The weather on Sunday, 19 August 2018 did not start out promising but improved as the morning went on. I had been wanting for a while to start a walk at the Yarralumla Equestrian Centre then cross over the Molonglo River into a pine plantation behind the National Zoo. On parking at the centre I was greeted immediately on leaving my car by some White-winged Choughs, which was a good omen as I always had birds around me. I could not always photograph them but they were enough to distract me for an extra hour when I should have been heading home. It was a lovely distraction that made a lovely start to a Sunday.
The view looking south-west along the Molonglo River behind the Yarralumla Equestrian Park with the snow-frosted Brindabella Range in the distance
As I wrote in the introduction, when I alighted from my car I immediately saw a group of White-winged Choughs grazing along the grass just a few metres from my car. The choughs were not overly concerned by my presence while I used the car as a convenient object to hide behind. They even walked past the side of the car I was on allowing me to use my flash, which I had set too high. There was an adult out in front but close behind was an immature bird, possibly in its first year because of the slight reddening around the iris. The immature bird fond something in the dirt and was joined by another immature bird very quickly. Choughs are renowned as birds that kidnap young birds from other though parents to become part of the group to help with raising new young. These victims are also equally renowned for not being the best assistants, regularly keeping food themselves when they know they are not being observed. I have a soft spot for these birds as they are so dinosaur-like and I find their community approach to life, including the kidnapping, an interesting facet of bird behaviour.
The first group of photos below are of the adult bird.
The immature bird, note the different eye colour and slightly different coloured plummage.
I then saw a juvenile Straw-necked Ibis feeding in one of the horse enclosures. It was easily identifiable as a juvenile since it lacked the straw plumage on the neck that gives the species its name. I have noticed Straw-necked Ibis around Canberra are very wary birds, keeping as much distance as possible from people. Even this one did not let me get very close. Some others I saw later started moving in the opposite direction from me as soon as they saw me. I wonder if this behaviour is because of people waking dogs that may chase after the ibis. As ibis are not fast at taking off they may now associate humans and dogs so any person is seen as a possible threat since there may be a canine lurking nearby. I am just not sure why these birds exhibit such trepidation towards humans as the vast majority of people in Canberra would not hurt these birds but I have seen a number of times when dogs have been off leashes they have chased after birds. When this particular bird took off, it circled above me a number of times calling before it eventually landed at the opposite end of the enclosure away from me. I tried to take some photographs of it in flight but I still know I need practice.
After crossing the small weir over the Molonglo River I was greeted by a small number of Superb Fairy-wrens flying in the shrubbery on the sloping river bank. There were a few around but I was only able to take some decent pictures of this non-breeding male. The blue tail and dull brown plumage show it is a non-breeding male.
I could hear a number of birds in the pine plantation and I could see a number but it was not easy getting photographs. One bird I did get some shots of, albeit only after heavy editing in Lightroom, was these White-browed Scrubwrens. The first pair I saw were so quiet. They appeared to be foraging among some shrubs and forest clutter that had gathered in between some pine trees. If they had not been moving I could have walked easily past them. They did not seem too bothered by my presence, continuing with their foraging. They were often deep in tangled root systems or among the leaf litter. I was using a flash but it was still hard getting photographs of them so apologies for the quality of the below pictures.
Returning finally to my car I notice there was a lot of action in the wattle tree behind where I had parked my car. Unfortunately, there was a tall, rusted, chain-linked fence between the tree and me so I had trouble taking photographs of what was happening in the tree. I am sure I saw a Grey Fantail as well as this Brown Thornbill but I was only able to obtain these sub-optimal shots of the thornbill. The birds may have been feeding from the nectar or small insects but either way they were helping to pollinate the tree.
