The never-tiring JackyF emailed to ask if I wanted to go for a walk one afternoon to look at a number of nests she knew of around Red Hill Nature Reserve so I could help keep an eye on them and take some photos as well. I jumped at the chance to see this important part of bird behaviour so we agreed to meet on the afternoon of Thursday, 27 December 2018. JackyF really knows Red Hill well and, as always, had some great things to show me. The Leaden Flycatcher was a standout. We also discovered the nest of a wonderfully coloured Red-browed Finch, who was building it very near a path. I hope you enjoy the photographs.
While walking to meet JackyF I came across a group of Galahs (Eolophus roseicapillus) feeding on the grass in Hughes. Fortuitously the group included an immature bird, which was on the side closest to me. As I did not yet have a photograph of an immature Galah I could not resist the opportunity to photograph the group, especially the individual bird. They appeared very accustomed to humans, allowing me to approach very close without altering their behaviour. Even when I finished photographing they did not fly off when I continued walking in their general direction. It is always much easier to photograph birds who are not disturbed by the presence of the photographer.
An immature Galah, note the grey on the breast and mixed colour crown as indications of being immature
After meeting up with Jacky she showed me the first nest, that of a Leaden Flycatcher (Myiagra rubecula). We were fortunate to see a male on the nest when we arrived as well as three heads sticking up. The male noticed our presence but did not react, instead it kept looking away from us roughly to the east. This may have been where the female was. After a little while she landed on the branch, and he was straight off the nest to fly away to the east. She then took over at the nest. It did not appear she was feeding them. She also continued looking to the east, away from us, despite our presence.
The adult male Leaden Flycatcher on the nest ignoring our presence
A female Leaden Flycatcher on her nest with three chicks, likewise not caring greatly about us being close-by
The same small tree also held a Noisy Friarbird (Philemon corniculatus) nest around a metre (approximately three feet) away from the flycatcher’s nest. We thought the nest was not being used at the time we were there but looking at my photographs later I could see what I think were the back feathers of at least one chick. We think we saw the parent in a tree nearby. It was flying around us but not approaching the nest. It also held the remains of a cicada in its beak but was not eating it, probably meaning the adult bird was going to feed the insect to the chicks. We left the bird to get back to its parental responsibilities.
A Noisy Friarbird with a cicada for its chicks
The Noisy Friarbird nest with the feathers of a chick visible at the top right of the nest
We noticed a bird move from the ground to a tree but we could not identify it. When we approached the tree the bird took to the wing out over the western side of Red Hill. It was only in enhancing a photograph after getting home that I realised it was a Brown Goshawk (Accipiter fasciatus). It circled the area for a while before flying off to the east, higher on the hill.
A very blurry photo of a Brown Goshawk
Continuing westward down a track towards Kent Street we saw a male Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus) sitting on a fence. There was a female nearby as well as another male. There did not seem to be any interaction between the birds.
A male Superb Fairy-wren
A bit further on JackyF pointed out some other nests she had seen but did not know what birds had made them. They were clumps of vegetation, which made me suggest they may have been a Weebill nest. After seeing those nests we saw a similar nest in a small shrub beside the path. While we wondering what bird made the nest we saw the movement of a small bird in the low shrubs. I thought it was either a thornbill or scrubwren until we saw the red colouring and I realised I was looking at my second ever Red-browed Finch (Neochmia temporalis). (I had only just seen my first Red-browed Finch that morning at Jerrabomberra Wetlands.) This finch was carrying out similar activities to the bird I had seen this morning. It looked at us from the back of the shrub and I was able to shoot a few photographs. It then flew quickly inside the nest. I kept my lens up, although I was holding if up for a little while, worried the bird had left via another entrance. I stayed focused on the entrance it used allowing me to capture the picture at the top of this post as the bird started leaving the nest. When the bird fully exited the nest it remained perched on branches at the front of the nest, looking around, including looking at us. The bird did not seem that concerned with out presence.
A Red-browed Finch
I took JackyF past the White-winged Chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos) nest I had found previously. There was a single bird on the nest with no other choughs around. The bird was panting, it was hot day with the temperature at that time still over 35º Celsius (95º Fahrenheit). No other choughs appeared to be around and this bird did not seem bothered by our presence.
At a distance we saw a Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike (Coracina novaehollandiae), which we thought may be an adult bird getting food for its chicks. When we saw it capture some food we hoped the bird would fly back to a nest so we could follow it but the bird appeared to eat the food itself.
A Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike with its meal
We saw a male and female Gang-gang Cockatoo (Callocephalon fimbriatum) outside a hollow we believe was being used for nesting. We did not see them enter although JackyF believed she heard the noises of chicks.
An Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus) was flying around several trees.
Olive-backed Oriole
This Stencilled Hairstreak (Jalmenus ictinus) was flying around an acacia near the water tanks on Red Hill.
Stencilled Hairstreak butterfly