Day: January 24, 2016

Family Matters

Been away for the bulk of this past week. Up at the Family Acres.  We stayed at the Murray Downs Resort in Swan Hill.  Really nice and quiet, and just a few km out of town.
Like all good resorts, probably enough to do without having to make the tourist mecca trip. And a lovely golfcourse built in.
But, of course not being the sporty type, golf doesn’t mean, clubs, balls and keeping score.  It means wide open green areas, water, trees, bushes and … birds.

So each morning we managed to be up at Sparrows call, and walk around the course, before the golfers began their pilgrimages.
In return we got to see among other things, White-winged Choughs, Rainbow Bee-eaters, Pied Butcherbirds and a host of the usual suspects.
With the Goschen Roadside Reserve about 20 minutes away, it should have been a great birding week.

But.

Family Matters.

So photography was banned.  Well at least frowned on. So I snuck into the deep pockets of my Breakaway jacket, a D810, sans its L Bracket, and in the other pocket, the 300mm f/4 PF with a 1.4 TC attached.    Not much help for general photography but at least it covered some of the birds at the golf course.

The White-winged Choughs have adapted quite well, thank you, to the rolling sand hills, saltbush and thin mallee scrub, nestled between the sweeping grassy greens of the golf course.   Able to enjoy both the richness of their old habitat and the pleasures of the new.

I managed to spend two sessions, a mid morning, and a late evening with a couple of the families.  They are so used to people zooming past in carts, or walking by with bags and clubs that a dude walking quietly with a camera seemed quite  harmless. So within a few minutes I was accepted into the family, and they worked around me nonchalantly. Even the ever present “Lookout” bird relaxed enough for closeups.

Blogging 101 was also concentrating on the family of bloggers.

But a lot of it was about branding, id, making themes that people will follow, or seek out and developing a feature to enrich readership, as my eyes glaze over….

So I came to the conclusion “Family Matters”. Those who graciously have clicked the Follow button or come over from another link are welcome here as family, and the time shared is as much important to me as the enjoyment of the birds.

So there is not going to be a ‘sustainable purely personal blog of random musings benefitting from a hint of structure.. ” here anytime in the foreseeable future.

Just me sharing our best time with the birds and hoping you enjoy it as much.

Here is how the Chough Family took their day.

Enjoy.