Brisbane, QLD


Monday, October 5, 2009

Kimberley and Top End-Territory Wildlife Park, Darwin

On the way back to Darwin from Wangi falls we stopped at the Territory Wildlife Park. It is a huge park set in the natural bushland, with a roadway circuit on which a little train takes passengers to a variety of of wildlife displays. Our tour guides had booked us into the Flight Deck to watch a spectacular free flying display of Birds of Prey. We weren't disappointed. There were two young female bird keepers who showed us how the birds caught their prey by simulating their natural habitat. They also gave us an entertaining and fact packed commentary. They are all native Australian Birds.

The Red Tailed Black Cockatoo.

The birds are kept in pens but are released to fly freely for the demonstration, I was amazed that they didn't fly off into the sunset, but I guess they are too well fed here.
The Rufous Owl
This one was the class clown. He came strutting out and looked very cheeky. It is an Australian Buzzard.
He eats Emu eggs. Look he has found one, but he can't crack it open with his beak so........
........he finds a stone and picks it up in his beak and then throws it with a forceful thrust of his head and hits the Emu egg. He does this time and time again until the egg cracks enough for him to get his beak in and rip it open.
After his feed he comes to say goodbye to us as another huge eagle is perched high in a tree nearby.
It swoops down to the keeper.It is a Wedge Tailed Eagle.
He was very big and handsome.
The keeper threw a fish into the pond and suddenly an Osprey Eagle dived into the pond and....
...went completely under the water to catch the fish.
Soon it emerged from the water in full flight with it's prey tightly secured in it's talons.
It flew towards us, it was a brilliant sight ........
...then it perched on a branch holding down the fish and started to eat it.
Then came my favourite, ambling by the billabong. She is the magnificent Jabiru.
She is dressed in her finery, orange legs, iridescent blue neck, gold eye shadow, a polished beak and a beautiful black and white dress. She is quite elegant until she ........
...tries to lift her huge heavy frame into the air.
It is a struggle to get up but she makes it to the other side of the billabong and tries a graceful landing.

15 comments:

  1. What an interesting place ! The buzzard looks so funny with his "boots", lol. Beautiful pictures !

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  2. Magnificent birds and well captured, Diane.....

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  3. Great pictures of the birds, Diane. Love them!!!! That buzzard is a 'hoot' isn't he????

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  4. Hi Diane! Profiting from today’s holiday – the 99th anniversary of the Republic in Portugal - I’m happy to have some more time to surf the net and enjoy your blog!
    This is stunning! Fabulous pictures of the big birds!!
    Have a great week!

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  5. I love all of these birds. After owning a Dusty Conure many years ago, I became such a lover of birds. My conure was incredible. Some day I will own my parrot I'm sure. I want to adopt one from the rescue, but only after my other animal kingdom is not so busy.

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  6. Fascinating birds. My favorite is the cheeky, strutting one!

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  7. Your explanations and pictures of the birds are wonderful. It is nice to see them fly and not just in a cage. I remember seeing the black red tailed cockatoos on the farm coming to crack the small, hard cones of the casuarinas.The jabiru really looks very beautiful and exotic with its colourings. You description is fun too!

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  8. "Yellow Mellow" - updated!October 7, 2009 at 5:56 PM

    Diane
    What you are showing to virtually the World "bloggers" is educational and "bloody" amazing. It is great to see some of the responses from people all over. Those photos of the "Jabiru" are just amazing. You and Bill will have to north ( Far North Queensland) as I have just done and take photos with a commentary. You'll do wonders for Cairns, Palm Cove, the Kuranda rail trip and back on the cable car, and Port Douglas!
    I can see "dollar bucks" flowing! ( I'll be your agent???)
    Cheers
    "A new bright Yellow Mellow" courtesy of shops at Port Douglas Marina"

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  9. A very fascinating group of birds, it looks like a well presented program. The eagle is beautiful and so majestic. I really liked the little buzzard, how amazing that it used rocks to open the egg. I enjoyed all your photos and information.

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  10. Diane, wonderful bird photos. The Jabiru is beautiful. It would be a real treat to see all these birds, thanks for sharing. The Eagle, Bussard and Osprey are great photos and great birds. And yes a "birder" is a person who enjoys birdwatching.

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  11. These are gorgeous photos. I especially love the turtle.

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  12. that's a lot of beautiful birds, i love the legs of an australian buzzard. so cute and sexy. (",)

    my entry: http://www.myspnv.com/

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  13. ohmigod, what a stunning post!
    Congratulations and thanks for sharing! Excellent!
    Happy camera critters
    purrs and love
    Luna

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  14. Amazing. I like how you organise your post on the sidebar.

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