Cooks River Birds Update – 15 December 2020

I made a quick visit to the Cooks River to check the status of some of the local birds.

The first stop was to check a Magpie Lark nest. On previous visits I had seen an adult bird sitting on the nest. Now I could see two chicks.

I waited  quietly to see if they would be fed. I didn’t have to wait long.

Note – when I photograph birds in their nests, I ensure I keep a long way away. I use a lens of focal length 840 mm.

At Younger Avenue, I looked for the Tawny Frogmouth. I could see an abandoned nest. It looks like this pair have been unsuccessful breeding for the last three seasons.

I looked for the sultana’s birds – but could not locate them.

Crossing the river, I saw this Laughing Kookaburra –

A little way upstream, I saw this Willie Wagtail. I though this one may have been one of the chicks I had recently seen in a nest.

At the Boat Harbour, I soon located the five Tawny Frogmouths. One was in a tree by itself. This turned out to be the adult female.

The tow juveniles were in a tree close to their father. Here is one –

And here is the second –

And their father –

A few metres away in the same tree was the fifth Tawny Frogmouth. I think it is likely that this one is also a juvenile. Perhaps from last year’s chicks?

Back to the juveniles –

And here is the mother. It is easy to recognise with its damaged left eye.

Here is a Masked Lapwing –

I then made my way to Cup and Saucer Creek Wetlands. There were plenty of chicks. Here is a Dusky Moorhen family –

It is interesting with their nest building. One was gathering material, and then giving it to a second –

And the second one gave it to a third one –

in the middle pond, there were some Australasian Swamphens with their chicks –

Waling back down the river, I could hear a Pacific Koel. I soon located this one – probably a juvenile calling for food?

And I saw some squabbling Noisy Miners. I looked to see if they were fighting. One flew off with a cicada. They must have been fighting over it.