Might be marsh harriers, especially if there’s wetlands in the area. They don’t mind the outer eastern fringe, I’ve seen them at my place in Boronia a couple of times. They’re pretty big birds. Nothing like the size of a wedgie though, those things are massive.
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Once was playing golf on the Mornington Peninsula and a wedgetail flew by at 30fy above the ground. I have no doubt that if it was hungry it could have picked me up. Was massive!
Start slinging them a bit of mince and they will
At my parents they constantly roll up and tap on balcony windows to get us to come out
Can throw food to them and they catch in mid air. Impressive
The Kookaburras do it too
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I was driving through a bit of bush down near Gembrook one time and startled a couple off a bit of roadkill. They got airborne just in time to avoid me as I braked, and skimmed a few feet over the car roof. Underneath their wings it was like the sun had been blotted out.
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Just spotted a wedge in the paddock at the back feasting on what I assume was a rabbit (heaps around at the moment as my lawn can attest to). What an amazing creature.
I won’t share the photo I took from 200m away, it’s bordering on “big cat sighting” type definition.
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We crested a rise somewhere in butt-fck-queensland on our way to Cairns many years ago and a dark mass was in the middle of the road off in the distance. At a speed that was , err, somewhere in the rough vicinity of 100km/hr , I promise Officer - said mass gradually resolved itself into a road kill carcass and two monstrous wings that suddenly stretched out as a wedgie looked over the top. In slow motion and with two ponderous beats it somehow got airborne and I was convinced it was going to get sucked into the open sunroof as we passed a meter or two below. The wingspan was clearly wider than the car (VR SS Commodore) , an absolutely majestic bird.
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Been fairly quiet since she hit 150 but Sunday’s visit to the Western Treatment Plant yielded BH a swag of birds, including several lifers. Been to the WTP a few times now but never seen so many birds before. Plenty will take off for Siberia soon but in the meantime it’s birders’ paradise.
#Black Kite - Point Wilson
#Red-necked Avocet - taking a bow it appears.
#Banded Stilt (with masked lapwings, pacific black ducks and red-necked stints)
The next two were BH’s main targets and both lifers.
#Freckled Duck in the middle flanked by Chestnut Teal and Pink-eared Ducks. Hopefully they all stay put until the killing season ends.
#Australian Spotted Crake
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Wow… very rewarding day.
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To walk among a group of 20 YellowTail Blacks is a sublime experience. Its up there with a visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar, or the Taktsang in Bhutan. Put them all on your bucket list.
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It was a great day but there was also the story of the one that got away…sort of. Part of the day found us in the “Little River Bird Hide” peering off into the haze at tiny specks. BH tried zooming in but they were too distant. Any way it turned out her site’s sea bird expert also visited the same hide on the same day, except he was armed with a rocket launcher camera and was able to get a picture of a smallish tern which turned out to be a Black Tern. It is the first sighting in Victoria EVER and there have only been 3 sightings recorded in all of OZ. Of course all hell has broken loose in the birding community and the place has been invaded from all over, including interstate visitors. So far it’s stayed there and there’s some speculation they might shut down the section because of the sheer numbers of birders visiting.
BH likes to think it was one of the specks she was peering at but says the original spotter is a great guy so good luck to him.
This is a stock pic, not the actual bird. The bird itself is posted on the “Birds and birding Victoria 2023” facebook site. BH says birders’ ethics dictate you cannot post another poster’s pic. As I’ve said before, she’s a cop’s daughter through and through.
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Handsome critter !
Well that is amazing. I did a quick Google on the black tern and understand what a rare sighting this is. I do hope that while the birders who have flocked to see it are obviously “bird caring” people that they are more concerned for the bird than their own desires. Keep up the great work BH - I love seeing all of your photos.
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My experience is the vast majority of birders are caring and concerned, but then there are the dicckwits. The WTPlant had to close down sections last year when the Orange Bellied Parrots were visiting because of the damage some reckless and desperate birders were causing in their pursuit of a rare pic. Hopefully this won’t happen in this case.
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A not-at-all-rare visitor to our back yard, lol.
I never really liked crows but the more I watch them the more interesting they are and just make me laugh.
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They’re clever. His eyes are amazing. Great photo.
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Not sure if I want this in the bird thread or a gardening thread
Will soon have a spot that’ll need a shrub/tree/bush. (When I pull down the Japanese maple that’s there now).
Wouldn’t want it to get past roof height, so max of 2 or 2.5m
Ideally would want it to attract birds and/or insects. Definitely want a native (eastern suburbs of Melbs).
(But probably not something for the parrots, they get enough off the 10 odd fruit trees between us and the neighbours).
Suggestions?
Callistomen, , leptospermums, leucadendron shrubs also ( although South African proteas) ?
Wattle tree?
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Grevilleas- big range of heights and colours
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Grevilleas could be a good option, the little white-throated honeyeaters etc love those (buy them from a specialist native nursery rather than Bunnings etc though, the more modern garden cultivars are bred for bigger flowers which tend to attract lorikeets and noisy miners rather than the little honeyeaters and so on that evolved to feed from them). Or a wattle - acacia paradoxa (the hedge wattle) is a very nice one around the right size, but it’s prickly as fk which might affect your decisionmaking. There’s various hakeas which could work well for you too, I’ll try to dig up some specific names.
If you’re in the area, you might want to drop in to Knox Environment Society, they sell eastern-suburbs-specific natives quite cheap and can give you good advice too.
Edit: goodia lotifolia (golden tip) is another good option. And it grows nice and fast compared to some of the others too. Just make sure you keep it watered, I keep losing mine in dry spells.
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