I went down to the Cooks River again with my camera. This time I met up with Digi Dave.
I started at Ewan Park and photographed the Tawny Frogmouths there. This time there was one adult and two chicks.
As well, another photographer there spotted some Grey Butcherbird chicks high on a tree branch. The parent Butcherbirds were around and sometimes would swoop down at us – trying to scare us away.
Low down in a tree was a Figbird sitting on a cloth of eggs in a nest.
But it was the Tawny Frogmouth chicks that stole the show. So cute with their downy feathers.
A cyclist passing by told me about a Spoonbill a little bit downstream, or was it an Ibis? he was not sure. Ibis are very common along the river. I and never seen a Spoonbill on the Cooks River but have heard that others have seen them, and there are some photos online. I wandered downstream and around the corner was a Spoonbill. It was in the park, walking on the grass. A few noisy miner birds seemed to object to its presence and were swooping down at it. It also seemed to be joining up with a few Ibis that are walking around in the same area. Strange. Perhaps it was a bit lost?
I then got on my bike and rode down to the Sugarmill to meet up with Digi Dave. We went to the Cup and Saucer Creek Wetlands – but there were few birds there. By this time in the day – it was quite hot. Too hot for the birds?
So we then went to the Boat Harbour. The group of Tawny Frogmouths that I had photographed here a few days earlier had moved. They took a long time to spot. Eventually, Digi Dave saw one adult, high in a tree, and nearby was the other adult and the two fledglings. Being high up, they were hard to photograph, so went back down to Ewan Park and I showed Digi Dave the Frogmouths there. A council lawnmower had awoken the chicks and they were now much easier to photograph.
We then rode our bike down to Gough Whitlam Park – and had coffee and some food from the canteen there. Then to the Tempe Wetlands. Again it was too hot -and we only stayed there half an hour or so.
A selection of my photos from the day has been added to Page 7 of my Cooks River Bird Gallery.