Been keeping up with the Joe McNally blog of late.

Have you wondered, as I, how do the great photographers get inspired and then go on to make great work.

Well enter into Joe’s journey as he reveals his early years as a grad.  And be introduced to one of his most influential instructors.

Also see some great shots, that shows Joe’s ability to reflect the personality of his subject

http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/2013/05/15/a-wonderful-teacher/

Enjoy

 

Finished my teaching rounds for this semester.  Now have a few spare days on my hands. Oh, that it were really true.

We had abandoned ideas of a day at Woodlands, as the weather man had predicted dire warnings of cold and very cold. So you might grasp my surprise (think I’ve mentioned my suprisability factor before), when the sun came streaming through the window at breakfast. Why miss an opportunity and quicker than you can say, “let’s load the car and go out,” we had the car loaded and were going out.

Did Woodlands on Monday, and the Sugar Gums on Sunday, so we found the car pointing a little more northward and a teensy bit westward, in bound to a bit of scrub that had offered us a good view of a Rose Robin, about a week back.

As we drove along it wasn’t hard to notice the moisture on the grasses in the paddocks, and easily conclude we are but a hair’s breath from a frost.  Which,on arrival at a parking spot, did spring to mind again as EE pulled out a nice pair of gloves and I looked at my poor freezing fingers, and pondered why my gloves, mittens and snow overgloves were securely locked in the garage.

The logic was pretty easy to follow. Walk to last spot we saw the Robin, herein after named “Rosey”, and wait and see if it was just a vagrant passing through or did it have designs on the area.  And wait we did.  Saw some great looking Whistling Kites at a height, they seemed to be playing the typical Kite games, but much much too far away to photograph.  Sitting is something we do best.  I’m a firm believer in the ideas of Jon Young, in his book on what birds know, in which he suggests a single spot sat in time after time for at least 30 mins or so, reveals lots about what is going on in the area.  Going back regularly and consistently  gives  the wonderful pleasure of watching the changes take place, season to season.  Just need to find the place and fit in the time.  Jon never explains that bit.

After about an hour and several very nice warming cups of Earl Grey, I decided a bit of a walk about would be useful, the sun was still maintaining its full strength in the sky, and a walk in the sunshine might give me a better feeling for the geography of the area. Some little young wattle and some very tough looking brush seemed like a good spot to start, but after a bit of walking and waiting, nothing eventuated. Time for more tea.

Back at the sit spot, of course, EE was up, armed with camera and peering into the dark blackwood grove.  And yes, she volunteered, there was a Rose Robin, and it was just over there, near that big tree, advice accompanied by a general wave of free hand.  Peering, peering. A wing flap.  Now I knew. So gathering up the camera/tripod I moved to get some reasonable light in the area.  The little bird was happy to feed about me, and at one stage, sit on a small dead blackwood branch hanging about a metre in front of me.

Then I lost her, and went to look, and startled her in some regrowth leaves. I think she must have been having a rest.  To the top of the trees she took, scolding me as she went.  And I was scolding me too, as startling them is one of the things I try and avoid. (Jon mentions it in his chapter on the ‘Bird plough”.

Now we were back to bird and intruder. Not much hope of her coming down for another visit any time soon. So retire to another cuppa.

15 minutes passed and she made another foray down to the lower branches, and we slowly picked up where we left off.
Then clouds rolled in, the wind took a chilling turn, and it looked like the weather front was upon us. With little sunlight, and no real rain gear, it was time to go.
On the way home I was pointing the car toward a pie shop, but none appeared.  Need a new set of directions.

Due to some very nice, charming and well meant and encouraging comments on the activities of the blog, I’ve resolved to try and not be as tardy, and get the hot news out when it happens, not two week late all at once. So.

With a small change of plans in the offing, we took the time to go down to the Sugar Gums and have a quick discussion with Jack and Jill, despite much searching, apparently they weren’t having any of it and visitors were off their to do list.  We stuck it out for awhile, but looked like the weather man would be right and so we thought it best to beat the rain back to the car.  On the way back near the Game Keepers Cottage,  (actually the Parks Vic work depot), there is a small stand of mostly blackwood wattle and as we passed by I saw a movement in the scrub.  Which is pretty note worthy on two counts.  1.  “I” saw it, and 2.”Eagle Eyes” didn’t.

By the time I’d get the 500mm attached to the Markins Ball Head and was prepared to do battle, EE had worked out where the bird was, and to our surprise (we are always surprised)  I spend half my life surprised. To find that it was in fact a female Scarlet Robin, apparently of no fixed address.  Try as we might we didn’t sight a male.  And this one looks, well, young.  So encouraged by this, and the fact that the sun had now come out and was warming us up, we decided on a quick trip down Providence Road to the carpark to see what if any of the Flame Robins were doing.  The weather being the weather, changed yet again before we reached the car and was decidedly overcast, which is when the sky went black, and I thought I might be having  turn, but no. The sky was filled with the wingspans of not one, but two very low flying Wedge-tailled Eagles, and their attendant Ravens.  Trying to gain speed and height they circled over the edge of the trees and had the light been with us, I might well have taken some of the best Wedge-tailed Eagles shots of my some what limited career.(yeah, yeah, blah, boring!)

Back to the car and down to the Robins.  And yes, there were a number in attendance, and the three brothers were on the move and we lost them pretty quickly.  We’ve learned that you don’t chase them through the bush, they can outlfly you at about 50 metres a time.

So sitting seems the best option, and then the White-thoated Treecreeper turned up.  On the wrong side of the tree. But, at least its close to the Map Shelter. Speaking of which there is a new schematic of the park on display in the map case. Very interesting reading. Nice to see our taxes at work.

By then the promised hail was just over the horizon and a return to the car was advised and accepted.

Dorothy was away for the Mother’s Day weekend with one of our girls, so I was left to fend for myself down in the back paddock.

I decided to take a walk over the ridge with the pipeline attached, (because of security reasons that exact location of the pipeline is only know to those in the know, but the signs every 30 metres announcing that a pipeline is underneath,—  and those reading the signs are not meant to meddle with the pipe., Which is fine because it anticipates that anyone wanting to meddle with the pipe, can’t read?–  I’ve always thought was a dead giveaway about where the pipe might be.  But, think about it the signs may only be part of the clever ploy to confuse those who can’t read? )

But I’d barely got on to the ‘roo track up the ridge, when I ran into my first hunting party of Flame Robins.  A family of about 5 birds. They’ve been in the area near the 3 Way junction for most of the week. After a few polite photos, I moved on to the top of the ridge. The weather was indicating rain, and the wind was very strong, so I figured perhaps the Kites and Eagles might be playing in the up-draughts off the hill, but. No.

There is a dry creek bed between the hill with the pipe signs and the rather conspicuous radar town on Gellibrand Hill.  But it does keep a little more moisture than the surrounding rises, so there is a good chance of a bit of bird activity in there. The first thing I spot is a lone little rock wallaby. Now I’ve remonstrated before on the plight of said wallaby, and the fence that runs through its territory.  I just wonder now, if its the only wallaby on this side of the fence. And that worries me, as a single wallaby in an environmental park is pretty much redundant before it starts.

Not to far on I came across a hunting party of Flame Robins,  (total for the day 9 birds),  They were a new group for me, and included a pair of Scarlet Robins, (total now 11).

Onwards down the creek line and my attention was drawn to a lot of noise, and activity among a stand of lovely grey box.  There were two pairs of Red-caps hard at work, more willie wagtails than I can count, and a large flock of Yellow-rumped Thornbills, and some rather noisy Grey Fantails, and a third hunting party of Flames,  4 males, about as many females, and a handful of juveniles,  Flame total now 18+.  Again these were all new birds for me, and one of them was especially well marked with a yellow sash on each side of its chest.

Across the road near the police paddocks, and down by the dam, and another small Flame party in high speed mode.  Total now, 23+

Right down at the south end of the backpaddock is a stand of sheoaks, and a wide open area of grassland. Ideal for bandicoots, and also a major lair for foxes. (Of which of course now due to the many eradication attempts now don’t exist. Except don’t tell the fox(es))

But near the grassland is a nice run of Grey box and black wattle, and here I ran into another small hunting party of Flames and a second pair of Scarlet Robins,  Total now 27+ and 4 Scarlets.

The area down there is good greybox, and the few kangaroos use parts of it as a lay over, there is also because of that a lot of small ground cover saltbush, and it has a particular tiny red berry.  Again I’ve postulated my theory on the use of the red berries by the Robins, but it seemed strange today that all the hunting parties were in areas where the saltbush is in fruit.

I followed the grass lands back toward the north, and just as I crossed the east west track, another family of Flame Robins appeared.  The distinctive markings on one of the males, identifies them as some that were in the park in the early part of April, so total now 33+ Robins.

Henny and Penny came by to see what all the fuss was about, and Henny gave the males a piece of his mind, which when your only 12 gms can’t be very much.

As I walked back along the track near the powerlines down to the dam, a familiar tic tic greeted me, and not more than about 3 meters away was a male redcap, he tic’ed, I tic’ed, and I am half of a mind to conclude its the missing Locky.  He has a cute little white mark on near his beak.  More to tell I suspect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I followed the grassslands back north, and saw little else, but the

 

 

We had a bit of time on Monday to take the morning to look around the Backpaddock. Haven’t spent too much time out there really as we are just waiting for the Bandicoot Hilton to be declared off limits again, so mostly have been working elsewhere. But. the birds are quite plentiful out there at the moment and we took our chances.

Found a couple of family flocks of Flame Robins, and at one spot some water that gave them some bathing opportunities.   So after a bit of a wait, several species turned up.The highlight of the morning was the female White-throated Treecreeper, she came in bathed and then sat on a tree trunk and preened. Just sat on the wrong side for pictures.

Some Brown-headed Honeyeaters also came by and they entertained us with their antics and frenetic energy in the water for quite a few minutes.

All would have been prefect except my old D7000 shutter packed it in again. Third Time Mr Nikon!!!   I’ve never had a lemon  before but this one takes the cake.   I was going to keep the D2x, and got suckered in to keep the D7000 for its video capabilities, not much point if it doesn’t work.  So, off to the camera hospital for you my lad.

As you probably know the manufacturers play a numbers game on the shutter count, and the ‘Average number before failure”,  the D7000 is rated at 100,000+  As it it a law of averages thing, If’n I’m only getting 5 to 10 thousand then some lucky dude out there is going to get something like 2 million.  Good on ya.

Rant over. Show some pictures.

Mr An Onymous and I had been talking about a morning visit.  We have the same general thought, that the lighting is much better for photography early in the morning down there, because of the position of the sun along the east west roads.

The idea being to drive the the east end of the plant early, and then make our way back slowly stopping as necessary and with the light behind us, the colour and detail should, all other things being considered, better.  Of course, the birds don’t know about this seemingly brilliant scheme, and continue to be, well, birds.

The big sticking point in the idea is ‘Getting up early in the morning”.  To work successfully we’d like to be down there as close to sunup as possible.  (there are some limitations by Melb Water on what time we can get in, but as Daylight saving is behind us as they say, its not such a big deal). Getting on to the Western Ringroad and going with the traffic flow, however is another thing and we need to leave home ‘early’ which does put undue strain on the old body. Trust me.

The second sticking point is that as we swing in off Point Wilson road and begin the journey along Paradise Road, that we are driving into the sun. Hard on the driver.  Then.

Someone says,  Oh, look over there, its a ….. and of course we need to stop to look, and take photos and the idea of getting to the other end of the plant is rapidly deteriorating into shreds of it former self.

At the moment, there are quite a number of Raptors in the area.  Whistling Kites in large numbers, plenty of Swamp Harriers and Brown Falcons. Not to mention the Black-shouldered Kite, and more.

We found a Black-shouldered Kite on a post, consuming a recent kill. It probably was  Pipit, the few brown feathers and the longer toes pointed that way. But it devoured the whole thing in 1 min and 21 sec, (I checked the times on the camera frames).  I was a bit taken aback, as I was under the impression they were very much a mouse eater, and very little else. This one obviously had not read the field guide!

On a small mudflat among the bushes near the beach, I was sitting on some grass photographing Red-kneed Dotterels, I was just about to make another move closer to the water’s edge, when down the mud flat tripped Foxy Locksy. This was a most handsome and healthy looking animal.  I know. They are feral. I know they create a huge amount of damage. I also know from the activities in the Woodland Historic Park Bandicoot programme, that simply outlawing them doesn’t stop them, and using all the high tech equipment in the world, and working with the best of professionals doesn’t eradicate them. What I didn’t expect was the barrage of comments when I posted the image on Flickr. So thought I’d put it up here too. Just because I can.

We eventually headed down to the Murtcaim outflow, otherwise know as the Spit, or the Western Lagoons, and to our amazement, we found the Four Brolgas that have been reported a number of times down there.  Now, this was a first, for me, to see, and to photograph.  We soon discovered they had no intention of making it easy, and would loft into the air at the first possible moment if we looked like we might approach. None the less with them on their bund and we on our side, we did manage a few worthwhile shots, and Mr O even got some very suitable inflight images.  My in-flight  with the 500mm can only be described as ‘dismal’.  It’s just too heavy.  However, I am pondering a Gimbal type head and that will give me a bit better edge on working with the long lens.  Time will tell.

 

 

It’s been over a month since I managed to get to the keyboard.  As you’re no doubt aware, I’ve moved much of my photography of birds over to Flickr as http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdsaspoetry/

But nice as it is over there, its a bit hard to have a ramble on about what has been happening with the birds and our imaging.

With the Flame Robin flocks now well back in the Woodlands Historic Park, its been a bit busy for us out there.  Not only that, we’ve been conscious that paddock is going to be locked over again as the “Bandicoot” programme gets underway, so we’ve been busy working in a couple of other locations away from the park (more to follow).

Over the past few weeks, about 4 families of Flame Robins have been in and about the backpaddock and the dam area.  Unlike previous years, the ground is quite dry, and so they are looking further afield for food me thinks.  The Three “Brothers” have made a couple of appearances, and a rather nice family of a male, female and three juveniles have been conspicuous as well as a male, single unattached.   We’ve also spotted a pair of Scarlet Robins who have come into enjoy the park over winter.  Will.I.Am. O’Scalet has had a bit of a run in with them, but it seems to have been settled.

A lovely flock of Sitellas are patrolling the trees, and we’ve seen but not photographed, (to my chagrin), a pair of Golden Whistlers.

Here’s a few from the past couple of weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’d been planning a trip down to the Western Treatment Plant for about two weeks.  And to get a break in our schedule was going to be a bit of a challenge. We’d planned for today, 11th of April, as it fitted in and the weather man had been a bit hopeful of a good day.  Wednesday really was a gorgeous Melbourne day and we sort of hoped against hope that it would follow through for today. No such luck. Even as we hit the Ring Road, it was apparent that the sky was, well, grey.

And hidden in all that greyness, rain. Which soon made itself apparent as we got near to the Point Wilson Road turnoff.  By the time we’d made it up to Lake Borrie, the weather was, well, raining!

Not to be disheartened we realised that any great photographic endeavours would be far from us this day. Then to compound the battery on the FZ200 died, and the replacement soon followed.   Hmmm.

Some Whistling Kites entertained us several times with their aerial antics as they chased one-another and played a game of ‘catch if you can’ with some long water weed heads. One would take it up quite high, and then let it go, the others would then catch, and then drop it as another followed the same process.  Lots of claws and much whistling from the others on the tree line.

We found another one on a branch in the rain. At first is seemed just to be getting wet. But in reality it was letting the rain run through its feathers for a bathe.  I’ve another image over on Flickr that shows it with the wings spread out.  Seemed to enjoy the water trickling over the feathers.

We were, by late midmorning,  contemplating a hot coffee at the Highway Lounge and the weather wasn’t making any likely promises of a change any time soon.  The swans were sitting in the rain preening and then we discovered two Black-shouldederd Kites sheltering in the lee of a tree, and I think that just about confirmed our next move. We drove back along the road that runs by the beach, and first one, and then another landcruiser came past, but it was too wet to stop and chat.  I pulled over to let them past.  Within about 30 seconds of the second vehicle passing us, just down the road I saw a movement and then Dorothy exclaimed, “Buff-banded Rail” and sure enough bold as Ned Kelly it pops out on the roadway and starts to feed.  It must have waited for the other two 4bees to go by.    Now its hard not to breath and set up a camera inside the car at the same time, but somehow I managed it, and the rain stopped, and  Ned Kelly marched along the road, feeding happily, then sprinted away.  Only to turn and come back.  Worth going out in the rain just for that.

We’ve been a bit out of bird circulation of late. Haven’t been out to Woodlands for sometime, and really haven’t had much contact out there with the birds.  Seems most of them are off elsewhere.   But we had a bit of a break in the family doings today and took the chance to followup on some sightings that Andrew H and Neil A had given some details on.  So armed with the newest toy. The Nikon D7100, and the old toy, 500mm we sallied forth.

The D7100 is really not broken in yet, still having a bit of fun working out the best settings, but the one thing I can vouch for is the accuracy of the autofocus. And its speed.  Attack Dog speed.

And while we’re on the dog metaphor, Jack Russell action, and Fox Terrier grip on the subject.  This is the first Nikon I’ve used since the D2x that actually finds the subject that I want attractive and doesn’t go off hunting for its own version.  Shot some kid portraits the other day indoor/window lighting. Even with the old 70-200 VR the tripod wasn’t needed and the kids eyes are SHARP. (Hope the Nikon D7000 af team read that, although me thinks they wouldn’t understand, as the D7000 would go, Oh, nice eyes, but look at those cute little ears.”  ) For birds it meant the difference between sharp eyes and a rather attractive neck and back feathers. Never did seem to get the hang of that.  Ok of the soapbox, cause no one cares.  But.

The D7100 does sharp.

We were in luck by the the old hospital dam.  We found Will.I.Am and Will.am.mena and set about working with them. As it turns out they had company.  Wills have been staying over all summer, and we hope had nested, although haven’t personally seen any chicks.   But now they have company.  A pair of Scarlets have migrated in for the winter.   But Will.I.Am, is not to happy to give up his hard fought territory. So we watched fascinated as the two males went at it to determine top dog status.  Name calling, tree circling, dancing, and a new one for me,  Advancing on the territory with the tail cocked high in the air.  Not sure if that was to intimidate Will or attract Will.am.mena.  It certainly had the desired effect on her, as she issued both challenges to the males and encouragement to them as they battled it out. If we couldn’t find them for a few minutes then her calls quickly located them.  The other female sort of ignored it all and fed happily in the open.

In the end it resulted in a lot of  high tree flying and we lost them in the distance.  Which says a lot about the size of the territory the male is defending. Must be 700-800 metres minimum around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well it’s true, I don’t do book reviews.

And I know that ‘books’ are so so so ‘yesterday’ in the words of Paris Hilton.
But photographers I think have an inherint grasp of the concept of images on a page.

Managed to come across a book called ”

The New Art of Photographing Nature”

By an american named Art Wolfe (you can probably see the pun intended.)

Anyway, he has co-authored with a lady Martha Hill.  Now Martha has been a picture editor for a few prestigious magazines, and has seen the odd image or two that were worthy of publishing.

What I really like about the whole concept of the book is that Art’s photos get a going over by the editor and he gets to defend his intent.  And its really a lot more than that.  If you like looking at images and working out the reasons why they work or not, then I reckon this not a bad $25.00 spend. I got mine from Fishpond.com.au,  and it comes “Free postage” what ever that means.

As a bonus my old mate Tim Grey,  he of ” Tim Grey does Photoshop training better than any one else on the planet”, has a few sidebars and pages on things to think about when you’re at the keyboard and mouse in your favourite (that is an euphemism) post processing procedure,   and its a bit of an offhanded up date on digital technique. Never be the all in one photoshop book, but Tim is such a complete and competent master of the medium that even if he just exhales, its probably worth noting.

Think art, think useful think a jolly good read and ponder on a rainy day that keeps you out of the bush, and think hmmm, I just might learn some thing about photographs.  Oh.  Don’t expect a lecture on how to set ISO, DOF choose focus points or that sort of stuff. That is expected technique.

If you’ve followed this blog for a bit, then you’ll know we often find a very startlingly handsome Scarlet Robin, we’ve named Will. I. Am.  He came into the park in late December 2011 and has stayed over which is a delight,  of those of us who actively work out there, its been debatable  about him having a lady.  We’ve each seen fleetingly what we think is a female, or was it a juvenile, or another red-capped robin?

But the nesting season has drawn to a close, and now it can be revealed.  Yes. There was a lady out there.  And a couple of recent sightings began to confirm it.

Having a couple of hours between appointments today, I thought a quick scout about might help. So, out I went, and very soon had heard him in full cry and not much later spotted a red flash through the trees.  I was really hoping it might be a couple more Rufous Fantails. But no.  However it was better.  A lovely female Scarlet Robin, and she took long enough to pause for a photo opportunity, before like her mate, she sped through the trees and was gone.

Andrew H had reported seeing the male with a juvenile, and no doubt they have had a successful season.

I also found the young male red-cap hard at work prefecting his call and hunting.  He was working over a large open area, and I had great hopes of him coming more in my direction. When to both of our dismays a walker with two four-legged dog scarers came by.  He fluffed himself up into his best ‘Dogs begone’ pose, but in the end he took flight, and was gone.

Been awhile since I’ve posted a missive here, mostly because its been a bit quiet around my local area, and because I’ve been busy on a couple of other projects. So though I’d put a a week or so of images and talk about the state of play. I’ve been working on a project to do a rambling review of the use of my 300mm f/4 lens for bird photography. Everybody it seems has preferences, or more importantly challenges to enjoy the birds and to keep the budget afloat at the same time. One of the lenses I really like is the 300 f/4 Nikon or Canon it pretty much of a muchness. So I should have a couple of pages here on the site of a ‘field review’ of the lens. More to come We were out about a week back and found several Rufous Fantails. These most beautiful birds are such stunning colours, I only found them during the rain, but would have loved to have taken some pictures in the sunshine. They are not locals, but are travelling through on their way north as in to Queensland. We’ve tried again, but to no avail. Just have to luck out.Also managed three Eastern Shrike TIts as they hunted among the leaves. Put an image of Flickr of one with a grub extraction. Went out as the weather man predicted ‘clearing showers’, which interpreted meant. Incessant downpour, so much so that I packed it in and went for coffee. But managed a family of Rufous Whistlers happily hunting in the rain. Found after much searching the Eastern yellow robins, but again the rain was my downfall. Better than the heat I say. And in our new location, I found a lone red-capped robin. A young bird probably in search of a territory or somewhere to settle down. The main flocks will be on us in about 3-4 weeks, so it might end up as travelling with them. Haven’t been down by the bandicoot hilton of late. Tired of peering though the wire. I’m hoping that the Flame Robin flocks will be a little more out in the open areas this year, and we still are looking at the Craigieburn Grasslands as our major area for the season. Find of the week, a Rufous Fantail. Lovely colours and I wish it had been sunny.   Eastern Shrike Tit at work   Its wet! What are you doing here. Female Rufous Whistler checking me out.   A very wet Eastern Yellow Robin waits while a very wet photographer takes her picture   Eastern Yellow Robin hunting in a small break of sunshine.   Juvenile Red-capped Robin

I’ve been working on a field report for the 300 f/4 lens, and I wanted a few shots of what it would be like to just walk around with the lens. We had to go across town, and on the way back, stopped at Westgate Park so I could well, walk around. Westgate Park is somewhat of a gem hidden away. It is on the Yarra River, and right under the Westgate Bridge on the city side. Its history includes being the local rubbish dump for many years. A group of volunteers took in on board many years ago and have worked as is said, ‘relentlessly’ to bring it up to what now can only be described as ‘pristine’ condition. It is the home of many water birds, a great variety of perching birds and a stop over point for many migrating birds or birds on the move.So we walked about. The sunshine was lovely, the weather was superb and it seemed as we watched the birds, (and the cars, trucks and bikes heading along the bridge,) a lovely way to spend an afternoon. Nothing special, just one Shoveler. But the lens seemed to do its best to take nice pics, so that part of the test worked. Male Chestnut Teal New Holland Honeyeater Intermediate Egret. “And stay out”, territorial differences allowed me to play with the action speeds on the lens test.