Brown Falcon with a Blue-tongue Lizard, Australian Hobby with a Budgie and a Black-shouldered Kite - photos

Spent the week working at Laramba and travelling from Tilmouth Well. The road is on Napparby Station land I think, and is about 38 kms long.

For the most part, it would seem there is very little wildlife at all except for the cows near, alongside, and on the road. But once you stop the car at the side of the road, you start seeing things you would have otherwise driven past.

This Brown Falcon had only recently caught the Blue-tongue. At one point it struggled to fly off with it,  but the lizard was too big to fly very far. That explained why the falcon hadn't flown off when I had stopped the car. I hadn't noticed the falcon at all, in fact went in the opposite direction, and nearly got back into the car when a different bird called from the same direction,  but much further away from the falcon. I started walking toward the far off sound when I noticed this sitting on the ground about 20 metres in front of me:

Brown Falcon with Blue-tongue Lizard (right click photos and open in New Window to see full size)

After my encounter with the Brown Falcon in the previous afternoon, the next morning I stopped in the same place (as you do) fully expecting to find something else of interest. As I pulled up and got out of the car, something caught my eye as it flew off from cover. Another bird of prey. I got back into the car and tried to follow and had just about given up when I saw a bird sitting in a tree about 40 metres from the road. I managed to take the following shot of the Australian Hobby:

Australian Hobby:

Obviously no Blue-tomgue this time as it allowed me a couple of shots and then flew off, annoyingly behind shrubs so I couldn't track where it went even though I tried watching as hard as I could. Back in the car and I had only driven for a little while when I saw this fast bullet plunging from above into the bush on the other side of the road. Cursing myself for not having been back in the car faster to be able to see what the Hobby was aiming for and then tracking where it had taken its breakfast, I was amazed to discover further along the road, on the same side I had seen the bullet from the sky, an Australian Hobby sitting and enjoying his Budgerigar for breakfast. 

I was glad in a sense that I wasn't too close to watch the dismantling of the Budgie as they have provided a lot of joy over the past few months through my camera lens.

Tilmouth Well had a couple of frequent visiting Black-shouldered Kites, I think one of them was a juvenile.

Happy Birding!