The Brown
Goshawk juvenile siblings are still in residence at our place and today two
more photo opportunities presented. I liked the images captured of one of the
birds perched in the old Peppercorn tree in our garden.
The bird’s
position and my position meant the photos were taken against strong back light
so I had to ramp up the exposure value to +1.33 to avoid the bird becoming a
dark silhouette. While this deliberate over-exposure has blown out the background
to a bright off white, the shaded light from the Peppercorn Tree on the Goshawk
has resulted in amazing light which reveals beautiful feather detail and subtle
colour.
As the bird
perched it appeared to be hyper aware and as it looked about it presented several
attractive and expressive poses. Here is a selection of the images.
Please click on photos to enlarge.
Fascinating to look at these portraits, as we have had a family of collared sparrowhawks - two juveniles and parents - at our place for the last few months. The differences between them are so small it's quite amazing. If you want to compare and contrast, there are quite a few pics on my blog at https://berowrabackyard.com/2018/01/02/sparrowhawk-sibling-rivalry/ (though I've posted quite a few entries on them... I've been a bit obsessed!). Several tall trees close to each other and the proximity of the bush with a ready supply of white-faced honeyeaters seem to be their requirements. I've also been wondering if the explosion of cicadas this year have helped two of the nestlings survive.... Thanks for your pics!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Nicole and link to your Collared Sparrowhawk post. As you say the Brown Goshawk and Collared Sparrowhawk are incredibly similar. Given they are both found right across Australia one wonders what drove their speciation from a common ancestor. As one is smaller I guess they have evolved to fill different ecological niches - though these may not be very obvious to us. Our Brown Goshawks have at times been chasing on foot insects in our paddocks so I am sure your Collared Sparrowhawks would be eating cicadas and other insects if they are hungry.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
John