Ian’s Bird of the Week – Australian Hobby

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Australian Hobby by Ian

Australian Hobby by Ian

Bird of the Week: Australian Hobby by Ian Montgomery

“This, as you’ll see could also be titled the Birder and the Bird or, if you’re into puns, His Hobby and the Hobby.

Cars can make good hides, or blinds, as some birds take much less notice of them than of people on foot. This Australian Hobby, or Little Falcon as the species is sometimes called, proved to be quite approachable by car and I was able to park below the tree in which it was perched and take lots of photos through the car window. This was when we were at wonderful Bowra property in SW Queensland last November and, little did I know I was being photographed by my friends in the car behind.
Maybe I should qualify the comment and say that large, spacious cars make good hides for photographers with large lenses.  You can guess from seeing my right foot on the window frame, that I had to indulge in spine-threatening contortions to get the camera at the right angle. There are no half-measures when it comes to taking photos for the Bird of the Week.
Australian Hobbies are widespread throughout Australia but not particularly common, so it’s always good to see one. They’re very dashing, like a small (to 35cm/14in in lenght) Peregrine Falcon and relentlessly pursue small birds and, at dusk, large insects. They occur in a wide variety of habitats with trees, so you are just as like to see them in leafy suburbs as in the drier forests of the outback.
Ian using car as blind

Ian using car as blind

I’m getting close to finishing re-working the website with the new gallery layouts and Next and Previous Family links on the global family index pages. Soon it will be possible to browse through the entire site in taxonomic order and I’m planning other ways to make the site easier to navigate around. The wet season seems to be ending here, so I’m planning some birding trips in the next couple of months, concentrating on Australian birds. I have now finished putting up all the American species from my trip last year.

Recent updates include:
Best wishes,
Ian
—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: +61-7 4751 3115
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au

Newsletter supplied by and used with Ian’s Permission.

To see more Ian’s Bird of the Week newsletters – CLICK HERE

Lee’s Additions:

 

The Australian Hobby is in the Falconiformes Order and the Falconadae family which includes Falcons, Caracaras, Hobbies, Falconets and Kestrels. Falcons are one of the Birds of the Bible and you can check some information at my Falcons page to see links to articles, photos, and videos of the Falcon family. Most of the Falcon Family Photos are by Ray’s Wildlife Photography who shoots mostly North American birds. Both he and Ian are fantastic photographers.

As for the earth, from it comes bread, But underneath it is turned up as by fire; Its stones are the source of sapphires, And it contains gold dust. That path no bird knows, Nor has the falcon’s eye seen it. (Job 28:5-7 NKJV)

See Also:
Australian Hobby – Wikipedia
Falconidae by Wikipedia
Falcons Falconadae by List of Bird Families of the World, 9th ed.

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