Birds at the Northern Beaches – 4 November 2022

I headed up to the Northern Beaches, visiting two locations, for a full day of bird photography. I mainly photographed raptors.

The first site I went to, Rat Park,  has a large Osprey nest, high on a light. I have visited this nest many times over the past few years and this is the first time I have seen evidence of chicks.

As I walked into the park, I saw an Osprey take off and fly away. Another bird photographer at the park, Bill, told me that he thought the Osprey would return with fish, but instead it came back after a short time with a stick – to add to the nest.

This was the female Osprey.

On a nearby lamp was another raptor – a Nankeen Kestrel.

I walked around the Osprey nest from a fair distance away, hoping to get view of the chicks (I had heard that there were two). In the photo below – you can see small head just visible to the left of the parent.

High overhead, a number of White-throated Needletails were flying –

Now the male Osprey took off for a flight.

The Osprey spied something on the ground, and suddenly dived.

And it grabbed another stick for the nest. Ospreys seem to be constantly adding sticks to their nests.

Then the female went for a short flight.

Then it was the turn of the Nankeen Kestrel.

It dived to the ground and caught something.

Its prey was consumed on the wing.

I then headed to the coastal cliffs, where I had recently been photographing a family of Peregrine Falcons. There are three juveniles in the family.

I had lunch on the clifftop, then looked around. I spotted single juvenile.

The juvenile looked like it was resting rather than about to fly.

In the far distance I spotted a juvenile White-bellied Sea Eagle fly past with its escort.

Around 3:30 pm, things started happening. First a single juvenile Peregrine Falcon flew past.

Then a second appeared.

And then the  third sibling arrived.

Unfortunately they were flying a fair way off.

But the birds fly so fast that the soon came closer and zoomed around the cliffs. They seem to like flying for the sake of it, and perhaps get a thrill out of high speed fly pasts and close encounters. It is also good learning exercise for the juveniles – giving them the skills they need to catch prey.

Another bird photographer, Shane, had arrived. For the next hour or so, we had the privilege to witness an amazing display of flying. The photos only capture part of the action.

It is hard to get an interaction involving all three juveniles.

It had been an extraordinary experience!