Hi all,
Yesterday evening around sunset (17:00-17:15 h) I saw a Black Falcon
at Kellys Swamp. It lifted from the ground at the base of the fence
at the southern end of the swamp as I approached and flew into the
camouflage of a pair of decrepit ancient radiata pines about 100m
further south in the paddocks. On approaching it again flew off to a
willow on the bank of the creek/billabong towards the DAS Fleet
compound. My attention was distracted by some waterbirds on the creek
and I lost track of the falcon (what was I thinking?!). Suspecting
that was as much of it as I was going to see, I headed back and was
surprised to see the falcon heading back for the pair of pines. At
the top of its upward swoop to the uppermost branches of the tree, it
suddenly saw me as I waited for it in anticipation of better views,
and banked sharply and swooped away through the trees to the west of
Kellys Swamp.
Light conditions were poor and I never got very good perched views of
it, but the flight style - effortless shallow flicking wing beats and
long effortless low glides on flat but bowed wings was absolutely
characteristic. Also, when it banked at the top of the tree on seeing
me, the tail presented a peculiar outline with the outer tail
feathers somewhat shorter than the central ones giving a stepped
appearance. I wasn't aware of this feature, but on looking up some
books at home it is apparently diagnostic.
A swag of COG twitchers will hopefully see it this morning...
Harvey
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