –
It seems to be blind in one eye – and seems to be doing well despite this.
On the nest, you can see the father with the two chicks –
Then to Younger Avenue – no change in the tawny Frogmouth sitting on the nest there.
Down to the Striated Heron nest downstream at Beaman Park. You can see an egg in this first photo. An old egg that has been discarded?
Here you can see the chick sheltering under its parent’s wing –
Then to near Gough Whitlam Park and the next lot of nesting Tawny Frogmouths. There appears to be no chicks so far – but the bird was a little restless this time. That is sign that it could be sitting on a chick.
Today at about 1pm one of the tawny frogmouth chicks at Boat Harbour was sitting on the branch about 70cm from the nest.
Thanks for that information. I had a look around 11 am today – and it looked like both chicks were in the nest. One was very obvious and active, the other looked like it was almost underneath the parent (Dad). I had heard that one chick had fledged – but perhaps it is only moving along branches? Or very short flights? I would expect them to fledge from around the 15th to the 25th.
Today Saturday 28 November at 10am the family of 4 were together in the casurina at boat harbour. The “chicks” appear to have lost their baby feathers. One of the adults was spreading its wings, trying io cool off?
On the other side of the river (9.15?) near the new path leading to the new bridge is one on a nest couldn’t see the partner today. The other day it shifted on the nest chicks perhaps?