Cooks River Birds – Additions – 30 Oct 2014

I went down to the Cooks River again with my camera. This time I met up with Digi Dave.

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I started at Ewan Park and photographed the Tawny Frogmouths there. This time there was one adult and two chicks. 

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As well, another photographer there spotted some Grey Butcherbird chicks high on a tree branch. The parent Butcherbirds were around and sometimes would swoop down at us – trying to scare us away.

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Low down in a tree was a Figbird sitting on a cloth of eggs in a nest.

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But it was the Tawny Frogmouth chicks that stole the show. So cute with their downy feathers.

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A cyclist passing by told me about a Spoonbill a little bit downstream, or was it an Ibis? he was not sure. Ibis are very common along the river. I and never seen a Spoonbill on the Cooks River but have heard that others have seen them, and there are some photos online. I wandered downstream and around the corner was a Spoonbill. It was in the park, walking on the grass. A few noisy miner birds seemed to object to its presence and were swooping down at it. It also seemed to be joining up with a few Ibis that are walking around in the same area. Strange. Perhaps it was a bit lost?

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I then got on my bike and rode down to the Sugarmill to meet up with Digi Dave. We went to the Cup and Saucer Creek Wetlands – but there were few birds there. By this time in the day – it was quite hot. Too hot for the birds?

So we then went to the Boat Harbour. The group of Tawny Frogmouths that I had photographed here a few days earlier had moved. They took a long time to spot. Eventually, Digi Dave saw one adult, high in a tree, and nearby was the other adult and the two fledglings. Being high up, they were hard to photograph, so went back down to Ewan Park and I showed Digi Dave the Frogmouths there. A council lawnmower had awoken the chicks and they were now much easier to photograph.

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We then rode our bike down to Gough Whitlam Park – and had coffee and some food from the canteen there. Then to the Tempe Wetlands. Again it was too hot -and we only stayed there half an hour or so.

A selection of my photos from the day has been added to Page 7 of my Cooks River Bird Gallery.

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