As this was the last weekday of my time off from work I wanted to go somewhere special to photograph, so I decided to make the trip to Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve. This wonderful gem of nature is an easy 30 minute drive from my house and always worth a visit. I decided to use Daslsetta car park as the centre of my exploring, with a walk eastwards then back westwards towards Tidbinbilla River. I really underestimated how much ground I was going to cover, quickly finding myself running out of time yet still nowhere near the river. There was a lot of birdlife around but the closed canopy made it more of a photographic challenge than a lot of places around Canberra. As always, I enjoyed my time and will be back. I was really happy I went because I saw some marvellous Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, an Australian Hobby flew past and I was also really fortunate to photograph two Yellow-faced Honeyeaters doing a horizontal face-off. A great morning spent in some truly beautiful country, I hope you enjoy the photographs.
The Tidbinbilla River valley seemed to form a veritable bird flight highway, with a number of difference species flying along its north-south axis. One of those species was the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus funereus). These are large, beautiful, black birds with yellow on their cheeks and tails. When I saw some land in a nearby stand of trees I was off. Fortunately, like most cockatoos, they were not quiet birds, so it was not hard tracking down their general location. When I cleared some small shrubs there was this beautiful female of the species perched in a eucalyptus staring down at me. The light coloured beak, yellow ends to the feathers on the front plus the lack of a pink colouring around the eye indicate it is a female. The sun was behind the bird, presenting challenges of photographing a backlit, dark bird in the shadows. The photographs could be better but I was happy enough with the results. I tried to move around the tree to have the sun behind me but in doing so I startled another Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo that was feeding in a low shrub. That bird took off with a start, spooking this female into flight. I was disappointed but still thrilled to have seen such a wonderful bird at reasonably close range.
A female Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, the dark skin surrounding the eye, light coloured bill and the yellow ends to the feathers indicate the sex
I was also able to catch this Brown Goshawk (Accipiter fasciatus) in flight as it was heading southwards.
A Brown Goshawk
I was slow to react to this bird below as I thought it was the goshawk flying back and I knew my bird in flight skills are still lacking. I eventually got the camera ready because I was sure it was a different bird. When I looked at the shots I realised it was an Australian Hobby (Falco longipennis) flying northwards up the valley.
An Australian Hobby
This was my one shot of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters (Lichenostomus chrysops) and I am glad it came out. I walked around a corner in the track and saw two birds horizontal on a branch, brought my camera up, focused and clicked. They were then gone. I am not sure what was going on but they left in the same direction, one after the other. They both have light irises so they both appear to be adults.
Two Yellow-faced Honeyeaters
As always with whistlers, I heard this male Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris) before I saw him. Fortunately he was not too worried by my presence, so not put-off as I tried to get a better shot of him. He would call and then would seem to cock his head, perhaps trying to listen for a reply. He did not move far, confining his calling to a small group of trees possibly in a 30m² area.
A male Rufous Whistler
In roughly the same area a Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa) was moving through the same trees as a group of Striated Thornbills.
A Grey Fantail
Below is one of the Striated Thornbills (Acanthiza lineata).
When I started my walk there was a mob of Eastern Grey Kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) who were not too worried by having people near by. This one pictured below was chewing some grass, not really concerned but still keeping an eye on me, as well as a group of hikers who were making a bit of noise as they started along the trail. The pointing of its ears to the rear may indicate it was not overly worried by my presence as its hearing is reduced when an ear is not open towards the source of a sound.
Eastern Grey Kangaroo
There were so many Yellow-winged Grasshoppers or locusts (Gastrimargus musicus) out that morning. The below photos are of the same species, which has both a green and a brown form. In the top photograph the yellow wing is just noticeable underneath the wing cover. Everywhere I walked there was a small shower of these grasshoppers jumping in front of me. Some did not have very good accuracy, jumping into my face or onto my hat. Their movement was not a pure jump, more a short flight, when their yellow wings were very obvious.
The brown version of the Yellow-winged Grasshopper
The green version of the Yellow-winged Grasshopper