I had to drive from Pitt Town to Penrith NW of Sydney, last Wednesday, but
did not have time to visit the Pitt Town lagoon. However had an interesting
drive back via the Richmond turf farms.
Firstly had great views of a Nankeen Night Heron over a paddock at Pitt Town
being mobbed by a pair of Australian Ravens, who were really upset with it.
On the telephone wires nearby were 3 Black-shouldered Kites, a Peregrine
eating something of undetermined origin and an Australian Hobby.
On the turf farms were a good collection of birds, Great and Cattle Egrets,
hundreds of Magpie-larks, White-faced Heron, Straw-necked Ibis, a tree in
the distance had about 30 Egrets roosting on the top of it, but without a
scope I could not make out what type.
Behind the airport was a pair of very large lightish brown raptors tracking
along a hedgerow. Unfortunately by the time I had stopped the car and got
the bins out, they had swooped into a valley and I could not find them
again, so I am not sure what they were although I have seen a single
Square-tailed Kite in this area recently?
On the road from Castlereagh to Penrith, I came across a flock of 50-100
Magpie-larks on the telephone lines with a larger bird in the middle of
them. On getting closer this turned out to be a single Black-shouldered Kite
! Would a Magpie-lark be too large for a BSK's lunch, were they safe in
numbers? They were not mobbing the Kite, all just perched there on the wires
in the sun with the usual comings and goings in a large flock.
This morning while taking a walk alongside the Nepean River, I came across a
Crested Shrike-tit posing in a bush about 2m from where I stood. I watched
it for about 3 minutes and it did not leave even when my dog came up. I do
not have a photo of this bird, and my camera was at home......
Regards, Mike Simpson
Penrith, NSW
http://members.optusnet.com.au/ozbirds
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