an interesting weekend for me
I got this Nankeen Night Heron in post juvenile moult at Walka Water Works, Maitland
and the Brown Falcon on Ash Island, Newcastle
I also got 2 lifers - Hoary-Headed Grebe at WWW, Maitland and Red-necked Avocet at Stckton Sadpit, Newcastle
(still sorting pics so I may find better ones)
Wow, great lot of pic and such an assortment of birds. Well done.
Karen
Brisbane southside.
Thanks for showing some of your photos Peter, they look great. I have never seen any of these in the wild. Thanks also for the tip off you gave me, but I was too slow in getting there.
Regards
Shane
Great shots Peter. Your Brown Falcon shot is lovely.
Hey, pacman. Are you sure that heron's not a striated heron?
life is a bucket of uncertainly ....
but I believe that it is a Nankeen Night Heron because of the rufous/cinnamon/brown upperparts inlcuding the wings & back.
I have the Morecombe Guide and the new Pizzey & Knight Guide with me in Gosford.
It looks very close to a sketch on p135 of Pizzey
Peter
great images Peter and your heron ID is correct. Well done on the Hoaries as well. They are super stunning with the head streaking as they are.
cheers
In the face of overwhelming superiority in bird i.d. I stand corrected.
I have to agree with Woko that it's a Striated. I was leaning towards a Nankeen until I noticed the yellow patch in front of the eye - it's yellow. All the images I've seen of a Nankeen is this area is black or dark in colour, but I am happy to stand corrected as I haven't seen a large number of images of the Nankeen Night Heron and I've only ever captured a couple of images of one on iPhone at work which aren't very clear.
Just as a side issue, you guys may be interested in these images I took on Saturday 27.10.2012 of a Striated Heron "diving" for fish of a boom at the mouth of The Nerang River where it runs into The Broadwater, Main Beach, Gold Coast. Extremely unusual behaviour for a Heron
Karl
I checked my Simpson-Day guide, the yellow-patch is present in both.
Here are a couple of images that I took recently at Hunter Wetlands of a juvenile and a parent of Nankeen Night Heron. They were perching only a few metres away from each other on the same tree. Both have faint yellow patches in front of their eyes.
Nice shots Pacman. I frequent those areas as well. WWW used to be my favourite when my wife used to work in Maitland. I am sure we'll bump across each other soon.
Thanks Nahar, great shots and I do stand corrected. The only photo's I've taken of the Nankeen Night Heron are so bad that you can't tell except for the green cap, white crest and the cinamon back - always get fantastic photo opportunities when I don't have my camera on me
I have to say I have The Slater Field Guide To Australian Birds second edition and I do find some of the drawings a tad inaccurate in shape and colour so to have a site like this is fantastic.
Thanks all
Karl