December 2019 – Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER

Saturday Evening Post #62 : Thanks for a Great Year

December 28, 2019Posted in Saturday Evening Post12 Comments

When you drink Water
You remember its Source
Deng Ming-Dao

He goes on to say; ” Every ordinary moment, every little detail should be a celebration of your personal understanding. Your smallest act should be treated with reverence. And you acknowledge the precious quality of everyday things. And you maintain a gratitude for both the good and the bad things in your life.”

A family friend received a ‘Write it yourself personal history’ book. We were talking about it today over coffee, and she explained it has lots of insightful questions to act as thought starters. Now I’m not going to do the details here, but it dawned on me that one of the deep insightful ponderings that didn’t seem to be included was “The celebration of the great events” that had occurred. So we spent quite a bit of time discussing, several monumental bad things in her journeys, until I pulled it up and asked about the good things.
I follow a blog by Dewitt Jones, (a former Nat Geo photographer among other things called, ‘Let’s Celebrate what’s right”. https://celebratewhatsright.com/dewitts-images
Always simple images, always the everyday things, the things that sometimes in our rush, we overlook. I once wrote on this blog about the photographer who rushed past because he was looking for ‘his moment’, and had missed the important visuals happening where we stood. 🙂

So here we are at the end of an era, about to meet a new decade.
Normally the blog discusses some of the musing of where my photography has been, and where it should, or might be going.
But this year, lucky reader that you are! Not so.
Rather as Ming-Dao points out, tis time to remember the Source.

The sheer ability of the pleasure of being able to go, find some birds and enjoy parts of their complex, hard to understand, and almost impossible to photograph fully, lives.
We’ve shared some time with Wrens, Woodswallows, Waterbirds, and a mix of raptors. Some we’ve seen from conception to flight, some have amused us as Lorikeets, and some have worked their ways into our hearts, like my Tai Chi Pigeon. (A Spotted Dove actually), and currently she is sitting in a tree in the frontyard on her precious little nest of twigs, with one lovely big egg for her to look after.

So a big “Thank You” to all who have taken the time to follow the blog. I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey as much as I have in each stage that has been documented.
I appreciate all those who’ve not only read, but taken the time to drop a comment or two. Just a few words makes returning to the keyboard regularly like taking a wonderful rich drink of water. And I need to remember the Source. Thanks again.

To those that follow on Flickr, well done. Appreciate the time, the comments, the views, and of course your own wonderful photography, that inspires, and enthralls me every time I log on.

Big shout out to all who’ve been in the bush with us this year, or who have dropped a note say, “have you seen…”. It’s great to see friendly faces along the track

And to Mr An Onymous for putting up with my bad jokes, and lack of appreciation of how bold his insight into the world really is.
And Thanks to EE. She, who, not only shares time in the bush, but shares her special skills at recognition and has the patience to put up with my wanderings.

Now to follow the Source into 2020

And a big “THANK YOU” to Cassia- of Cinnamon, for allowing us to share a very important couple of months of her life.

Saturday Evening Post #61: Like a Wraith

December 21, 2019Posted in Brown Falcon, Saturday Evening PostTagged Brown Falcon, Saturday Evening Post3 Comments

Still working my way though Deng Ming-Doa’s 365 Meditations

“All things in this life depend on direction. In our world all is oriented toward the sun. The planets revolve around it, the seasons depend on it, and our very concept of day and night is tied to the the sun’s rising and setting. The sun is the dominant element in our lives.”

And on the evening before the Summer Solstice (in Southern Hemisphere), I thought, the sun is also the dominant element in my photography.

I talked recently about the “Sun over your left shoulder, Dear”.

Front light: Pure, direct, making our subjects brim with colour. Little shadow depth, a strong, harsh, rich light.
Side Light: The angular light the gives us rich detail, with texture and form. The light of inspection, depth and tone. Running from brilliant highlights, to melding soothing form and tone, through to rich deep shadows.
Back Light: The light of Drama. Subjects in rim light, highlights displaying the complexity of the shape. Long running shadows that have a mood and rich mystery. Lacking in colour, detail and texture, but making up for it in deep mystery and mysticism.

Light is the center of our camera settings. I choose a fast or slow shutter speed depending on the light, and the intent of time perception. Light, I choose a large aperture for subject isolation with narrow depth of field, or a smaller aperture for greater depth of field and sharp detail across the frame depending on the light. Too much light and I drop the ISO, or I raise it for low light subjects. I shoot with Neutral density or polarising filters to control my vision of the moment. I add flash for fill-in or main light effects. Reflectors and gobos in the studio. And I try to find such effects when I’m in the field.

Light: The dominant element in my photo graphos, life. (photos-Light, graphos,-of writing) Who’d have thought.

I was waiting next to a melaleuca bush. In front of me was the large pine that Cassia’s nest is situated. I can just see the two young bobbing back and forth occasionally.
To my immediate left, (and why I’m standing where I am) is a tallish young pine that the pair have been using for food exchange. 30m further away a larger tree with a huge pinecone cluster on top. Ideal for preparing food. And 50m further on, and opposite the nest, one of her fav perches, and a launching spot toward the nest.
In the distance in the paddock 2 isolated pines, both with excellent views over the paddocks and again favoured for inspections of the territory.

But. No Cassia.

Behind me and the bush, about 100m away is a line of very old pines, probably date to the 1870s when the homestead in the area was established. About a week before she had been sitting among the pines and had made a direct run across the paddock, over the melaleuca bush and past my head at a couple of metres. Not a defensive move. I reckon, she did it to keep me awake. EE is still laughing.

The distinctive magpie call. “Falcon in flight. Let’s go”, alerted me this time. I peeked around the bush, and like a wraith out of the darkness of the trees, sweeping over at fern top height I saw her running directly toward my position.
Light, just right. Soft, overcast, kept the backdrop moody, yet enough to separate her shape and form, and show her intention.
I think I spoiled her game this time:-)

As in the last few yards, she slewed to the left, and went by without looking. You can’t hide from a Brown Falcon.

Little Visits: Cassia’s Secrets are Out!

December 18, 2019Posted in Brown FalconTagged Brown Falcon15 Comments

For the best part of three months, Cassia—of Cinnamon, and her mate have been working on their annual nesting project.

Best I can determine, she took just over a month for incubation, and then another 30-35 days for the young to start to move about the nest and branches and then a few more days to fly. We checked on Friday, and they were clambering about, then on Monday, the secrets are out.

How confident is this bird. She was relaxed enough to do close flybys without aggression.

Still in baby down, but wanting to see the wide world

Just starting to see the Apricot wash coming on

That famous Brown Falcon stare starts early

And then there were two.
I’ve no way of knowing, but based on previous experiences, I would predict the older, larger is a female.

Out and about. Probably second day on the wing

Now let’s see if I remember. Tail up, head down, wings out and…
Tail up, head down, wings out, …
Oh, yes, Tail down, head up, wings up, Let Go.!
Yah!

OK you go me our here, how do I stop this thing.
Landing skills need a bit more practice

Study in concentration as it goes through the landing routine.

Moments: Hunting Sea Eagles

December 16, 2019Posted in Brown Falcon, White-bellied Sea-eagle11 Comments

“Tis a Sea-eagle,” EE cried.

Her response to the question “Where?” was, “Down there along the beach”.

Now truth be told, I reckoned the beach to be at near enough to one kilometre to the south of us.

Don’t ask how EE can see that far, its inherit in her name.

About 1/10th of a second later, a brown shadow rushed past us just overhead. Cassia, who’d been sitting on a branch behind us, too, had spotted said Sea-eagle.
Now you know. EE is faster on the eyeball than a Brown Falcon. By at least 1/10th of a second. Explains it all really.

Cassia hauled across the paddock not gaining height, just rocketing along toward the beach. Her mate was on a diagonal line from further down the paddock bent on the same target. I don’t know how this works in Falcon speak, but there was no cackling, just pure energy converted to motion.

The line they were on would get them both to the same tall tree on the beach line at roughly the same time. Without any foto-finish cameras and the like, I be putting my money on Cassia arriving just a wing flap ahead of the male.

Brown Falcon surveillance time. Both sat watching.

The Sea Eagle had slipped behind a line of trees on the beach, and had no doubt gone to invite some duck or gull home for lunch. A plethora of ducks, coots, gulls, cormorants and several white-faced herons darkened the sky as they rose in one squawking mass.

“We need to be down there”, she said. Fleet of foot we’re not, so it was going to a few minutes before we appeared on the scene.

In the meantime both falcons had made a noisy run down along the beach and back.

Then as we approached, they both made another swing along the beach, but the trees blocked our view.

We made it to the scrub along the beach and now had to work out, was the action to the left or right. The bird groups on our left seem quite settled so the guess would be “To the Right”. Good guess.

But look along the beach, and our view (and coincidentally of course for anything further along the beach—think big white-bellied…. ) the beach curved around and our view was blocked by the saltbush and other scrub.

Not to worry, Cassia and the male had made another screeching run down to the beach, and in response, all the ducks, swans, coots, gulls and two white-faced herons, took to the air.
“That was impressive for two falcons,” I thought.
Then with long slow deliberate wing flaps, the juvenile White-bellied Sea-eagle pulled up over the scrub, followed by two very vocal Brown Falcons.

I’d not be able to get any pictures of the falcon/sea eagle confrontation, because there really wasn’t one.The falcons kept a safe distance, and the eagle just stuck to its job of getting some height and then sailed away up the beach.

The male falcon went back to hunting, Cassia went to check on the kids.

And here is what all the fuss is about.
Number One child, all fledged and learning of Brown Falcon ways.

Enjoy

Out to meet the challenge. Cassia gains speed on a downward run

If its too big to scare off at least give it a lecture

She did not risk a close pass but rather turned over the quickly rising Sea Eagle

Given the bulk of the Sea Eagle, there was little the small falcons could do for a direct confrontation.

Saturday Evening Post:#60 A touch of Black and White

December 14, 2019December 15, 2019Posted in Saturday Evening Post, Uncategorized13 Comments

Facing a blank sheet

is an artist’s terror
Deng Ming-Dao

It is a most interesting thought for those who try to find a medium of expression.

It’s not just an urge to create something, but to express something.
But what, and for each of us that answer is different.

One of the joys, rather than terrors of our art is finding that vision and then pursuing ways to bring to life for the enjoyment or the edification of others.

On his web, “The Online Photographer”, author Mike Johnson has been examining and critiquing where Black and White digital photography has been heading, and what are some of the challenges.

I had the good fortune, to work, at least for a short while, with one of the great black and white printers of the 1970s. A critical time in the world of black and white imaging as the new kid on the block was the expanding colour print market.

Wedding albums were still hand-coloured. Bridesmaids dresses where pastel shades, people had ‘blue’ eyes, and a good handcolourist was a prized asset to a studio.

As Mike points out in his article the difference between the work then, and a bulk of current digital b&w was a rich deep black, a stunning white, and a superb range of middle tones.
As Mike sees it, the mid tones are now a thing of the past, as we stretch our Tone Curve Sliders left and right to make, St Ansels “Soot and Chalk”. (A term coined by Ansel Adams for washed out results)

The Lab I worked in had the most wonderful Durst A600 4×5 inch enlarger and a range of Nikon and Rodagon Enlarging lenses. Optics that were indeed cutting edge, if there had been an edge to cut.
The philosophy of the lab was simple. The craftsman said, “If its not good enough to hang on my wall, its not good enough for my customer.”.
And a print was examined, and if not up to standard, it was reprinted. And woe to the printer, if that happened the second time. Kept us on our toes.

Blacks were indeed, Black. Mid-tones sparkled, and whites, did infact hold detail.

Trip forward a number of years, and I no longer make black and white prints. I look at the results from highend black and white printers (the machinery, not the operator), and in-spite of fantastic inks and amazing rag papers, I usually am confronted with soot and whitewash.
On screen results are no more encouraging.

Yet, truth be told, I still see in Monochrome a lot.

My fav way of getting there these days is via Nik Collection’s Silver Efex Pro.

I think the last image I shared here was of a Grey Butcherbird, and strangely here is another.
When I found this Butcherbird just recently, I thought, “Oh, how good you will look in monochrome”, and worked to get a respectable backdrop for it, and SExP did the rest.
I chose a film style of an old Ilford favourite Pan F and added a touch of Selenium tone to hold those wondrous mid tones.

Saturday Evening Post #59 : Hot off the Press

December 7, 2019December 7, 2019Posted in Brown Falcon, Saturday Evening Post8 Comments

Deng Ming-Dao writes in 365 Tao Meditations

Hawk doesn’t think during the hunt.

It does not care for theory or ethics.

All that is does is natural.

Animals live simple lives close to Tao. They do not need to think or reason: They never doubt themselves. When they are hungry, they eat. When they are tired, they sleep. They respond to the cycles of the day according to their intuition.
They mate in the proper season, and the nurture their young according to their understanding.

+===========+

Now I might disagee somewhat with their ‘need to think or reason’, but I think he means its more about calculated risk and designing to be something other than a falcon.

Stop the Presses!
The day has arrived.
Cassia has been hunting further and further out among the paddocks and tree lines, the past couple of visits.
She was almost out of sight way down the paddock, and EE and I took the moment to cross the patio, and have a closer look at her nesting sight. Half-expecting to be challenged, but she seemed more interested in avoiding the local magpie flotilla and picking small prey from along the edges of the paddock.

And

There it stood.
Big, Bold, Brown and Black.
Perhaps not quite ready to fly, but only days away from stepping off the only place it has known, and moving out into the much wider world.

It sat, perfectly Brown Falcon still, and watched the goings on around the paddock. A vehicle track runs quite close to the nesting area, and at one stage a local fox management vehicle drove past. It was thoroughly scanned onto the scene, and off again. I can’t imagine what the young falcon thought of such an event.
Clever Cassia has infact two of these little bundles of joy in the nest it seems but we didn’t get a good look at it.

Eventually tiring of all this learning, it must have rocked back into the nest, settled down and disappeared.

Soon Cassia appeared with a prize meal.

In the next few days, or so, all the theory of flight will come into one small black and buff package as it steps into its own unknown, and is instantly freed from the constraints of doubt. Ready to write its own story of wonder.

Enjoy.

Moments: Running the Gauntlet

December 4, 2019Posted in Brown FalconTagged Brown Falcon15 Comments

The past couple of weeks, EE and I have been working with a pair of Brown Falcons.

Took about three weeks to really track down where they had a nest, and then another couple of weeks, to be able to have the birds’ confidence to move about in the area.

Well, it seems that she has hatched her brood, and now she has a bit of ‘time’ to do her own hunting. A shame at one level, as the male was not only reliable, but almost worked his wings off keeping up a steady stream.

Along one line of the paddock is a line of trees, that seem to provide plenty of food for a hunting Brown Falcon, and we’ve noted she’s been sitting in the tops of the trees to hunt, and also keep a ‘falcon’s eye’ on her nest area.
But the same line of trees holds similar opportunities for other species as well. And now as the younger Australian Magpies from the first clutch of the season are pretty much independant, and more footloose teenagers in a shopping mall, anything that flys past or near is fair game to stretch out the wings in rage and show off flying prowess.

Cassia- named for her rich colour, —of Cinnamon— , decided that some good food opportunities lay just under the low branches, and dropped down to the ground to wander about and see what she might find.

Seriously bad career move!

The local magpies came from four quarters, like screaming banshees. (not that I’ve heard banshees, screaming or otherwise)

Hard for Cassia to get out of the tree line and extend a wing, so they had her pressed against the tree line for a few seconds in the encounter.

Then out across the open paddock with the hoard in full cry behind. Several managed to keep up, and just at the last moment, one made a very close approach, and then she was over the demarcation line and they sailed away back to the trees to caroll to each other about their brave deeds.

She’ll be back over there again I’m sure. A few magpies seem pretty harmless in her quest for food.