Little Eagle

One of my earliest memories of seeing an eagle was at the edge of my dam at home. I was only young - about 10 - and I’d been catching frogs or fish or something at the water’s edge. It was Kambarang (late Spring) and the water level had already dropped quite a bit. Wood ducks were accumulating in numbers around the dam at this time of year as the broods of ducklings reached adult size.

The whooshing wingbeats of about twenty Wood Ducks clipping the treetops as they descended swiftly downward to the dam made me look up suddenly. In the commotion of their landing I hadn’t noticed the speck spearing in after them, but it did, and before I could realise what was happening, an eagle dropped like a bullet and killed one of the ducks outright as it landed. BANG!! The duck lay lifeless beneath the eagle’s firm grasp, and the rest of the flock dispersed into the surrounds like greased lightning. A sudden neck-jerk had the eagle’s eyes fixed firmly on me as I stared in amazement. I’d just seen my first kill.

After only thirty seconds or so, the eagle spooked and took off, leaving the duck behind and disappearing from view as quickly as it had arrived. As a small boy I wasn’t aware of which species this predator had been. It was only years later, with the beauty of hindsight, that I had ‘identified’ the picture frozen in my mind as a Little Eagle.

This species has a rather plain and confusing common name:
“I saw this bird of prey... pale underneath, smaller than a wedgie.”
“It could have been a Little Eagle?”
 “Yes, the eagle was quite little. What are the names of some little eagles?”
“No, that IS its name - a Little Eagle!”
“Oh - that’s funny. I thought you meant little as in little, not little as in Little!”

I now regularly sight Little Eagles over Parkerville, though they are far less common in the general region as Wedgies or Accipiters (Goshawk/Sparrowhawks).

Today I was lucky to snap the above shot of one as it was frantically flapping away from the snapping beaks of aggressive magpies. The eagle alerted me to its presence by its yelping call, which had me jump up from my computer and rush outside with my camera and long lens.

Nature is always hunting, lurking, fleeing, calling, moving and working around us. I think sounds are the most important thing in guiding us to many exciting experiences. We just need to tune in and listen.

Kimberley M-A-G-I-C!

This fabulously marked, intriguing and often cryptic specimen of a bird - a Nankeen Night-heron (Nycticorax caledonicus) - was the last image etched into my mind after returning to Perth. I crept up the verandah post and streeeeetched on my belly across the corrugated iron roof to get as close as I could to this juvenile bird, who sat silently in a eucalypt, unfazed by the din of drunken laughter and live music below us. Minutes before, some party-goers had pointed him out to me, roosting in a low sapling near the campfire. He then flushed from this perch, and in about three strokes of his silent wings, missed the live band’s drummer by inches as he flapped up to the new perched. What a magic moment! One that summed up a magic time, with inspiring people, in a magic location. A privilege to be part of.

I’ve just spent 3 weeks exploring the gobsmacking landscapes of the vast El Questro Wilderness Park on the 2010 Australian Geographic Scientific Expedition. You’ve probably already guessed that it was a remarkable, once-in-a-lifetime experience, filled with too many stories to talk about here. The only thing I can say is look at the Photo Album which contains a small fraction of the photos I took while I was up there... then if you’re keen to see these things for real, keep your eyes on the Australian Geographic website for news of another trip in 2012.

Ok... just one more image to leave you with! You could guess it was going to be a Sea Eagle :-)

Urban Eagles

On my way down to Margaret River today, I was driving through the Jandakot area when a shape caught my attention. It was a dark shape, high in a power pylon a few hundred metres from the road. I pulled over to look, and noticed another similar shape in the next pylon along. After inspecting the shapes with binoculars, I realised they were large bird nests, and my gut told me the culprit was an Osprey. These marine raptors readily habituate and nest on man-made structures, and I had seen this many times before. But there was no water nearby - the nests were in the middle of Banksia woodland! Could it be a wedge-tailed eagle?

In other parts of Australia there have been records of wedgies nesting on pylons, windmills and other artificial structures, but it is a rare occurrence. During my studies of eagles in Perth for the last 10+ years, I had always known wedgies to nest only in trees, well away from any road or building. But these nests certainly looked like eagle to me.

Let’s hope the upcoming breeding season will tell me the answer!

720 ABC Perth

To help promote the Australian PREMIERE of ‘A Wedged Tale’ in Perth, I appeared on 720 ABC local radio and chatted to Gillian O’Shaughnessy on the 'Afternoons' segment today. Gill was fantastic at making me feel very comfortable and was very interested in all things eagle related. We even had a caller share his experience flying with eagles in a glider, thousands of metres above the ground. What a way to see them!!

My sincere thanks go to Gill and ABC Perth for having me on. If you’re interested in listening, click below to hear a recording of the interview.

Bluetongue!

A little wander along Campbell’s Creek this afternoon gave me an exciting discovery - a bluetongue lizard! I found him crawling through the grass and managed to catch him for a closer look... and to show Gill’s niece and nephew who were waiting across the road. Nothing like a bit of show and tell for the children!

The Eastern Bluetongue (Tiliqua scincoides) is a common reptile, being one of the largest and more conspicuous skinks in Castlemaine. It has beautiful smooth, scaly skin, and as its name suggests, a gorgeous tongue that shines iridescent blue in the sunlight. When chanced upon during a bushwalk, bluetongues will open their mouth and hiss at you in an effort to appear larger and more threatening. I’ve experienced this many times (with Bobtail skinks in the west) and nearly died of fright - glancing down to see a reptile suddenly hissing at you is quite alarming in a land of venomous snakes.

Bluetongue lizards are ground-dwelling animals, moving around in rocky and grass areas and feeding on a variety of plant and animal life including slugs, snails and flowers. You might be interested to know that this species is a live-bearer: it gives birth to 2 or 3 young, which are deposited in a protected place like a pile of wood or rocks. There are four species in Australia: Eastern, Western, Northern and Centralian. All have smooth skin (and a blue tongue!) but the markings on each are quite different.

It was great to be able to make this discovery so close to houses and a busy main road. And even better to be able to take the opportunity to show amazing native wildlife to young children. Next time you’re out walking in the drier months, keep an eye out - you might be lucky enough to see one of these amazing creatures.

Da Eas' Side!

Last night I hopped on a plane and flew across the Nullarbor to spend a few weeks in the eastern states. The initial purpose of my visit is worked-related: I’m thrilled to be involved with Australian Geographic in a series of forums called ‘Experience the Kimberley’, where I’ve been asked to give a short but inspiring talk about Kimberley wildlife on three evenings in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. This will be the first opportunity I’ve had to spend time in any of these places other than waiting inside their airports, so I’m really looking forward to it! After my work commitments, I’m on holiday with Gill, and we’ll be traveling to Castlemaine, Canberra, back to Sydney and lastly the Blue Mountains.

This morning I managed to get out and about and explore some parts of Sydney, including the famous harbour and Botanic Gardens, snapping photos of resident Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis mollucca) and Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles). Then I caught the ferry across to Manly, and met with Kylie Piper from AG for lunch at Manly beach. I was nearly late for lunch because of my excitement to explore and search for wildlife as soon as I’d got off the ferry! After getting up close to a beautiful Golden Orb Spider just near the Manly ferry depot, I found some Rainbow Lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus) nesting inside a small tree-hollow, right along the footpath where joggers and walkers busily filed past me. The adult lorikeets rushed in to feed their youngster, who I had seen inside the hollow through a small crack in the side of the tree, then quickly left. I lay on my belly waiting for the juvenile lorikeet to poke his head out, which he did, then an Eastern Water Skink scurried up to me for a closer look. Then it was off to lunch!

Here's a few snaps of the creatures I've seen so far. Keep watching to see what I find in the next two destinations.

Australian White Ibis near the Sydney Central train station.

Adult Masked Lapwing.

Golden Orb Spider near Manly ferry depot.

Eastern Water Skink.

The Rainbow Lorikeet nest tree, right near a footpath!

A nestling Rainbow Lorikeet peers out of his nest hollow.

Reflecting Foes

This cheeky little bird might look like he's about to kill me, staring right at the camera when I took this photo today. However, the shot was taken from behind a window of our lounge room, and the bird is not staring at me or my camera but at his reflection!

I've been working in the lounge over the last few weeks because this is the coolest room in our house during this hot weather. The room also has a nice view on 2 sides out to the garden surrounding the house, which makes it a nice working environment. Today I heard a tapping sound and a small movement caught my eye, and as I watched I noticed a bird flying into the window. Thinking it was just a one off and maybe it was injured, I kept watching, and saw the little fella repeatedly flying into the window. He would perch on the handlebars of my dad's bike, stare and weigh up his opponent for a few seconds, then ATTACK!

You're probably wondering what bird it is... well, it's a White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis), and is almost certainly a male who is defending his territory. We've had this species nesting in our garden beds for a few years now, which is very exciting as they need dense vegetation in which to live. Around this time of year they are very vocal, making harsh chirps and scolding sounds whenever an intruder comes into their domain. This is the first time I've recorded them making a physical attack on anything though - a pity he doesn't realise he's attacking himSELF!!

Garden Goshawk

At the moment Gill and I are house-sitting for some friends in Roleystone while they are away overseas. I’m well occupied each day as I’m frantically writing my Masters thesis, working long hours each day so I can (hopefully!) get it done before Christmas. Today I had a welcome guest in the garden.

I happened to glance out the front window and look up to the bird-bath which I had filled with fresh water earlier that morning. To my delight a Rufous Whistler, who had been calling merrily from a nearby Jarrah sapling, flew down for a drink. It was brief though - no sooner had he taken a sip than he fluttered away hastily... and the reason why landed next to the bath on the floor. A young Brown Goshawk!

This bird was probably an immature (2nd year) bird, distinguishable from the adult by having mottled brown plumage. The Brown Goshawk is often confused with the similar Collared Sparrowhawk - the above photo clearly shows the more prominent brow, and the thicker, stocky legs of the Goshawk. For an interesting comparison look at this photo of a Sparrowhawk:

You can see how much rounder the top of the head is, and how the Goshawk at the top has much more of a ‘glare’. The other distinguishing feature is the middle toe: in the Goshawk this is longer than the other 2 toes, but not by much; in the Sparrowhawk the middle toe is disproportionately longer than the other two.

This little appearance gave me a nice break from writing my thesis, and reminded me that even some of our most cryptic birds come into our gardens, right near our houses, if we happen to look at the right time.