Red Hill Nature Reserve is a different place on a weekday. Because I had been in Sydney on Saturday morning I missed my regular walk and photographing on Red Hill that morning. I had taken Monday off work to catch up on things I should have done while I was in Sydney so I decided to go for a walk around Red Hill on Monday. I was amazed how quiet it was. I did not see any joggers or people walking their dogs, only a person who appeared to be walking to work through the reserve. The reserve seemed quieter, in the sense there was less human-made noise and more natural sounds. I was pleasantly surprised by the natural stillness. I had a wonderful time as the birds seemed to be easier to hear. They also seemed to be around more. I did not go far as I was late starting but I thoroughly enjoyed the areas I visited. I am really looking forward to my next day off work so I can see if this quietness is the normal situation on Red Hill. I hope you enjoy the photographs below.
Striated Pardalotes (Pardalotus striatus) are one of my favourite birds. They are very common but they can be hard to see. Once you know their call they are easily heard but their small size and preference for the top of trees make them hard birds to see. That morning, I heard their calls and could see small birds but it took me a while to confirm I was looking at pardalotes. They were initially high in the trees. I could also hear a noise like something heavy hitting wood and I initially thought there may have been some large rain drops but the sky was blue. I then realised there were pardalotes on an exposed branch. They appeared to be “chopping” at the wood with their beaks. I am not sure if they were after insects because in looking at the photographs I could see both birds at different times had small bits of wood in their bills. I was very happy when a Spotted Pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus) made an appearance and came down from high in the tree to a small sapling. It appeared to be after food on the leaves. It came to the front of the small tree allowing me to take the photograph that heads this blog post. I was so excited to have taken that shot, although I wished I had managed to get its whole tail into the shot. That encounter made my morning, it was hard to move away from watching these delightful little birds who were going about their daily life right beside the quiet path, which is normally a popular route on weekends.
A Spotted Pardalote looking intently for food
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/6.3 and 1/250 SEC] with Canon 430EX III-RT flash)
Two pardalotes with the front one appearing to have wood in its beak and the back one looking like it is trying to get wood
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/6.3 and 1/250 SEC])
A lone Satin Bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) appeared in a dead tree near where I had been watching the Striated Pardalotes. Later as I walked further up the hill I could hear some bowerbirds and I then saw a group of about four moving around an area where I have seen them before. They were either juvenile birds or females. They moved across the area in one direction first, then they reversed course and came back across the area, picking at things as they went past. They had vegetation in their beaks but it was not clear if they were eating it as the vegetation stayed in their beaks for a while. Later, as I was walking back down the hill, I saw a group of bowerbirds fly from the area I had just been watching them in, down to the clump of thick vegetation at the base of the hill on the eastern side of the Federal Golf Club. This is a common area for Satin Bowerbirds with a bower also located among the tangled shrubbery.
A female Satin Bowerbird moving into a spot of light
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/1000 SEC])
A pair of Satin Bowerbirds
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/6.3 and 1/100 SEC])
A pair of Australian Wood Ducks (Chenonetta jubata) were in a dead tree, with the male and female on different branches. The male was quiet while the female was calling regularly while I was watching them.
Female Australian Wood Duck
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Male Australian Wood Duck
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
There was a single Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius) on the grass in Hughes. The bird was on the ground eating some of the small plants around it. The bird was beside the path so flew off as I came closer, although it only flew to another patch of grass a little further away.
An Eastern Rosella feeding in the grass at Hughes
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])