It is not unusual to see more than one bird of prey on the same day in my travels. What is unusual is to see two different types sitting very close to one another on the same branch.
I was driving along one of the outback roads west of Alice Springs and noticed a pair of Black-breasted Buzzards. The female flew off and the male obligingly stayed in the tree near the road. After a short time he followed to where the female had flown. I kept the camera trained on the male as it flew off, presumably to re-unite with its mate. As he moved further from me, I switched the focus to the tree where I thought he would land, next to the female. Instead I was in for a bit of a shock. There were already two large birds sitting there. I assumed the smaller of the two already on the branch was a juvenile Black-breasted Buzzard. I was wrong. Instead, a Brown Falcon was on the branch.
It was unfortunate the tree in question was so far away as some of the shots would have been much better, but the encounter was still interesting for two reasons.
Firstly, seeing the male and female BBBs together now, are they getting ready to breed? And secondly, was the Brown Falcon more aggressive as there was a nest nearby? Or was it just that the tree in question was the best vantage point for the local hunting ground. Regardless, I enjoyed the brief show.
I was driving along one of the outback roads west of Alice Springs and noticed a pair of Black-breasted Buzzards. The female flew off and the male obligingly stayed in the tree near the road. After a short time he followed to where the female had flown. I kept the camera trained on the male as it flew off, presumably to re-unite with its mate. As he moved further from me, I switched the focus to the tree where I thought he would land, next to the female. Instead I was in for a bit of a shock. There were already two large birds sitting there. I assumed the smaller of the two already on the branch was a juvenile Black-breasted Buzzard. I was wrong. Instead, a Brown Falcon was on the branch.
It was unfortunate the tree in question was so far away as some of the shots would have been much better, but the encounter was still interesting for two reasons.
Firstly, seeing the male and female BBBs together now, are they getting ready to breed? And secondly, was the Brown Falcon more aggressive as there was a nest nearby? Or was it just that the tree in question was the best vantage point for the local hunting ground. Regardless, I enjoyed the brief show.
Black-breasted Buzzards and Brown Falcon
