David Jenkins

Eynesbury bi-Monthly Walks: Onya Chris.

September 25, 2017Posted in Uncategorized3 Comments

One of the areas that we really enjoy working and walking in is a strand of Grey-box forest at Eynesbury. I’ve written of my joys of Grey-box a number of times and the area is primarily flat, open and easy to negotiate. Apart from the usual fire access track, the Eastern Grey Kangaroo mobs that roam the area have left some very useful pad tracks that make getting around the area simple.

Eynesbury village has among other things—well apart from the golf course—a connection with the forest and locals are quite proud of the beautiful area. One of the locals, Chris Lunardi, is committed to helping people understand the environment, and the challenges of returning the forest to a pristine state.

To that end, one of his activities is a bi-monthly bird walk through the forest. From humble beginnings this has grown to a well patronised activity, and something, EE, Mr An Onymous and I try to get to each session.

To add to that, Chris has been awarded the 2017 Dame Phyllis Frost award at the Keep Victoria Beautiful, Sustainable Cities
“This is a very prestigious award and is a just award for such a passionate environmentalist.”

This is a video link to Facebook for receiving the award. Well done Chris, the hard work has been worth it.

The Eynesbury Environment Group also received a “Highly Commended” runner up award under the Protection of the Environment banner. This also is great achievement for such a young group and congratulations to all those involved.

Chris and part of a morning group

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Studio Werkz: Restless Flycatcher, on the Run

August 31, 2017August 31, 2017Posted in Studio Werkz, You YangsTagged Restless Flycatcher, Scissor Grinder, You Yangs9 Comments

Be like the forces of nature: 
when it blows, there is only wind; 
when it rains, there is only rain; 
when the clouds pass, the sun shines through.
Lao Tzu

When I was a mere broth of a photographer, and knee deep in learning the craft, one of the big studio swings was away from formal portraits in a studio and more to ‘environmental portraits’, as they became known.

I’ve blogged on this process here before and over on Studio Werkz, and the studio I was working with, at the time, was quite slow in making the ‘customer’ perceived change and ‘that mob’ down the road with their shiny new Hasselblads made the running. Yet the young-gun in me was always eager to explore new opportunities. And like hand-coloured black and white photos, the old studio portrait gave way to the more ‘exciting and involving’ outdoor portrait.

As much of my own direction turned to product photography the need to embrace the new age really didn’t catch me. After all who wants to see their precious white-porcelain bathroom bowl posed against some tree/plant/water feature or industrial backdrop.

Yet, I have to be among the first to acknowledge, the chance to use the power of the ‘around’ and the available light has always given me a real pleasure when I get to do the occasional, informal portrait.

I’ve been contemplating my own bird photography of late, and while I enjoy the camaraderie of the Flickr page tis a tough medium to encapsulate the images that go into making a story of the birds. Long time readers will recall the earliest blogs here were much more the sharing of time with a bird or pair or family as it seemed to me to bring the story of their important lives.

So, I have considered combining Studio Werks into BirdasPoetry, and share the challenges of the craft of portrait stories.

Which of course takes us directly into the field and in this case a sunny morn at the You Yangs.

And almost before we had the cameras out of the car, the shrill, Zhhhhht, Zhhhhht, Zhhhht. Pling pling pling, of a Restless Flycatcher rang in our ears.

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Studio Werkz: The White-plumed Honeyeater Appointment

August 27, 2017August 27, 2017Posted in Studio Werkz, Werribee Mansion, Werribee River Park, Werribee Wagtails, White-plumed HoneyeaterTagged Studio Werkz, Werribee Mansion, Werribee River Park, White-plumed Honeyeater6 Comments

I know all the birds of the hills

Psalm 50

To say we’ve had a run of weather of late would be to guild the lily somewhat. Lack of sunshine, and howling southerly winds have been much more the norm. Add to that the best of fast moving squalls with intense rain, and well, its enough to make you roll over and pull the donnah up even closer.

So with a touch of sunshine peeking through the breakfast room window, EE and I decided on a quick trip to The Office. Image our surprise when we found Mr An Onymous out there as well. Put it down to the call of the Osprey. However she wasn’t in residence so we had to content ourselves with lesser subjects.

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Where the Ibis builds its Nest

August 22, 2017Posted in Ballarat, White Ibis4 Comments

They had told us of pastures wide and green,
To be sought past the sunset's glow;
Of rifts in the ranges by opal lit ,
And gold 'neath the river's flow.
And thirst and hunger were banished words
When they spoke of that unknown West;
No drought they dreaded, no flood they feared,
Where the pelican builds her nest!
http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/ozlit/pdf/v00016.pdf

Been away to Ballarat for a few days. “Go the Doggies”, well not that I follow football, but the connection to the story is long and tenuous and involves boredom, so we’ll move right along.

Always good to take a bit of a stroll through the Ballarat Botanical Gardens. Always amused by the interchange of Botanic and Botanical when used in names of gardens. The ‘usage’ rules struggle a bit on the cogent side. Still Ballarat for all that has chosen Botanical. And, well, just sayin’, that’s good enough for me.

In said Gardens, or more particularly, in Lake Wendoruree there are a number of small islands that might have been designed for other things, but have been squatted on by colonies of White Ibis. Always amusing to see them fly in and out over the township.

I grew up, as a little tacker along the banks of the irrigation district around Swan Hill, and it was an everyday occurrence for the young lads and their dogs to be wandering the irrigation channel banks and see large flocks of these birds at work in the irrigated paddocks around. Their guttural call, their harmony in flight was always a pleasure to experience. So much so that we became so accustomed to them that we often took no notice on our ways to one piece of mischief or another—but those indeed are other stories.

When I moved to the city, I was taken aback that city folk saw them as ‘rubbish tip raiders’, ‘ugly, dirty, messy birds’. Which given their high acclaim in cultures of yore, made me quite sad. Then I realised that said sity folk had only ever seen them around their garbage dumps.And I wondered, (and still do) whose fault was it for their scavenging. The birds, or those who dumped the rubbish.

Among my other childhood memories was a poem my Father was want to recite. “Where the Pelican Builds its (Her) nest.”
It must have been one that he learned as a little bloke in school as he knew it by rote, word-perfect, except for the occasional its/her nest. It was one of his favourite lines before going to bed at night, as “I’m off to where the Pelican builds her nest”.

Funny watching these lovely birds in action that his words came back so clearly.

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The Lady makes her Return

August 6, 2017August 6, 2017Posted in Eastern Osprey, The OfficeTagged Osprey12 Comments

For a few months last year a female Eastern Osprey visited the western side of Port Phillip. It spent some of that time along the Werribee River lower parts, fishing in the tidal estuary. We named her Eloise, because of her most elegant appearance.

To our delight, she has made a welcome return.

At this stage she has been mostly seen around the K-Road Cliffs area, which has given photographers and birders excellent views.
Needless to say of course we’ve been down to say hello.

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Scarlet Robin and Friends

June 30, 2017Posted in Brown-headed Honeyeater, Grey Box Forest, Scarlet Robin, Woodlands Historic Park5 Comments

It’s been awhile since we’ve been into the greybox at Woodlands Historic Park.
As we had a need to travel out to the northern subs today, we hummed and hahhed about making the extra effort to swing by Woodlands. Mostly the conversation was about the weather.

Neither of us being partial to walking about in the rain, or being blown backwards by strong wings, nor suffering from the interminable porridge skies we’ve been experiencing the past week or so.

So says she, “Why don’t we put the cameras in, and take a late lunch at Greenvale Shopping Square and if when we come out, the weather is reasonable—at term to be defined by looking at the sky and the action of the wind in the trees—and decide then.?”
Done.

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Red-capped Robin

June 25, 2017June 25, 2017Posted in Uncategorized6 Comments

One of the birds I’ve talked about before is the Red-capped Robin male we have located at the You Yangs.
He seems to have a most unusual feather detail, with quite an amount of white amongst his red cap.

He also tends to call like a Scarlet Robin, and I have no idea why, although quite a number of suggestions have been offerered

He is in company with a rather sweet female Red-capped Robin, so she is obviously impressed with his credentials.

Bit of strange code kicking about as I was hoping to link this to my images on Nikon Space. We’ll see.

And here is the good Lady herself

A Tale of Brown Falconery

May 23, 2017June 5, 2017Posted in Uncategorized3 Comments

“Your beloved and your friends were once strangers. 
Somehow at a particular time, they came from the 
distance toward your life. Their arrival seemed 
so accidental and contingent. Now your life is 
unimaginable without them"
John O'Donohue

Years ago, the very first Raptor that I seriously made contact with in my beginnings of photographing birds was a pair of Brown Falcons.

The amazing birds were resident in the Backpaddock Area at Woodlands Historic Park out near the ruins of Cumberland Homestead. They were a very patient pair, and over the seasons I had quite a bit of time sitting in their territory while they carried on their falcon business. And I managed several seasons with them when they nested, but the friendship changed to a very polite “Do Not Disturb”. The female taking umbrage to my intrusions more than once and on one occasion passing close enough by me to hear the wind on her feathers. They managed at least three young over the time I was actively with them.

I learned so much about the life of Brown Falcon from this pair. Some things that have stuck with me. They are as happy, and confident on the ground hunting as they are in the air. Once I saw them do a dance routine display, not unlike Brolga, but perhaps without the elegance, as two big fat chooks jumping round each other is probably a more apt visual description. They seem to have a territory completely mapped. A wing flap and a turn away is not some random movement, but rather quite a deliberate move to a location, which may not be in the direction of the first movement. They are masters of the low level flight. And if they can move behind bush or grasses, or perhaps along a creek or channel line, or roadway water runoff, they take that as first option.

Catching things is not about “Oh look, food” and going for it. Everything is planned to be a minimum of effort, often many minutes take place between spotting and finally attacking food. And I really suspect that both the approach and the exit are carefully planned.

They can hover in the air like Kestrels, although “Hover like a brick” is probably more accurate. Still in a good breeze, they can sit quite motionless, but mostly its a hard wingflapping to keep station.

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Onya Clancy

May 3, 2017May 3, 2017Posted in UncategorizedTagged Koala, Red-capped Robin, Tawny Frogmouth, You Yangs5 Comments

The Clancy Koala Foundation, was holding a Clancy Mini Tour to celebrate Clancy’s birthday.

Clancy is a koala at the You Yangs Regional Park, and he was born and raised there, now in his seventh year he has also now a father to a young son.

Details of the Clancy story are here. https://koalaclancyfoundation.org.au/who-is/who-koala-clancy

Always good for a party we went down to the You Yangs for the Clancy Mini Walkabout. A chance to learn a bit about the work of those attending to the welfare of the Koalas in the park, (there are as many 100 or more so we were told), and to help by pulling up a bit of boneseed, the invasive plant that has endangered the habitat of the koalas. Not only do they need the right trees to munch on, but space on the ground to move about, and the tall, thick, dense boneseed destroys that space.

What a good idea saith I, we could go to the party, and before hand we could take a wander about a couple of areas and look for some Robins. Donchathink? And EE and Mr Anonymous agreed.

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Roses are Red and We Love You

May 1, 2017May 1, 2017Posted in Rose Robin, Woodlands Historic Park11 Comments

Looking back over the past decade or so of bird sightings at Woodlands Historic Park, one species (among many) that featured in the earlier accounts is the Rose Robin.

The record keepers seem to have quite a number of sightings over the years, and when I first started seriously following the birds as Woodlands, my mate, and mentor, Ray, was often asking about Rose Robin sightings.

However the past few years have seen little evidence of the bird in the area, and no real confirmed sightings that I am aware of.

The past couple of seasons have been highlighted by at least one female Pink Robin, but alas no Rose.

And now we fast forward to 2017, and it seems at least one pair, or small family have taken to making the park their winter residence and making the hearts of birdfollowers beat with an added intensity.

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Messing with Themes again

April 26, 2017April 27, 2017Posted in Birdsaspoetry4 Comments

Well, you could just put it down to raining, and too much time on my hands.

But,

I’ve taken to change the theme for Birdsaspoetry.

What I liked about the old theme is better expressed in the new. It makes the photos the hero, the text is supportive, and as I think I’m going to discover the text will be less obtrusive as I try to make the stories carry with the photos alone. We’ll see.
What the theme does give me is the chance to clean up all the old material that is pretty much not used and give nice clean feel to the front page.

So, here is a happy looking Australian Hobby who obviously enjoyed the challenge of change.

She comes!

April 25, 2017Posted in Uncategorized1 Comment

A mix of Sitella, Walt Whitman and a little Day Book reflection.

Studio Werkz

Varied Sitella are not necessarily an easy bird to work with. They have quite definite ideas (as do all birds), about their job, and go at it with a will. They have the rather interesting habit of working from the top of a tree downwards before flying on to high up the next most likely tree.

I am, truth be told, not looking for Sitella of any kind, but rather, being very quiet, hunting Eastern Yellow Robin.
When

Out of nowhere a small band of Sitella take the the branches on front of me. Then after spending most the a few moments upside down under the branch, this one paused, and attended to wardrobe matters.

Whitman’s poem leapt out.

 She comes! I hear the rustling of her gown; I scent the odor of her breath’s delicious fragrance; I mark her step divine—her curious eyes a-turning, rolling, Upon this very scene…

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How to Brighten up a Grey Box Forest

April 20, 2017April 27, 2017Posted in Flame Robin, Red-capped Robin, Scarlet Robin, Woodlands Historic ParkTagged Flame Robin, Red-capped Robin, Scarlet Robin, Woodlands Historic Park3 Comments

I suppose it was not to be unexpected that after finding some Flame Robins at The Office last week, that we would have to venture further afield.
A rare find of a Rose Robin at Woodlands Historic Park, must have got the inquisitive out and about, as every person we met today asked, “Have you seen the Rose Robin?” Sadly we had to respond “No”. We did manage to get an indication that some Flame Robins had been seen down near the hospital dam, and so like the Banjo suggests, “We went”.

But no luck. Did you remember to pack the bird karma, she asked.

At this time of the year I always expect the Bandicoot Hilton, Backpaddock to be firmly locked from mere mortals, but today it was open and so we ventured in.