Werribee Treatment Plant - 12/06/2005
Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:59 pmWell I had another outing to Werribee Treatment Plant on this lovely Sunday. Special thanks to Nicole to taking me down there again.
We started our adventure at 6.30am. We were quite happy as the weather was extremely nice, not a cloud in sight. Then as we got to the city we could see some cloud formations, then over to Laverton/Werribee and there were heaps of clouds. I think a few expletives were used. We went down Farm Rd, and near the Western Sewer Trunk (I know, it's as disgusting as it sounds - trust me on this), we were treated to a pleasant suprise. No, it wasn't a foul smell, but heaps of Whistling Kites. I think we counted about 10. We took a few shots as the clouds dispersed a bit and the sun came over the horizon. We were stoked to have the day start off so well. We hung around there for a while capturing the Kites. Then moved on and found another spot to capture them. I found a nice little man made hide, a large trough with lots of long grass growing around it. I looked at it and waited a while. Spotted a few Kites perched but they flew off before I got a shot off. Moved onto a few other spots in the day managed to get shots of Black Shouldered Kites, Brown Falcons, Nankeen Kestrels, Swamp Harrier, Pacific Gull, Comorants and White Faced Stone Chats. We went off and had some lunch and got back at around 2pm to where we started off the day. The light was a lot better, and the Kites had doubled to about 20. They came in really close and seemed to be hunting something in the sewer trunk. Heaven knows what because when Nicole and I looked there seemed to be lots of floaties. As I said earlier, it was disgusting
Moved on to a fewer other spots and caught some brilliant shots of a Black Shouldered Kite devouring a mouse. I think the peis-de-la-resistance (spelling?) was when we were driving along the road to go home, the sun had just gone over the horizon. Nicole had put her camera away thinking it was too dark and no birds would be about. I kept mine out knowing that Murphy is a prick and has caught me out many a times. I shouted "stop", and Nicole was like "where?" and I sat there capturing lots of shots of a Nankeen Kestrel perched about 5m from the car. I think I took shots with my lens, Nicoles flash, then I used her lens to get myself an extra 60mm of focal length reach. I was very happy as through out the day this bird and the Brown Falcon was being very evasive.
Anyway, enough of the story. We will post pictures later. Think I we will have to return to get some decent shots of the Brown Falcon, and also try to get some shots of a Wedge Tail Eagle (non-spotted). Makes it really hard though to get a shot of a Brown Falcon when it seems like there is only 2-4 at WTP, and every time you get close it flies off or a bird attacks it.
We started our adventure at 6.30am. We were quite happy as the weather was extremely nice, not a cloud in sight. Then as we got to the city we could see some cloud formations, then over to Laverton/Werribee and there were heaps of clouds. I think a few expletives were used. We went down Farm Rd, and near the Western Sewer Trunk (I know, it's as disgusting as it sounds - trust me on this), we were treated to a pleasant suprise. No, it wasn't a foul smell, but heaps of Whistling Kites. I think we counted about 10. We took a few shots as the clouds dispersed a bit and the sun came over the horizon. We were stoked to have the day start off so well. We hung around there for a while capturing the Kites. Then moved on and found another spot to capture them. I found a nice little man made hide, a large trough with lots of long grass growing around it. I looked at it and waited a while. Spotted a few Kites perched but they flew off before I got a shot off. Moved onto a few other spots in the day managed to get shots of Black Shouldered Kites, Brown Falcons, Nankeen Kestrels, Swamp Harrier, Pacific Gull, Comorants and White Faced Stone Chats. We went off and had some lunch and got back at around 2pm to where we started off the day. The light was a lot better, and the Kites had doubled to about 20. They came in really close and seemed to be hunting something in the sewer trunk. Heaven knows what because when Nicole and I looked there seemed to be lots of floaties. As I said earlier, it was disgusting
Moved on to a fewer other spots and caught some brilliant shots of a Black Shouldered Kite devouring a mouse. I think the peis-de-la-resistance (spelling?) was when we were driving along the road to go home, the sun had just gone over the horizon. Nicole had put her camera away thinking it was too dark and no birds would be about. I kept mine out knowing that Murphy is a prick and has caught me out many a times. I shouted "stop", and Nicole was like "where?" and I sat there capturing lots of shots of a Nankeen Kestrel perched about 5m from the car. I think I took shots with my lens, Nicoles flash, then I used her lens to get myself an extra 60mm of focal length reach. I was very happy as through out the day this bird and the Brown Falcon was being very evasive.
Anyway, enough of the story. We will post pictures later. Think I we will have to return to get some decent shots of the Brown Falcon, and also try to get some shots of a Wedge Tail Eagle (non-spotted). Makes it really hard though to get a shot of a Brown Falcon when it seems like there is only 2-4 at WTP, and every time you get close it flies off or a bird attacks it.
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