The Brown Goshawks at Rookwood – 30 December 2023

I made another trip to Rookwood Necropolis in order to see how the young Brown Goshawks were doing, and to see if I could get any better photos (in particular photos of them in flight).

It was another fairly warm and humid day. The only birds I saw when I arrived where some White-throated Needletails flying high above –

I wondered if the three juvenile Brown Goshawks were perhaps off with their parents learning to hunt, as it took a while to spot one. When I did eventually spot one, it was perched on a tombstone, not high in the trees as usual. But what was usual – was that I located it by its call rather than spotting it.

One of its siblings was nearby somewhere, as I could hear a second call. The first bird took off from the tombstone.

It settled on a branch.

Then it started calling. I assume the young birds are calling to attract the attention of their parents when they bring in some food. The young birds seem to constantly move from perch to perch. I think trying to get in a better position to see a parent returning with food.

One landed on this branch –

But it soon took off flying towards me.

It wasn’t flying at me, but rather it was flying towards one of its siblings that was perched near me in another tree.

It was hard to keep track of the birds – but all three were nearby somewhere.

It was when I was sitting down eating my lunch that some better flying action took place. I probably missed some good flight shots.

It is hard to get flight shots when they fly through the dense woodland at high speed.

But two of them flew into the open for a while.

They perched in this tree –

And then some more flying together.

It was nice to see them flying. Then a third bird appeared. It was not their sibling. It was a juvenile Peregrine Falcon.

After this encounter, the juvenile Brown Goshawks seemed to quieten down for a while. While I was looking for them, I saw this European Goldfinch –