Against the background of the
general decline in raptor numbers, Canberra still offers a few raptorial highlights
in season. The current hawk nest-monitoring project (helped by this
chatline) is now winding up, with a surprisingly high tally of Brown Goshawks
nesting in the nature parks. Sparrowhawks are fewer, perhaps being mainly
in leafy suburban backyards, as well as nesting a little later.
As to the Whistling Kite issue I
raised, it has been confirmed that one pair did wind up in the willows
(Rod’s nest). That makes one pair for the ACT, at least.
One good-news story is that a
single male wedge-tailed eaglet has just left its nest in an innerish nature
park. When I was taking a snap about 3 weeks ago, I noticed that the
blurred red roofs of Kingston and a sliver of lake were visible through the
foliage so I took the same photo again with the focus on the background.
I then combined the 2 photos, so the result is the actual scene, although the
eye is not much better at focussing on both components at once than the camera.
Given the remarkable vision of
these birds, Kingston apartment-dwellers who do not want young eagles
looking through their bedroom windows should draw the curtains. Perhaps
they should do that anyway. With the standard of politics in Canberra,
the last thing we need is another sex scandal.
At the same time the occasional
warning chatter of peregrines could be heard from further up the hill, where
the adults were tending recently-fledged young. I cannot claim that any
peregrines were in actual view at the same time as the eaglet on its nest, in
fact it was quite difficult to keep them in view at all as they sped complaining
noisily above the tree-tops, with their distinctive fluttering but rather
muscle-bound flight.
