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Over about one hour (11am to noon) on Sunday 20
August, I observed four species of raptors: Brown Falcon, Black-shouldered
Kite, Whistling Kite and a pair of Little Eagles.
As has been reported recently by others, dark
and light phase Little Eagles have been hunting in unison - are they a possible
breeding pair? I watched the pair for most of the hour I was there.
They were on the wing virtually all of that time, disdappearing from my view and
then reappearing. Most of the time, they were to the east and south-east
of the sewage ponds, although the dark phase bird (I think that is the male) was
seen north at one stage, closer to the Molonglo Reach area. The birds
soared in close company for much of the time, including a couple of flights at
each other but without contact. The light phase bird dived a couple of
times towards pine trees, scattering Starlings but without catching any in my
viewings. In another incident, an Australian Raven took up a
prolonged chase of both birds being occasionally chased itself but, like a
Spitfire pilot, turning a pursuit of it into a pursuit of the eagle.
Contact seemed to be made on at least two occasions and an outer rectrix of the
light phase eagle was distinctly skew-wiff after these activities. Perhaps
a "score" for the raven.
Other than this interesting display, there was a
good collection of ducks: both Teal, Pink-eared Ducks, Australasian
Shovellers, White-eyed Ducks, 2 pairs of Blue-billed ducks and a small number of
Pacific Black Ducks, some of which had the characteristics of hybrids -
with unusual face markings and a purple speculum. There were also a few
Hoary-headed Grebes. I saw no Freckled Ducks.
A Golden-headed Cisticola was in the grass on the
eastern side of the ponds. It had a streaked head and a longish tail which
I think indicates a non-breeding male(?). While I saw many Welcome
Swallows, I seem to have missed Owen Holton's Fairy Martins - I may have
taken the "Swallows" for granted, although I did inspect a few.
David Rosalky
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