Spotted at Bronte and again at Clovelly along the coast walk. I think it's a young Australian Kestrel (or Nankeen if you prefer) it was smaller than others I have seen. It was skimming the cliff, then flew over and landed on the rooftop of a block of flats but the people were understandably getting uncomfortable about me taking photos with a big lens toward their flat. It's wings were quite narrow maybe it's flying attitude in the wind when not hovering. Long shot with large crop so not much to work with here.
Agree
but were you wearing a fawn-coloured trenchcoat or dustcoat?
Peter
No trenchcoat, but the usual dayglo Borat mankini with silver high heel boots and clown makeup complete with flouro green wig might have had something to do with it.
There are often kestrels around there. Aren't they brilliant?!
I have a few photos on flickr...
Kestrel VI by M Hooper, on Flickr
Nice shot. Where would here be, Michael?
Hey Woko, read the first post.
Mike, unfortunately I only had a very brief couple of encounters not enough to get the quality of images you managed. I will have to try another time.
I often see a kestrel in the oval just north of Clovelly. Maybe 1 in 3 visits. Often sitting on the tall lights, and then making a circuit to the North or South, depending on the wind. And I also sometimes see one in the park North of Coogee (less often).
M
Thanks, richman. I assume Bronte & Clovelly are in NSW.
They're adjacent costal suburbs in Sydney. There's a lot of nice walks along the cliffs in the area. Nice views, and if the wind is right you can usually see some seabirds.
This coast walk is probably the most internationaly famous walk in Australia stretching along the coast from Bondi southwards to Coogee beach in Sydneys Eastern Suburbs (South of the harbour) it includes Bondi, Tamarama, Bronte, Clovelly and Coogee beaches as well as some minor inlets/bays and all the clifftops along the way, you can take the walk further South to Maroubra and even Malabar. On any day you would get thousands of tourists (and locals) either jogging or walking along this well serviced and paved track. It is also the venue for the Sydney's Sculpture by the Sea Festival. A simple search of google (or any other search engine) will yield results. You might even like to try google maps or google earth. Although this is a mostly suburban walk there are some areas of reclaimed bush and plenty of parks and cliffs to try and find a few birds. As specified there are Kestrels. I also managed some very intimate shots of New Holland Honeyeaters and Superb Fairy Wrens, both of which were heard in abundance all along the walk. I am sure I don't have to tell you there are also plenty of seagull. I also saw and heard some Musk Lorikeets just inland from the cliffs in a tall flowering gum. This is by no means a normal encounter but given the many sightings of muskies in the suburbs of Sydney recently I hope it will become so. (unfortunately they were very high and the overcast sky was too bright a background for any good shots of them.)
Australia's most famous walk? Wouldn't one of the hiking trails would claim that prize?
Maybe the Overland Track in Tasmania?
Or the track to my back shed where I keep the recycling materials.
Millions more tourists go to Bondi than Tassy (or Woko's shed), unfortunately. Very few tourists actually go for a real hike preferring to stay in hotels, drink around the pool at Surfers or visit major city landmarks. Like 'the Bridge' Opera house and Bondi Beach. (that is the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera house for anyone who might be confused)
I think this would be Australia's most famous walk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gVI8sOtdNk
- soakes
soakes
Olinda, Victoria, Australia
M-L
Good one, Soakes.
There aren't many tourists on the way to my back shed & I plan to keep it that way.