Ospreys at Whitfords

Male osprey brings in a fish

I'm monitoring the osprey nest at Whitfords Nodes Beach Park near Hillarys in Perth. The nest is on top of the mobile phone tower there.

Last Sunday the male osprey flew up to the tower with a fish in his talons, and later brought the fish up to the female at the nest. The female then proceeded to feed one juvenile, which you can see in this photo. The juvenile is on the left, female in the middle and male osprey on the right, watching the proceedings.

Three ospreys at the nest, juvenile on the left

This juvenile is already quite advanced in growth and there may be more than one juvenile. It's quite hard to get a good photo with all the mobile tower contraptions obscuring the view.

Another shot of the osprey wrestling with a fish.

osprey with fish

Reed warblers at Lake Monger

Australian Reed Warbler

There are plenty of reed-warblers calling loudly at Lake Monger at this time of year, but getting a photograph is another matter. They move very quickly in and out of the reeds, so you just have to keep snapping and hope for the best. This turned out better than I expected but I had several photos of just reeds!

Reed warblers are found on most Perth lakes.

This photo was taken today on a BirdLife WA excursion at Lake Monger from the bird viewing platform at the north side of the lake.

Butcherbirds in the bird bath

We frequently see and hear a couple of Grey butcherbirds around the neighbourhood.

They come and go over the seasons and often sit on the fence and entertain us with their beautiful caroling. Very occasionally in summer they come into the bird baths.

This photo was taken a few summers ago.

Masked lapwings at Yanchep National Park

The Masked lapwing is not common around where I live in Perth, although I have seen them on the golf course at Rottnest Island some years ago. 

At Yanchep National Park in May this year there were a couple wandering around on the lawns beside the lake. They seem partial to open lawn areas and are quite used to being photographed!

The masked lapwing is sometimes referred to as the spur winged plover because of the yellow spur on its "elbow".