About a week or so ago, I got an email asking if I was going to the WTP and would I take a passenger. No worries, a chance to go to the WTP and have company was too much to pass up.
My new friend LynnTse (Lindsay to his Aussie mates!), turned up at the station, and we set off in what can only be described as great weather.
LynneTse is from Singapore and has a page over on Flickr
So I took the job of car driver, and tour guide and we soon found ourselves with birds to the left and the right, as you do down along the WTP tracks.
I spent most of the time working out where to position the car for him to get worthwhile pics, Dorothy played Spotter (and she is quite adept at said skill), and Lindsay, well he just burned his way through memory cards.
In the end we had Black Falcons, Spotted Harrier, Swamp Harriers, more Swamp Harriers, a family of Whistling Kites, Brown Falcons, more Swamp Harriers, Black-shouldered Kite -young and old, Swamp Harriers and wide range of waders. (didn’t find the elusive Broadbilled Sandpiper).
Needless to say it’s hard to do the driving and pointing thing, and take photos, so I amused myself by filling in some gaps on the more usual suspects.
Once again we all agreed over coffee at the Highway Lounge at Werribee that the WTP is for bird watchers and photographers, and those who like to escape once in awhile to a quiet spot, ” A truly magical place”.
The morning had some beaut soft rain, to cool things down, and we abandoned any idea of going to the park. But by midmorning the rain had cleared and we decided to go, and worry about lunch on the way home.
So down to the Eastern Yellow Robins, he is still hard at work, and she is still sitting tight on the nest. I’d have thought by now that we’d be able to get a glimpse of hatchlings, but she seems as determined as ever to sit.
Also came across a pair of wagtails hard at work with feeding their hungry little mouths.
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Not to be outdone the Red-capped Robins were also hard at work, and Henny and Penny were a little less stressed today, so I eventually found one of the young. Now well grown, with a nicely developed tail, it is still being kept in the higher branches and came out for a few minutes to be feed.
Then Henny did some hunting across the old downed trees, and sat for a few minutes with the wind blowing his feathers. They are black under all that red.
Probably the most impressive of the day however were a pair of Eastern Shrike-tits that came hunting through the trees, pulling bark and poking about in all sorts of crevices. It’s not too often that I get a glimpse, let alone an opportunity for a shot out in the open, but my luck held long enough for the focus to grab.
Then to top it all off, we saw a White-throated Treecreeper across the open ground heading up one tree and then moving to the base and up another, much to far to photograph. But I was happy as my mate Ray has been wondering about the whereabouts of the Treecreepers and we hadn’t seen them since before the dreaded Banicoot Big Brother house was locked off. That did indeed put a smile on my face, and hopefully she’s not on her own and maybe has young somewhere in there. More to see.
It could be a tale that verges on the Burke and Wills. We’d been checking out the Yellow Robins, and I’d taken down the tripod and on the way back we decided on a late lunch at the shopping plaza.
As we climbed through and over the fence area to the car, I leaned the tripod against a fence post to hold the fence wire for Dorothy to slip under. Then I got over, we loaded the gear into the car, and went for lunch, and then home.
Meanwhile of course, the poor old tripod was bemoaning its fate at having been left behind.
A couple on a red Landcruiser, passed by and then backed up and picked up the said tripod. Realising some fool had left it behind they left a little note on the fence to call.
By the time, I’d unpacked the car and worked out my error they had taken tripod home hoping that someone would call.
When I went back of course, the fence post didn’t have a friend leaning against it. But as I was looking for a tripod, I didn’t notice the notice about the where-about of poor tripod. It was a bit like the “DIG” tree. Burke and Wills would have been proud of my double ineptitude.
Dismayed, I went on my way, chatted to a couple of ranger types and some council cleanup guys, but No they hadn’t seen it, and yep, things disappear around here very quickly. More downcast and forlorn looks from me.
The following day, while shopping we bumped into Andrew’s, (he of the great blog and Flickr sets), wife and explained I’d misplaced it, but didn’t give any details for by now I was beyond hope of ever recovering it.
Andrew was taking a walk on Thursday down the same area, and as he crossed the fence, found a note taped to a fence post, which said “found item, phone.”
He rightly put two and a tripod together and dropped me a note with the number.
Phone call, instant happiness, and a quick trip retrieved my very wayward tripod. Overjoyed at being reunited it probably purred all the way home.
Thank you to some lovely folk who had the foresight to leave the note, and to give my poor old tripod a bed and breakfast for a couple of nights, and to eagle eyed Andrew whose actions retrieved the phone number for me.
An all’s well that ends well story.
Here’s the fence post note.
Today was going to be hot. So we ventured out early, only wanted to look at one pair of Eastern Yellow Robins, Dorothy has named them “Jack” and “Jill”, so now we have it.
The hot wind was racing through the trees even early in the morning, and the gums gave patches of cool or hot depending on the shade in the area, the hot sun being captured in the open areas along the track.
Jill is still hard at work on the nest, we don’t go there by mutual arrangement. Jack on the other hand was obviously trying his best to fill her up, while it was relatively cool and steamed back and forth to the nest area.
After about an hour or so he must have been exhausted, I saw him take a really big grub, and he flew over my shoulder and landed on the tree behind, then gulped the grub down, preened a bit, and sat. Then I noticed his eye lid come down and I think he had a little nap.
The branch he was on was in the shade but the highwinds in the canopy opened up areas among the leaves for the light to come down. And I had a portrait session on my hands. Light on the background, light on the top of the bird, the side, balanced evenly between foreground and background.
For once the D2x and the 500 mm lens agreed on something and held the focus the entire time.
Here are a few selections just to show the lighting effects.
Jack then moved to another branch in more shade, settled down on his haunches and took a well earned break from his modelling session. Such a great bird.
I also did a bit of scouting around further on, and to my delight found a another pair of birds. I think these might have been the helpers in the earlier nest attempts. They seem to have settled down on their own, and he was feeding her, so I suspect a nest is going in there too. Time will tell.
Let’s work with the front lights on and the background subdued.How about we take out the bright front light and darken down the backgroundLet’s try moody front light and a little extra light on the background for effect.Ok, head up a little turn to your right, that’s it. Now its dramatic.Hmm what about a shot for the corporate board room or the year book? Little light from the Right Hand side bring down the background lighting half a stop. No wonder I used to love doing outdoor portraits.
What about a cute one for the folks back home. Chin down a bit, tilt your head, ah. That’s the one. We’ll add a bit of top lighting to give it some drama.
Being a super model and a hard working dad is just plain exhausting.
Just wait for the family portrait with Jill and the Kids.
Neither of us was too excited about getting out of bed early this morning. We’ve had a week of days out with the birds, and just the thought of one more early morning was getting to be a bit much, so when the alarm clock ‘quacked’ into life (what else do you think I’d choose for alarms?), I hit the ‘off’ button rather than the snooze.
We figured some nice afternoon light would be good and ventured out to the back paddock. (formerly Bandicoot Big Brother House), and went down to sit in the area where two robins Henny and Penny had been working last year. Luckily enough they turned up after what can only be described as a long wait. (About two Cuppa’s worth of wait).
Spotted the Little Eagles taking the young ones, (at least two) out for a test flight, with much calling and zooming up and down in the lovely aftertnoon breeze. As I had the camera all set up for close up robin pics, but the time I got it pointed in the right direction, then I realised, the 1.7 TC was on, and I couldn’t get a bird in the frame, then I figured the focus activation was incorrect and had to fix that, then sort out the autofocus points, and by all this time, the Eagles, had gotten tired of waiting and had gone off for a coffee or something.
When Henny did turn up in his lovely red attire, it was obvious he was feeding young and a little bit of waiting, eg, another cuppa, I discovered he’d buried the young one among the leaves in the top canopy of a nearby gum tree. It was swaying back and forth in the breeze, but really well hidden, and so no photos there.
Penny, she of the lovely orange chest feathers, also put in an appearance. She was feeding a second and third fledgling and I managed to track down one of them. Her technique was quite different. She had one ensconced in a tree about my head height among a lot of thin spindly branches. It didn’t have the same wind problem, and seemed quite content to nod off between feeding session. She seemed to feed it for about 10 minutes and then leave it for 15-20 minutes, presumably to feed its sibling, and to have a bit of a rest. The other eluded me, although I could hear its calls for dinner.
At first they were a bit concerned about us, but Penny dropped into a tree about a metre from me, and after a few seconds decided I was either no harm or no interest and flew off to resume her duties.
So it looks as though she has managed a clutch of at least three. And the threeways birds have a couple, and no doubt now that Lockie and Primrose, where ever they are, have had a clutch, so the numbers are starting to mount up. There is still enough season for them to get another clutch in before February.
Just to make life interesting, on the way back to the car, Will.I.am. O’Scarlet came by and gave a good demonstration of his hunting skills, and I suspect therefore his family may be increasing.
Not a bad day’s work and a sleep in too!
Pennywith a nice big bug to keep her little one happy.
Thanks Mum! Penny delivers the goods
Henny the male Red-cap looking for food.
This will do nicely to keep the youngun’s happy
Penny inbetween feeding time, taking a break in the sunshine.
Did a run down to the Treatment Plant in the late afternoon. Concept was simple. FInd a spot where the birds might be active on dusk and wait. While it was a bit of fun, the score card was pretty low, but we had a picnic, Peek-nic on the seaside and listened to waves, and the birds and felt the light breeze on our brows, so what’s not to like.
On the way to the location we had a look at the screechy falcon, and she didn’t disappoint. But she managed to upset a Willie Wagtail by landing in the same tree as said Willie had a nest, and a battle ensued.
In the end the Falcon gave in, which is more to the credit of the wagtails perseverance than the Falcon’s desire to move.
Just to add to her misery, a pair of Black-shouldered Kites have nested in the same area, and the male came by to give the poor old Falcon a bit more of a hurry on. Being stooped by a Black-shouldered Kite was just to much for her dignity and she retreated down the roadway to a safe tree, to be harassed by some Welcome Swallows who soon lost interest in the game. She sat in the tree and complained to her young. The nest is one she’s used in a previous season, and without getting too close (See reference to Bird Photographers Code of Practice and best OHS management in a previous ramble), we think that the nest contains Two young. Which would be really nice. They both seemed quite large, (the little tiny bit of each we could see from a distance) so probably be on the wing in the next couple of weeks. Then perhaps she’ll calm down again.
As the sun set, I turned my hand to landscape photography, and sort of remembered how much fun that used to be. Might even give it a bit of a revival.
I’ve told you before stay out of my patch.Wagtail agitating on the back of the Falcon
At last the falcon gives in and the wagtail is victorious. Til next time.
WTP Pumphouse. RIght on sunset, the cloud parted just as the sun set and a beautiful shaft of orange light skidded across the paddocks.
No doubt about it, you have to have a sense of humour to attempt to photograph birds.
We’ve been working with this pair now for about three weeks. The male has become particularly confident around me.
Today, he dropped by for a quick once over, and then went back to his feeding duties.
He dropped onto a tree quite close, in fact closer then the lens can focus. Normally the technique is to move the camera-tripod-photographer back a bit, but the scrub prevented that happening. But give the camera credit, if found something to focus on. His Tail!
Thought I’d share it, as it amuses me no end. Enjoy.
She on the other hand is quite happily setting on her brood. She has about another 8 days to go before hatching, and I think this is her third attempt. Hope she’s successful this time.
We don’t go near the nest, or try to take great close ups of her at work, the bird photo police will come round and revoke our license or the ground will open up, I’m not sure which.
We do recognise the Bird Photographers Code of Ethics and Best Practice and leave nesting sites alone.
However there is much to be said for a shot of him feeding her, on the nest, and they are both confident around us. Only thing is of course the consequence of predators following our scent.
I think the code of ethics thing is great. I used to judge national and international photo competitions in the 1970/80s, the number of bird on nest photos was obscene. What was even more pornographic was the damage that was done removing boughs, twigs, digging into nests, and other damage. The worst one was a shot of a nesting Scarlet Robin, and the main protective branch showed hatchet marks where the outer cover had been removed.
In those days, the ‘nature’ photographer, would set up and then go to a motel and let the motion detector take the pics.
No wonder we have a code of ethics.
Via Flickr:
Focus
Focus Focus. This bird is so close that the lens coulnd’t get focus, but did manage to get the tail sharp. Less than 4.5 metres. He has become confident with me.
This post is sort of a anniversary edition. It is just on twelve months ago that I got fair dinkum about finding a replacement for the old Mac Mobile Me website. After playing around a bit I settled on using WordPress as the home for Birds as Poetry.
Thanks to all those who have looked, commented, sent me a note or simply said they read what goes on. Hopefully I’ll find enough bird images to get me through 2013.
After nearly six months exile on the Backpaddock area i journeyed out there in the strong windy/showery conditions.
I was looking for any sign of Red-capped Robins in the area near the gate and also the now somewhat elusive White-throated Treecreeper.
Not much to report from about the gate area, and I took a walk over the hill and down into the dry creek that runs from Gellibrand Hill. There are some real purple patches along there and today was no exception.
A beautiful female Rufous Whistler was looking for food for her young and eventually found a big grey bug, and sped away to deliver the goods.
I heard and then saw three male Redcaps in areas along the creek-line down to the little dam near the Police Paddock fence line, and then across to the four ways junction and a small family of Grey Fantails.
After a fruitless search along the ridge line, I cut back toward the three-way junction and there found a male Red-cap hard at work feeding a fledgling. By the look it has been out of the nest for a week or more. He ensconced it in some fallen branches and then disappeared. He almost certainly has one or two others “planted” in the general area. Perhaps he keeps them apart for insurance or protection, loosing one doesn’t mean they are all gone. Anyway I waited and after about 30 minutes, he was obviously not in a hurry to return, so I moved on.
On the way back, Will O’Scarlett came out to see what I was doing, and then sped off across the paddock so I lost him completely. No sign of any young and he didn’t seem to be hunting.
So there are still things happening in the Backpaddock, the robins have been fortunate in getting some young off, and she will probably have another attempt in a few weeks, might even get a third one in before the season ends. All very interesting.
Female Rufous Whistler The light through the trees has been softly filtered and gives good detail to the bird.A hard working Dad looking after one of his recently fledged batch.Waiting for Dad. This young bird is propped waiting for Dad to return from looking after its siblings.
It only takes a hint of good weather and we’re happy to go out to look for birds.
With the Bandicoot Big Brother House having been locked out for so long, we have been watching the comings and goings of some Eastern Yellow Robins.
We found the first pair today with a completed nest and the female hunkered down, with just her head and beak showing over the rim. This is one very deep nest methinks.
Apart from a trip to fill her vacant tummy, the male was not very active, and very quiet. So it took awhile to track him down. No sign of the helper(s) today.
Our good friend Richard A had also located a second pair, and we’d been to see them on another trip out. Today, Dorothy was feeling up to a longer walk so we made the journey along the track to where we’d seen them previously. It is a small stand of Black Wattle regrowth, very spindly, very thick and very difficult to penetrate and almost impossible to see more than a few metres. Ideal Eastern Yellow Robin country apparently.
On the way we passed by an area of extremely old, white, skeletons of former wonderful redgums. The Sacred Kingfishers have been active in the area over the past few weeks, and today was no exception. The harsh, schrappp, schrapp, warning call allowed us to spot an active bird on one of the old boughs. It kept up its high pitched scream and then disappeared to reappear high up on the tree next door. My bet is of course, that there is nest going to be, or currently being, setup in the area. Just too far down the track for us to constantly monitor.
Once we got to the Eastern Yellow Robin area, we sat, and looked and listened. A Grey Shrike Thrush and her recently fledged chick came by and she attended to its squawking needs. But little else.
After a couple of cups of tea, and a bit more of a wait, it became obvious that not much was happening in that little area today. So, defeated we turned for home. Heard another Kingfisher and stopped went into the scrub and instead of the kingfisher, found a Yellow Robin.
And then another. We started to find a spot for photography, when a lot of soft shrill chipping noises came out of the black wattle strand, and with a blur of brown feathers a very tiny chick landed on a branch, and then clung to it for dear life. Dad responded by stuffing some green bug into its beak. Some more chipping noises and a second one jumped along the leaf litter just below. Dad responded with another little morsel.
So the score seems to be, One Pair, two fledglings. Not a bad months works for the pair. They quickly moved the young ones out of our sight, and we saw them moving through the wattle, but to far away and too deep in for much opportunity for extra shots.
Even though the walk was much further than we’d normally do, we thought the day was pretty successful.
Young Eastern Yellow Robin. Probably only fledged in the last day or so. Check out the very tiny almost non-existent tail.This bewildered little Eastern Yellow Robin is out of the nest and just about able to hang on to the branch. It’s got one claw securely attached to the bark at the top, and the others are just clench tight. The lovely brown rufous nest feathers are still visible, so its probably only a day out of the nest. Even without a tail, it does seem to be able to manoeuvre well enough.
Had to go up to Ballarat for a family gig. Spent a couple of days, and survived the most dreadful hail/rain/wind storm. The damage around the place was bordering on the apocalyptic. Don’t you just love those big words that get so overused that any meaning they might have had is now lost in the banal. Still the damage was significant in some places.
Had a break in the morning from the family do dah, and went down to the lake to look for birds. They, (whoever they is/are) have done a great job of getting the park around near the gardens and tram area accessible for both birds and people. Little islands linked by bridges and walk ways allows you to wander about quite close to the bird activity. And there was plenty.
We found a couple of cygnets pulled up on the grass for a rest and a nibble on the grass, Mum was super protective, but the one good thing about the birds and people being this close is that they have become a bit peopled out, and don’t seem to mind close approaches. So much so that when a nosey neighbour swan came by for a look at her clutch, Mum swan reared up and a great pursuit followed. The hapless bird headed straight for me and stood on the other side away from Mum all reared up. Poking its head around my legs, it seemed to say “Nah nah”. Mum calmed down, the little ones piped up “Congratulations Mum for being such a good defender of us helpless little things” and everything returned to normal. My new “friend” had a bit of a preen, then shipped to the water, and paddled away in the other direction.
Can I be your friend? This swan was chased off by an irate parent. The birds are so people conscious it had no concern about running around behind me and then peeking out at the angry parent.
I also spent a few minutes photographing the cygnets. They must be among some of the most helpless and defenceless creatures on the planet. Everything seems to be such an effort. I’m amazed the species survives and thrives.
Cygnets at restWhen they are this stage of a moult the young swans amuse me with their appearance. This one popped its head out of the water in front of me, with the water dripping down, and a tight crop, it take on a new look.
Gotta admit, I loved the lighting, loved the angle, loved the D2x for getting the focus, and the exposure. Was mortified that I clipped the bottom wing.
I’ve been breaking in a new (New to me) camera. Got a second hand Nikon D2x. The focus and exposure are really great. But like all things needs some practice to get the right feel. The flight of White Ibis into and out of the small rookery was just what I needed to run through the 3,000 combinations of settings. Well it felt like that many. As they came over the little island I was standing on, the light was directly above and behind them, so it gave fabulous shots of the outspread wings. The best one of course I muffed. Managed to clip of the lower wing tip. Thinking seriously about the old photoshop on that one. Or perhaps just going back for more practice. This is with the old reliable, dependable, fun to use, most useful lens I own, pinsharp, fast focus, super duper all round good thing, my 300 f/4. And it likes the D2x I can tell.
With some many birds, its a great place to just practice technique, and the chance to see a few really interesting birds closeup, rather than having to point out, “yep, that little spot over there in the trees is the kingfisher!!!!”
Today, we kitted up for an evening down by the dam, the thermos and a few edibles to make a nice picnic in the cool of the evening.
Went via the access road down from the carpark, and to our surprise noted that the chain and lock were off the Backpaddock Gate. Definition of Backpaddock – Bandicoot Big Brother House, or Bandicoot Hilton.
Pretty excited were we. And we tentatively opened the gate and tip toed in. Don’t want to wake a sleeping Bandicoot we thought.
No sign of said beasties, nor any robins for that matter. It was still a bit too hot for hunting, so we had a quick look about and then resumed our course down to the dam.
But the park is open. Well done all.
We did note a number of Pallid Cuckoos, which any other time would have caused concern but today we liked the idea, as it meant that there must be some birds in there for the cuckoos to bother. They’d not be hanging around where there was no chance of popping in an egg or two.
The dam as it turned out, was a bit of a let down, so we returned via the Goshawk Mansion and had a look at the quadruplets. All looking very dashing in their new feathers. Not long to go and they’ll be on the branches and then look out world.
Saw one of the parent birds make a number of quite high passes over the dam area and up toward the Sugar Gums, mind with that many mouths to feed they are probably working all day.
All the young in the Goshawk Mansion. I just couldn’t get all four looking in the same direction. Notice the lovely brown colouring and the super looking chevrons on the chests.
Pallid Cuckoo in the Backpaddock – formerly Bandicoot Hilton.
Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER doesn't mean I'm LOST 