Brown Goshawk

Normally a bird of prey will stay away from me if I am camped by a water source. Rarely will they come and have a drink. This female Brown Goshawk was unusual because it flew around the small waterhole, saw me, perched across the other side, flew down then flew off, but returned not long after. And she gave me some lovely photos. How do I know it was a female? Because the male is a lot smaller and he came by about an hour later, but he did do the normal bird of prey behaviour and flew in then flew off.

Brown Goshawk

The Buchanan and Buntine Highways - birds galore

Leaving Dunmarra on the Stuart Highway, you get the feeling you are all alone, heading off into the wilderness. Red dirt roads, roadside foliage covered in the red dust, unattended roadside burnoffs, and birds, lots of birds. I drove past trees that had 50 Black Kites that were sitting near the top of the trees until I drove past, at which point they alighted to the sky in 5s and 10s. Galahs in their hundreds, munching away on the roadside vegetation. Small birds flitting across the road in front of the car, Woodswallows diving and then soaring as the car approached.

I have already written about the Finches and the Brolgas. But there were so many other birds. Blue-winged Kookaburras in twos and threes flew across the road at tree-top level, different habitats providing a chance to just sit and listen from the car, mostly birds I could identify by call, but some I couldn't, even if the calls were vaguely familiar. I find this a good test of listening skills and then later identify birds I'd heard when I come upon them in a nearby (sometimes 200 kms away) location.

It is a 200 km stretch along the Buchanon Highway to Top Springs, all dirt. Thankfully the road was in a good condition, although there were a few washouts that desperately need a road crew to go out and fix. About 60kms before Top Springs, the long stretches of fairly straight road and quite heavily treed habitat gives way to much more sparsely treed, small hills. And then a large dam, with cows, and then more cows, and then lots of cows. From there the road winds through small hills and gullies and creeks, most with a small amount of water, until finally the signs of civilization appear once more - just them, signs. And finally you hit the bitumen where the Buchanan and Buntine Highways intersect.

Along the bitumen from Top Springs, about 160 kms south west, until just before Kalkarindji, and the turnoff to Lajamanu. Some of this stretch of road I think is some of the most dangerous corners and crests in Australia. There are not many places I've driven where the road is just wider than a truck, with very high spear grass on both sides of the road, coming over a crest and a corner at the same time. The speed limit is 110 km/h, but I am generally going less than 40 around and over these parts as if someone is coming the other way, you don't have time to think, just dive off into the scrub, so 40 km/h at least gives me a tiny bit longer to react.
Having said that, the creek and river crossings along this highway are yet more birding delights. And, if a car does happen to pass you, you aren't covered in dust. Absolute bonus!

And so to the birds, or more specifically, the bird photos. Below are a selection of photos from my journeys across these two highways. It was most enjoyable for me, hope you enjoy the photos.

Just 2 of the many Black Kites

Brown Goshawks

Spotted Harrier

4 of the 5 Dingoes in this group

Apostlebirds

Bar-shouldered Dove

Crimson Finch

Great Bowerbird

Grey-fronted Honeyeater

Paperbark Flycatcher

Rainbow Bee-eaters

Rufous-throated Honeyeater (adult then juvenile)

The bizarre-eyed Varied Lorikeet

A Couple of "Juve's" - Spotted Harrier and Brown Goshawk

It is always exciting to see new life exploring the world. In the birding world, that can be a chick fledging from a nest or hollow, or starting their new life as a hunter, making mistake after mistake until they finally start to succeed more often.

I watched as a young Brown Goshawk flew in to a group of Zebra Finches on a leafless bush near a water hole time after time, failing to grab any of the fleeing Finches. It would then sit in the bush, seemingly confused why it wasn't munching on some tasty bird. A few times it would even get its wings caught in the twigs of the bush, before flapping off to a nearby perch. It swooped from 30 metres from the cover of a stand of trees across the dam to the water's edge, again without success. It would then perch under the large tree the finches and budgies were using as a launching pad to fly down for a drink, not a particularly inconspicuous place. Ultimately it decided to fly off and catch some of the larger grasshoppers around.

The Spotted Harrier then replaced the Goshawk, and the difference in the speed is marked. The Harrier looks like it had been chewing on the wrong sort of weed for the morning, slow, laboured wingbeats, skinny long legs, and even though it didn't seem to be hunting the same prey, looked as if it was a few months behind the Goshawk as far as life skills was concerned.

Both birds had the weird and almost spooky head turn of 360 degrees the lots of birds seem to have. But in flight and close-up, it would be appropriate in a horror film, like Linda Blair in the Exorcist, rather than the wonder of nature. Lucky it wasn't a cloudy day just before dusk!

These two young birds need to be one the lookout, as other birds of prey are in the same area. Over a few visits, I have seen Grey Falcon, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Little Eagle, Brown Falcon, Peregrine Falcon, Nankeen Kestrel, and both Whistling and Black Kites. The two Eagles would probably be the biggest threats to the two juveniles, especially if they managed to be eating some prey more to the Eagles' liking. So I was on the lookout myself for the other birds of prey after observing the constant head swivels. On this occasion, these were the only two in the immediate vicinity.

Birds of prey are definitely some of my favourite birds, probably because of their size and ease of narrowing down what type they are. And Spotted Harriers are always a delight to try to photograph, generally because of their relative slowness compared to some of the other birds of prey. Below are a few shots from my time with the "two Juve's".

Spotted Harrier

Brown Goshawk

Brown Goshawk chick - photos and video

I went to look for the Black-breasted Buzzard juvenile and got a nice surprise in the Brown Goshawk nest.

Video via YouTube

for Moses

Brown Goshawks - enough photos to (almost) fill a calendar

I posted about this pair about a week ago. Since then, I've managed a few decent photos, in flight, on the nest, with prey, copulating, all can be seen below. They haven't got eggs in the nest yet as far as I can tell as neither of them seems too worried about leaving it unattended. Can't be too far off now though, I've been hearing and seeing them copulate for over 2 weeks.

This morning I had a distant recollection of a cartoon with a sheepdog and a wolf. Each night the "pair" clocked off and the others clocked on. Shift change. One of them was called "Sam" I think. Anyway, the Goshawk male and the Black-breasted Buzzard male both returned to their respective nest within about 5 minutes of each other, and the females of both flew off. I was wondering if the two males were quietly sitting on their respective nests asking how the other one's early morning hunt had gone. Enough waffle. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Brown Goshawks

with Budgerigar

with rodent

making babies

pair flying, female on right