Christmas Island Goshawk(Accipiter fasciatus natalis) - outside my bedsit door this morning
I had just walked out of my room when I looked down to see why one of the feral hens was making so much noise and spotted this guy down below, I unlocked my door and grabbed out my camera and found him up on the railing when I re-emerged. The goshawks and kestrels have been hanging around our accommodation blocks recently as there are a lot of chicks form the feral chickens and I think the lure of a chick dinner brings them into the urban areas.
I was reading about them, they are an endemic species to Christmas Island.
The goshawk is listed as endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. There are no detailed population statistics for the goshawks, though the population is small and it has been estimated that there are no more than 100 mature birds, or 50 breeding pairs, on the island. The principal threat comes from yellow crazy ants which were accidentally introduced to the island. The threat is not only that of ant predation of goshawk nestlings, but also indirectly from potentially massive changes to the ecology of the island caused by the ants
Wow! Most of us dream of getting a shot like this - and this guy just sits on your railing waiting for you! he doesn't seem a bit perturbed by your presence! Awesome!
Beautiful, love the soft light and color cast. The commentary was very interesting as well; amazing to think that something as seemingly innocuous as ants could be a threat to a bird!
The picture is superb, the longer I look at his expression the more absorbing it is. Yellow Crazy ants, with a name like that you'd not introduce them anywhere would you. Little bastards.
@chewyteeth wow - never can figure out how those monkeys work out the PP but I'm happy to be there.... the ants apparently stowed away on a cargo ship
@timandelke thanks, I am going to miss living here with nature literally on my doorstep (I am due to leave in October)
@jenrobcarr this place is so beautiful, I'm constantly realising how lucky I am to working in such an interesting part of the world.
@renelou thanks, it's so cool to walk out my door and bump into the creatures
@intrepidme thanks - so many of the raptors are amazingly photogenic - I was up close to a number of amazing whistling kites lat ear, so powerful yet graceful
@girlie I think the stare was the reason I selected this shot over one or ten threes I took
@lotus1922 so much of the endemic wildlife is under threat by tiny little ants, Christmas Island is famous for the red crab and the ants have wiped out a lot of those too
@pizzaboy birds and crabs are pretty much the only creatures here (excluding underwater) so I've developed that side of my photography
Same old story, stowaways. Someone wants to start a cargo ship cleaning business.
PP is how many comments in proportion to views, and how many favs in proportion to comments, and there must be a minimum else everyone would get on with one view one fav.
Awesome shot Megan! Great detail and pose, love the narrative too. Thanks for that. As for the pp ... there's some black magic there too. At least one of my pics made it with no favs. Your's is very well deserved ... super pic!
How sad that the ants are creating such trouble. But how nice of him to stop by and have his photo taken! I'm with @5unflow3r, this is a photo that deserves to be seen!
I'm so behind! Fabulous capture of this magnificent bird. I would never have guesses that ants could so upset the nature of the island. Just goes to show that even the smallest things can have a large impact.
August 16th, 2011
Leave a Comment
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.
@timandelke thanks, I am going to miss living here with nature literally on my doorstep (I am due to leave in October)
@jenrobcarr this place is so beautiful, I'm constantly realising how lucky I am to working in such an interesting part of the world.
@renelou thanks, it's so cool to walk out my door and bump into the creatures
@intrepidme thanks - so many of the raptors are amazingly photogenic - I was up close to a number of amazing whistling kites lat ear, so powerful yet graceful
@girlie I think the stare was the reason I selected this shot over one or ten threes I took
@lotus1922 so much of the endemic wildlife is under threat by tiny little ants, Christmas Island is famous for the red crab and the ants have wiped out a lot of those too
@pizzaboy birds and crabs are pretty much the only creatures here (excluding underwater) so I've developed that side of my photography
@brizmako yeah I noticed the big feet too
PP is how many comments in proportion to views, and how many favs in proportion to comments, and there must be a minimum else everyone would get on with one view one fav.