Little Visits: A Morning in the Sunshine at Eynesbury

Still in the Little Visits Mode:
The monthly Birding Walk at Eynesbury was on again today.

We drove into the Grey Box forest in the warm sunshine, and slowed down to enjoy the play of the light among the trees. It has rained overnight and there was that wonderful distinct crispness to the air and the whole forest seemed to sparkle in the moment. The great Grey Box stood soaking up the light and the tones of the light playing over their trunks was a delight to see.

At the start point, there were nearly a dozen (I’m not much one of a counter, approx is good enough) of us to set up for an excursion around the western side of the forest.

And the birds were happy to accommodate us, and the forest set out to relax and reveal some of its secrets. Brown Treecreepers, Red-rumped Parrots, Superb Fairywrens and Galahs and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos were among the usual suspects. And a number of Crimson Rosellas and Eastern Rosellas seemed intent on keeping one another from looking for suitable nesting sites.

We walked down as far at the old Shearing Sheds, and here I managed to find a pair of Jacky Winter, and then two Speckled Warblers. They were very relaxed birds and although I didn’t get many close photos, I did get plenty of views of them as they fed among the grasses and the small shrubs. On a day on my own, it would have been easy to settle in and just wait to see what they were up to.

The Nikon V1 with the 300m PF f/4 lens does seem to able to deliver the goods, and I have to say its certainly much lighter and convenient that lugging in the D810 and the f/2.8 lens. Time will tell.
I will also start a Project in BirdsasPoetry here on the blog as I begin to document my journey of discovery with the camera. More to follow as they say.

Thanks to Chris L and to all those who turned up to make such a beautiful sunny day so much more enjoyable with their company.

We’ll be back.

Enjoy

Superb Fairywren Male. Preening in the sunshine

Given the distance, the small sensor and that I'd messed up the exposure and AF settings, I'm pretty happy to have enjoyed the company of the little birds — Given the distance, the small sensor and that I’d messed up the exposure and AF settings, I’m pretty happy to have enjoyed the company of the little birds

Will have to wait till I get a bit more practice on the camera, but. I'll be back — Will have to wait till I get a bit more practice on the camera, but. I’ll be back

One of a number of Eastern Rosellas in dispute with some Crimson Rosellas. Probably over nesting rights.

House minding Galah, in the sunshine

Will have to wait till I get a bit more practice on the camera, but. I’ll be back

Given the distance, the small sensor and that I’d messed up the exposure and AF settings, I’m pretty happy to have enjoyed the company of the little birds

Fine the Speckled Warbler

Superb Fairywren Male. Preening in the sunshine

Red-rumped Parrot. Male.

5 thoughts on “Little Visits: A Morning in the Sunshine at Eynesbury”

Such a beautiful day to keep us going while the next lot of weather descends upon us! Lovely collection of photographs David, as always. Thanks for sharing your visit with us.

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David Jenkins says:

July 31, 2016 at 10:40 pm

Hi Eleanor, you are right about the weather. I am sitting by the window with the rain beating down outside, and the room is really quite dark.
Like the rain, but it would be nice to have a few days of clear weather— The morning at Eynesbury was a treat. We went on to Woodlands in the afternoon, and while the sun shone, unfortunately we had little success finding Flame Robins. But, as another Little Visit will reveal we did have a bit of success with the Red-capped Robins.
Thanks for stopping by. Stay dry.

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I so agree with you David, I am finding my Canon L series 100-400 lens so heavy and so difficult to steady, I think I need to think lighter, in the future. You had a nice little find for a sunny winter’s day, the pics look great:-)

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Thanks for another good story with nice pics David. I’m also interested to read about your experience with the little Nikon although I treat my big lense as a good way to exercise and I hope not to part with it for some time.

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Hi Adam,
I’d be the last to suggest anyone takes on the CX system in preference to say a full frame and a longer lens.

The V1 has suffered a lot from people expecting it to perform like a $8,000 pro camera and only pay $500 for the privilege. We bought into the Nikon 1 system almost from its inception and I have to say I was always setting it like a D3s. And being frustrated with the results.
Its only been the past few months, (in my Flickr abscence) that I’ve been putting some time in to figuring out how to get the best from it.

The big thing I can do is use an adaptor to mount the ‘real’ lenses on, so I can still do the weight training 🙂

Its a bit early days where I’m going with Little Visits, but the V1 Or perhaps a new V3 will form part of that journey.
I’ve a blog project beginning to come together behind the scenes and eventally it will get to a stage where I can put it on its own.

We’ll see.
Rain is ptiching down outside at the moment, so won’t matter what camera I don’t chose!!! 😉
Thanks for the interest.

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