Illawarra Basin Falls, (Central Coast NSW)

The Illawarra rivers meet a relatively narrow coastal plain after plunging down the coastal escarpment. While most do not run in dry times, they can put on a spectacular display after heavy rain.

The features of the area were early studied by an impressive group of early European settlers and visitors (eg Rev Clarke and the United States Exploring Expedition in the Pacific under Commander Charles Wilkes, with the famous mineralogist, James Dwight Dana). Some of the waterfalls seen by the travelers have been submerged in dams.

Feathers - King Parrot

Adult Black Kite - Milvus migrans

Note the wing 'fingers', mottled wing feathers and dark patch behind the eye. I hesitated identifying this because of the pronounced yellow cere.

 Images: last month, Road from Gin Gin to Bundaberg, Queensland

Sassafras mobs

Once a busy rest stop for the bullock teams pulling wool from inland farms over the coastal mountains to the southern ports, the inns and shanties have fallen back into the bush, leaving mobs of emus and kangaroos.

Egret Dreaming

Bower Birds

The male Bowerbird creates a bower of beauty, full of dazzling gems of flashing blues and whites. In his bower, his eyes dance brightest among the other lights, his black body invisible in the gloom.















But even male bower birds need to eat.

Brown Falcon

Blue Wrens - Gypsy Point, Victoria

Sacred Ibis

I was once told a story about these birds around a camp fire.

The old man was bent and moved slowly. His lazy wives demanded he hunt food for them day and night. One day he returned to camp with roots from reeds in the swamp land, his skin burnt by the sun. He pointed to his burnt face in pain, 'bagodah'. His wives just laughed at him as they took the roots.

"Bagodah! Bagodah!"  he cried again, and this time he changed shape.

Wild: Birds

This is my photographic record of birds. 

1 Birds of Prey (Diurnal)
Black-shouldered Kite; Brown Falcon; Brown Goshawk; Little Eagle, Nankeen Kestral (female); Nankeen Kestral (male); Peregrine Falcon; Spotted Harrier; White Breasted Sea Eagle, Wedge-tailed Eagle (Munyunga), Whistling Kite

2 Birds of Prey (Nocturnal)
Barking Owl, Tawny Frogmouth

3  Waterbirds
Australasian Grebe; Australian Shelduck; Australian Shoveler; Australian White Ibis; Australian Wood Duck (Yerrinbool); Black Swan; Darter; Dusky Moorhen; Eurasian Coot; Great Cormorant; Great Egret; Grey Teal; Hardhead; Hoary-headed Grebe; Latham’s Snipe; Little Black Cormorant; Little Pied Cormorant;  Pacific Black Duck (Nowra); Pacific Heron; Pink-eared Duck; Plumed Egret; Purple Swamphen; Sacred Ibis; Straw-necked Ibis; White‑faced Heron;  White‑necked Heron; Masked Lapwing; Pelicans, Silver Gull; Spoonbill

4 Parrots and Relatives: 
Crimson Rosella (Galindan); Eastern Rosella (Bundeluk); Galah; Gang‑gang Cockatoo; King Parrots (Gatandjan); Little Corella; Rainbow Lorikeet (Perka), Red-rumped Parrot; Sulphur‑crested Cockatoo; Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo; 

5 Kingfishers and other non-songbirds: 
Australian Owlet-nightjar; Brush Cuckoo; Common Koel; Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Dollarbird; Fan‑tailed Cuckoo; Horsfield's Bronze‑Cuckoo; Laughing Kookaburra; Pallid Cuckoo; Sacred Kingfisher; Shining Bronze‑cuckoo; Southern Boobook; Stubble Quail

6 Honeyeaters: 
Brown‑headed Honeyeater; Crescent Honeyeater; Eastern Spinebill;  Eastern Yellow Robin; Fairy Martin; Leaden Flycatcher; Magpie-lark; Noisy Friar Bird; New Holland Honeyeater; Noisy Miner; Red Wattlebird; White-eared Honeyeater; Rufous Whistler; Rufous Fantail; Tree Martin; Satin Flycatcher; Scarlet Robin; White‑plumed Honeyeater; Yellow-faced Honeyeater

7 Flycatchers and similar species: 
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Grey Fantail, GreyShrike-thrush; Magpie-lark; Welcome Swallow; Willie Wagtail

8 Thornbills, Finches and similar species: Buff‑rumped Thornbill; Brown Thornbill; Diamond Firetail; Double‑barred Finch; European Goldfinch; Flame Robin; House Sparrow; Red‑browed Finch; Scarlet Robin; Spotted Pardalote; Striated Pardalote; Striated Thornbill; Superb Fairy-wren; White-browed Scrubwren; Weebill; White-throated Gerygone; Yellow‑rumped Thornbill

9 Other, smaller birds:  
Australasian  Pipit; Australian Reed-warbler; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; Brown Songlark; Common Myna; Common Blackbird; Common Starling; Dusky Woodswallow; Mistletoebird; Olive‑backed Oriole;  Rufous Songlark; Skylark; White-throated Treecreeper; White‑-winged Triller

10  Other, larger birds: 
Australian Brush Turkey (Djera), Australian Raven; Australian Magpie; Emu, Grey Butcherbird; Little Raven; PiedCurrawong; Satin Bowerbird, Superb Lyrebird, White-winged Chough

11 Exotic, out of area: 
Fairy Penguin


Collections:

• Diurnal Birds of Prey

This is a partial list of birds in my area. Where there is no link, I have no pictures.

Where I am aware of local (Yuin language group) First People names for some of these places, animals or birds, I have started to add them - eg Australian Brush Turkey (Djera). Within the language group (coastal/mountains South Eastern Australia), there were a number of dialects - but the names were reasonably similar.

Wedge-tailed Eagles - Flying in storm clouds

Scar and mate - Australian King Parrots

Defiance: Eastern Spinebill

Superb Lyrebird

At the top of a cliff face, in the Blue Mountains, a Superb Lyrebird.

Eastern Spinebills

Welcome Swallow

We generally distinguish a swallow from the shape of its wings and the two points of its tail - but they are busy birds, and at speed they appear are a dark grey blur. When one stops for a moment, a different picture emerges.

In flight, they remain elusive: high speed, and lots of blur. I have called this one a Welcome Swallow, rather than a Barn Swallow, because the wing linings appear grey rather than white and I cannot clearly make out a black band around the chestnut patch on the face.

  

This is my photographic record of birds of South-Eastern Australia

1 Birds of Prey (Diurnal)
Black-shouldered Kite; Brown Falcon; Brown Goshawk; Little Eagle, Nankeen Kestral (female); Nankeen Kestral (male); Peregrine Falcon; Spotted Harrier; White Breasted Sea Eagle, Wedge-tailed Eagle (Munyunga), Whistling Kite

2 Birds of Prey (Nocturnal)
Barking Owl, Tawny Frogmouth

3  Waterbirds
Australasian Grebe; Australian Shelduck; Australian Shoveler; Australian White Ibis; Australian Wood Duck (Yerrinbool); Black Swan; Darter; Dusky Moorhen; Eurasian Coot; Great Cormorant; Great Egret; Grey Teal; Hardhead; Hoary-headed Grebe; Latham’s Snipe; Little Black Cormorant; Little Pied Cormorant;  Pacific Black Duck (Nowra); Pacific Heron; Pink-eared Duck; Plumed Egret; Purple Swamphen; Sacred Ibis; Straw-necked Ibis; White‑faced Heron;  White‑necked Heron; Masked Lapwing; Pelicans, Silver Gull; Spoonbill

4 Parrots and Relatives: 
Crimson Rosella (Galindan); Eastern Rosella (Bundeluk); Galah; Gang‑gang Cockatoo; King Parrots (Gatandjan); Little Corella; Rainbow Lorikeet (Perka), Red-rumped Parrot; Sulphur‑crested Cockatoo; Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo; 

5 Kingfishers and other non-songbirds: 
Australian Owlet-nightjar; Brush Cuckoo; Common Koel; Common Bronzewing; Crested Pigeon; Dollarbird; Fan‑tailed Cuckoo; Horsfield's Bronze‑Cuckoo; Laughing Kookaburra; Pallid Cuckoo; Sacred Kingfisher; Shining Bronze‑cuckoo; Southern Boobook; Stubble Quail

6 Honeyeaters: 
Brown‑headed Honeyeater; Crescent Honeyeater; Eastern Spinebill;  Eastern Yellow Robin; Fairy Martin; Leaden Flycatcher; Magpie-lark; Noisy Friar Bird; New Holland Honeyeater; Noisy Miner; Red Wattlebird; White-eared Honeyeater; Rufous Whistler; Rufous Fantail; Tree Martin; Satin Flycatcher; Scarlet Robin; White‑plumed Honeyeater; Yellow-faced Honeyeater

7 Flycatchers and similar species: 
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Grey Fantail, GreyShrike-thrush; Magpie-lark; Welcome Swallow; Willie Wagtail

8 Thornbills, Finches and similar species: Buff‑rumped Thornbill; Brown Thornbill; Diamond Firetail; Double‑barred Finch; European Goldfinch; Flame Robin; House Sparrow; Red‑browed Finch; Scarlet Robin; Spotted Pardalote; Striated Pardalote; Striated Thornbill; Superb Fairy-wren; White-browed Scrubwren; Weebill; White-throated Gerygone; Yellow‑rumped Thornbill

9 Other, smaller birds:  
Australasian  Pipit; Australian Reed-warbler; Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike; Brown Songlark; Common Myna; Common Blackbird; Common Starling; Dusky Woodswallow; Mistletoebird; Olive‑backed Oriole;  Rufous Songlark; Skylark; White-throated Treecreeper; White‑-winged Triller

10  Other, larger birds: 
Australian Brush Turkey (Djera), Australian Raven; Australian Magpie; Emu, Grey Butcherbird; Little Raven; PiedCurrawong; Satin Bowerbird, Superb Lyrebird, White-winged Chough

11 Exotic, out of area: 
Fairy Penguin

Wedge-tailed Eagle (Munyunga)

These eagles, the largest in Australia, are called Munyunga in the Yuin language group. Because of the distinctive wedge tail, they are commonly called wedge-tailed eagles.

They are large - mature birds can have a wingspan of more than 2m (7') - and close up they are muscular and massive. To have one take off for the ground in front of you is an experience not to be forgotten.

Family - Molonglo High Plains

Solitary wedge-tailed eagles patrol the Molonglo High Plains, but catching a family grouping is a little unusual.

These shots - from 2014. shows the family together (female on left, child right top and male lower right).  When the male departs, the female flies to child and commences grooming.  Finally a shot of the child alone (note wing feathers out of place against a small branch) and a final shot as it flies off.

King Parrots in flight

Palerang

July 2015

Little Eagle - Hieraaetus morphnoides

This is the smaller of Australia's two true eagles, the Little Eagle has a wingspan of about 1.3m (4') with a crest and feathered legs.

My mother discovered a large family group of these - she counted 5 birds - while I concentrated on getting some pictures. The eagles stayed with us for 20 minutes, squabbling with magpies over territory, and treating us to amazing acrobatics in high wind gusts as it threatened to snow.  

Images: Spring Hill Reservoir, Orange, May 2015

Eagle Template

The animation I took from shots I took of an eagle flying recently - stripped of color and simply presented in "find edge" mode. This made it look like an animation of a series of drawings.