You Yangs – Page 2 – Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER

Blogging 101 Day 4

January 7, 2016January 7, 2016Posted in Blogging 101, Eastern Yellow Robin, You YangsTagged Blogging 101, Eastern Yellow Robin, You Yangs4 Comments

Today, dear Reader, it’s all about…. You!

Well at least that is what the assignment says. And as this is not for profit, not political, not competitive, and essentially about the birds, the process of audience profile, identification, and finding the niche in the market, leaves me just a bit blah, and pretty much over Blogging 101.

Still its always nice to be prompted to look at things from another perspective. Keeps us fresh.

I practice Tai Chi, (there a new factoid), and one of the reasons is an awareness of the constantly changing orientation of the body, its parts relative to each other and to the surroundings. And funnily enough when I get to the bush, the same kinds of awareness helps to appreciate the birds and their surrounds. (maybe I’m just getting old and mellow?)

Parenting in the You Yangs

We, EE and I, have been working for several months now, with a delightful pair of Eastern Yellow Robins as they accept the challenge of adding their little bit to the gene pool.

As EE has adopted this pair, I’ve been a bit reluctant to pursue them as well. Figuring that parenting a young Eastern Yellow Robin is difficult enough. For the un-initiated, she sits on the eggs for around two weeks, then they feed the young, (usually two, but this pair had one) for about two weeks.

Then it jumps from the nest, flutters to the ground and spend the next 3-4 weeks hiding in the leaflitter. Barely able to fly as it has no real flight feathers at this stage, it must surely be among some of the most vulnerable of birds. But, the process works.

So, finding this well disguised and cleverly marked tiny bird is typical needle in haystack stuff. See point above about awareness and you’ll begin to grasp what goes on at the location. Not that we are chasing the bird. Far from it. Sometimes I really just want to know where it is, so we don’t inadvertently stand on it. Or more probably flush it to a new location. Bad for it, stressful for the parents, and against my work ethic. See border box.

We have pretty much been unable to distinguish the female from the male, so really not much point, as Jack Sparrow (should be a Cap’n in there somewhere) says, Naming fingers and pointing names.

Now as the young bird is much more mobile, it has become somewhat easier to sit, wait and opportunistically, it will fly by and sit. And it did.

I knew where it was pretty much from the moment we got off the track and into the scrub. See point on Awareness above. How? Well let’s just say Mum told me.

After bringing it down for us to admire, and then feeding it a great big grub, she decided that was sufficient activity for the moment and a big sleep would do wonders for the little bird.

After much body language, and a really interesting ‘fluffed up’ head, the little dude took off the the undergrowth for a sleep. And this is where I reckon it gets really interesting.
Not just anywhere out of sight and hidden, but in the bush next to where I’d been sitting.

The distance measured by the camera through the bushes to the little dude is less than 4 metres. It snuggled up on a branch with Dad (?) nearby and Mum (?) on guard on a tree directly above.

Point is, I’m still having the hair on the back of my neck stand up about it. The choice was hers to sit in that close to me. I didn’t move. Jon Young calls it a Rite of Passage, in a world in which “Connection” has to do with the strength of your mobile fone signals; sitting still for the sacred and connected moments brings dramatic benefits. A full-contact nature sport!

Enjoy

DWJ_4545 — The mantle feathers are beginning to take on the lovely olive green

DWJ_4565 — The chest and side Chevron markings of babyhood are well gone and coming through the brown are the distinguishing yellow feathers.

DWJ_4585 — Completely at home now, on the wing. Strong and direct flight.

DWJ_4604 — Time for a sleep my little one. Mum has a fluffed out head, and while not visible hear a flicking tail.

DWJ_4607 — Awe, but I want to play with the photographer a bit more

DWJ_4618 (1) — Mum?’s fluffed up head and tail flicking were a signal to move on.

DWJ_4630 — The selected sleeping spot, with (Dad?) to sit with.

DWJ_4636 — Settled in, not more than 4m from me, and ready to drop off to sleep. Awesome moment

WordPress Blogging 101 Day 1:

January 4, 2016January 4, 2016Posted in Blogging 101, Eastern Yellow Robin, You YangsTagged Blogging 101, Eastern Yellow Robin, You Yangs2 Comments

I’ve joined a WordPress Challenge to revisit my blog and take some time to make some new discoveries to the things that I write and put up online. So expect to see a few Blogging 101 post over the next few weeks.

Well it wouldn’t be a Birds as Poetry blog if we didn’t feature some birds, so here are few from a recent You Yangs morning. Then we’ll get down to blogging assignment.

I’ve added a black border to the images that matches the look and feel of the blog. I like that sort of co-ordinated feel.

Not hiding among the leaf litter but readily out in the open. And. Starting to show those wonderful yellow feathers under the brown.

Pied Currawong, fledgling. This bird set on branches and demanded food.

Sitting with the young bird. It is probably saying, "Wow, what were all those people doing walking along the track.!!" — Sitting with the young bird. It is probably saying, “Wow, what were all those people doing walking along the track.!!”

Which Brings us to Blogging 101

One of the challenges is to revisit the reason for the blog in the first place. Bird as Poetry is not the first blog I had been working on. I used to use a wonderful Mac program called iWeb. And it was auto published to another piece of Apple Goodness called MobileMe. But of course Apple moved on and the blog had to have a new home.
Enter Telstra. Bigpond in particular. And they housed my ramblings which at the time included lots of updates of Classic car photos we were making, (and selling!). But, Telstra too decided that charging big bucks for their service didn’t include a website and so Birds As Poetry was lonely again.

With all that background I was over a xmas break looking for nothing in particular in a newsagents and found a “How to make a WordPress Blog” mag, and with little else on over the holiday, snapped it up, proceeded to the computer and began. Which is why the earliest in this blog is about 2012. The rest just wafted off into the ether. Or where ever else stuff goes when you hit the DELETE button.

Finding a “voice” that suited my writing style and the blog I suppose was always a big part of the challenge. Making it tongue in check and introducing some elements from everday life became a part of my process. Think Pie Shops, Coffee Places. interesting characters and places we’ve visited: Think “A Bridge that needed a Jolly Good Walking to”

Around the same time I began collecting a collection of collectable photos of walks around Woodlands Historic Park. Not far from home, and filled with really interesting birds, and as my knowledge of bird photography grew, so did my collection of robins and the like.

I was also teaching a class on visual elements in photography and the concept of visual poetry. A hop step and a really big jump through Haiku poetry lead to Birds as Poetry as a title So it stuck.

I suppose I could have taken a step to extend ‘how to’ articles but let’s face it, google will find you plenty. A scant few of them might in fact be useful, and correct, the rest? Well, mostly just un initiated rambles by people who haven’t done the hard yards behind a camera.

Who dear reader are you? Mostly I think folk that have either found the blog, or have been directed here by either word of mouth or from my Flickr site. Flickr! Gotta talk about that sometime too.

I really wish there was a much better co-ordination between Flickr and WordPress. But not so.

How to measure the success of the site. Well here’s the scoop. Its not a competition. In another part of my life I Tai Chi. A very personal activity that has little that can be measured or passed on to others. So blogging, So birding.
A thought that reverberates with me is “Birding is not a Spectator Sport!”.

I once started a blog that was going to try and see birding as a spectator sport with commentators and scores and all sorts of things. But. I may yet.

I do enjoy the comments that occasionally come my way, and thanks to all those who’ve taken the time to drop me a note about some of the photos. Makes the keyboard experience a little more involving.

So there we are. Well done for persevering to the end of page 1.

EE’s Water Feature

December 17, 2015December 17, 2015Posted in Brown Thornbill, Eastern Yellow Robin, Grey Fantail, Weebill, You YangsTagged Brown Thronbill, Eastern Yellow Robin, Weebill, YouLeave a comment

One of the down sides of moving across town has been our loss of ready access to the Woodlands Historic Park. In particular a stand of Sugar Gums that held all sorts of interesting birdlife.

It’s also probable that you recall that EE (Eagle-Eyed for the uninitiated), had established a Water Feature in the gums and would on a regular (daily) basis keep the small plastic container filled with fresh water over the hot summer months. Not to attract the birds for photography, but simply to give them some relief. “If only one bird ever drinks from it, it will be worth the effort,” quoth she.

As it turned, as you may recall, a pair of Eastern Yellow Robins became quite attached to EE and her water feature, and would follow her into the forest and then with much calling would head for the water feature when she came along. It was, at the very least a noble gesture on the part of the birds, and to tell the truth was quite spine tingling to hear two little birds get all excited and eagerly await her arrival. (Now its not time to lecture on ‘dependant’ birds, as they were the ones who chose to live in the dry area in the first place. ) Besides, its pretty humbling to have two Eastern Yellow Robins sitting about a metre away watching the water being poured into a tiny dish.

We have been working a part of the Grey Box forest in the You Yangs almost for two years. Early on in our visits, EE established another ice-cream container water feature besides a log. But, we don’t have ready access, and it is only visited occasionally, and once in three weeks would be more the norm. So it hasn’t been possible to build up any permanent relationship with the inhabitants. And as EE readily acknowledges, “Its most likely the little Black Swamp Wallabies that take the water, as the container is often misplaced.”

Still with more patience and determination, every visit sees a bottle of water left for the locals. And we had really never seen the locals make the pilgrimage to the area. Perhaps a passing Flycatcher would be the most likely suspect.

We went in today to look to see how the pair of Eastern Yellow Robins are going with their young fledgling. And of course to topup the water.

Done.

What happened next is the source of great delight and much mirth.

At first we continued in the hunt for the Robins, and I found a pair of Weebills that were working through the tree tops. Then. First one, then another, then another bird dropped by the log and checked out the water.

Within a few minutes a bold Grey Fantail had dropped into the water and began the splashing. Which acted like a ‘Jungle Drum’. The sound of water on whirring wings must have some sort of magnetic attraction. The sound went, as they say on You-tube, “VIRAL”, and birds came from all around. Including the two Eastern Yellow Robins, more thornbills than I could count and ‘my’ pair of Weebills. Each waited in turn, (not much room in an ice-cream container). and after a few minutes there were wet feathers everywhere drying in the sunshine.

Then just as quickly “Jungle Drums” played another tune and they were gone! Leaving two photographers with the widest grins, and filled memory cards.

I can see another trip down there very soon.

Enjoy.

Eastern Yellow Robin waiting, you can just see the other one at the bottom of the frame in the water.

Patiently waiting its turn, the Weebill had to watch the spray flying from the activity below

Eastern Yellow Robin, soaked, not stirred

Weebill drying off with Grey Fantail being typically hyper-active

You’ll find some more pics by the Water Feature Manager over on EE’s Flickr site.
See here.

Friends in the Air on Flickr

With Great opportunity comes Great Responsibility

September 6, 2015September 6, 2015Posted in Superb Fairy-wren, You YangsTagged Superb Fairy-wren3 Comments

If you’ve been following for a while, and have a bit of a memory, you might recall that I put up a story of an aggressive Scarlet Robin Carpark attendant that took to the “mirror bird” reflected in the car.

See here scarlet-robin-attack-of-the-mirror-birds

Well time has moved on, so has the Scarlet Robin, but the carpark as it turns out is still there. So we pulled up there the other day hoping to find a few interesting bush birds as there is good piece of grey box forest on the far side of the fence.

What we didn’t expect, of course was to set up by the latest iteration of the Carpark attendant.

The “Blue Flash” Car Inspector. He came out of nowhere and immediately took to the mirror bird in the far side car mirror. EE said, if the window was down,” I could touch him.”

Next he proceeded all along the front windscreen, (I’d gotten myself and the 300mm lens out of the car by this time. Then on to the drivers side door and gave that a right hammering.

On looking at the shots, he does look like a young male who is just moulting-in to breeding plumage, the few grey feathers are still showing. So perhaps he is now the chief breeding male and needed to be sure he was in fact the only one in the area.

After about 10 minutes or so, he flew off across the carpark chattering at all the watching females and lesser males. They seemed to giggle at his arrival and they all took off back into the scrub.

Here is a selection.

Tip toeing round nesting sites

September 3, 2015September 3, 2015Posted in Eastern Yellow Robin, You YangsTagged Eastern Yellow Robin, You Yangs4 Comments

Just down the road from our favourite Scarlet Robins, a pair of Eastern Yellow Robins have also decided that an early start to Spring means early nest building.

This one, I practically walked into, despite being told at the time, “It’s just there on your left, you are TOO close.”

Oh.

She always takes a different approach to the site

Nestling nicely among the bark and sheltered by some wattle

Its all held together with cobweb which is wiped from beak, head and wings. — It’s all held together with cobweb which is wiped from beak, head and wings.

Choice little bits needed to fill in spaces

And the site supervisor arrives on time with morning tea.

Pondering where to put the widescreen tv?

Getting an early start on Spring

September 2, 2015September 30, 2015Posted in Scarlet Robin, You YangsTagged Scarlet RobinLeave a comment

Visiting one of our favourite pairs of Scarlet Robins, we found that she was hard at work on a new project for the season.

At first she didn’t seem to happy about disclosing the nest, and it was probably we concluded because although we couldn’t see it, it must be in the area we were standing.

That move away opened up possibilities and within a few moments she was whistling while she worked.

I have grave doubts this will be her first successful nest, but its all a matter of numbers to her, keep trying until she has a brood off. Good luck.

All in a day's work. — All in a day’s work.

The site inspector came by to offer some food topup, and to handle any technical questions.

The importance of each piece is pondered before she lays it in place

Its all bound together with spider web which she brings in around her beak, head and wings. Its then a matter of wiping it all into the correct place.

Something old, some thing new

September 2, 2015September 30, 2015Posted in Scarlet Robin, You YangsTagged Scarlet Robin, You YangsLeave a comment

Just thought I’d share where I am with the updated site.
And to be honest, I’m not.
So after a couple of false starts I’m learning to live with this layout.
Hate the huge text header, but like the page layout.

Moving navigation and the drop down sidebards to the RHS seems a good step forward. The little ‘Folder’ Icon holds most of the sidebar stuff previously so if you want to see Flickr shots they are now under there.

Breakfast, bring your own, Shrike Tit style

August 31, 2015September 2, 2015Posted in Crested Shrike-tit, You YangsTagged Crested Shrike-tit, You Yangs4 Comments

Its been awhile since we’ve really been out and about. The weather has been anything but kind.

So given the options we drove out the gate, turned left and ended up at the You Yangs this morning.

Among other things found a Crested Shrike-tit hard at work looking for a tasty breakfast.

And given the new look on the site, I’ll put up the photos and let them explain.

Think the new wide layout makes the photos cool, but I can’t figure out the spacing.

Be aware of those pincer like jaws that can trim branches in a snap.

There must be something down there somewhere. (and there was)

I have no idea how it knows that there is a grub inside that branch.

Took a bit of work to get the grub exposed.

Enjoy.

Just like meeting old friends

February 5, 2015February 5, 2015Posted in Eynesbury, Redcapped Robin, Scarlet Robin, White-throated Treecreeper, You Yangs3 Comments

Wow, over a month. What a lot of stuff happens that keeps you from the things you’d like to be doing.
We had a couple of weeks away back up on the family acres, mostly family things, and I have to admit to not even bothering to take a camera. And its not been much better since we returned. So there hasn’t been much to report.
I do have a backlog of a few earlier trips to slot in here, but thought we’d start with the You Yangs.

Our friend Merrilyn (see her blog here), mailed me that she’d seen a Red-capped Robin on a track in the Big Rock area. That was enough to get the gear loaded in the car.

It’s no secret to the erstwhile longtime reader that Woodlands Historic Park was our ‘second’ home. In fact my association with photographing the birds at Woodlands goes back a number of years predating this blog. As I was able to roam over quite a bit of the area, I spent a goodly amount of that time working out which birds where nesting, and where territories might be found. The local Red-capped Robin population also accepted me, and a number of them came to be on good speaking terms, and would come out to see what I was upto anytime I wandered through.

But, as we’ve moved, all that is pretty much ancient history. We’ve be able to locate a couple of areas locally, but none the rival the freedom of being a few minutes away such as Woodlands offered.

Oh, yes, the You Yangs trip.

We set out to have a look at the Red-capped Robing, and despite much searching were Not successful. He might have been travelling through, or he might have been resting in the bush just behind me. So not sighting yet. We also looked for Eastern Yellow Robins and only found a couple of pair. Not unusual, as they have most probably taken a new batch and are quietly feeding them amongst the thicker scrub in the area.
What we did find was quite a few Scarlet Robin juveniles. These lovely birds are very distinguished by their motley feather set as they moult out juvenile and take on first year feathers.

My long time reader will recall that about this time, several years back one such bird turned up at Woodlands and for a few weeks I thought S(he) was female, but within few weeks the beautiful glossy black revealed a very handsome male. So it was like meeting old friends when we came across several family groups of Scarlets. Some still unidentifiable as males or females, and some quite well advanced into first year dress. What was interesting, in the 4 major locations there were at least 4 or 6 such young. And we think that it was only a sample of the numbers of Scarlets that have been successfully hatched this season.

At Woodlands one of my all time favourite birds and a particular interest to my mate Ray, was a single female White-throated Treecreeper. For a number of years she seemed to be on her own. One season I found a male, and later a juvenile, but she went back to her single ways the following year. So it was quite a surprise to encounter a White-throated female, and see her disappear behind a tree trunk. When I looked, there was a nest in the hollow of a tree, and her one young offspring perched on the side of the opening. Just like meeting an old friend.

At a large tree near the Ranger’s Office, there is usually one or two Tawny Frogmouth, but they’d been absent for quite awhile. But we went to look anyway.
And

They were back, along with at least one young one. Again at Woodlands there are a resident pair near the carpark, so again it was like meeting old friends.

Here are some shots from the day.

Somehwhere in there is a male Scarlet Robin, just waiting to get out.

Lovely to see these birds are back in residence.

Jacky Winter on a pose. This is my Eynesbury friend, but though it fitted here too. — Jacky Winter on a pose. This is my Eynesbury friend, but thought it fitted here too.

A day with the Werribee Wagtails at the You Yangs

August 6, 2014August 6, 2014Posted in Brown-headed Honeyeater, Eastern Yellow Robin, Flame Robin, Grey Shrike Thrush, Jacky Winter, Redcapped Robin, Scarlet Robin, You Yangs4 Comments

Beginning to really like the monthly foray out with the Werribee Wagtails, good company, tops spots, usually good birds, and yesterday good weather.

We met down at the Eastern Entrance and took a walk, all 25 of us, down the fence line track. Immediately we’d started and a pair of Scarlet Robins entertained us, and then a pair of Jacky Winters. Not to be out done a pair of Restless Flycatchers came out to play in the morning sunshine. It could hardly be better.

A litre further down the track and we came across a family of Flame Robins, and then… It got a lot better. We spotted a lone male Red-capped Robin. Big news for me, as I’ve been trying to locate such bird in the area for the past few months. We walked along the creek line that runs on the south side of the “Seed beds” and came upon another larger flock of Flame Robins, and a pair of Scarlets.
The ‘whip’ for the day rounded us up, and after a morning ‘cuppa’ at the Big Rock carpark, and a few more birds, we took to the drive around the Great Circle Road. Stopping at one spot we walked in to see a Mistletoe Bird, but it must have gotten the dates wrong in its diary and try as we might we had to admit defeat. Prehaps next time. A big group of Crimson Rosellas, and a beautifully vocal Grey Shrike Thrush were suitable consolation.

We stopped again at Fawcetts Gully and there was a female Golden Whistler, but try as I might, I couldn’t get a reasonable shot. Did see the departure of an Eastern Yellow Robin, but again trying too hard, I missed it completely.

So to lunch, and a Collared Sparrowhawk that whisked through the trees, much to the chagrin of around 25-30 White-winged Choughs.
We walked down to see the resident Tawny Frogmouths, and through the bush past the dam near the rangers work area, and there found quite a number of Brown-headed, and White-naped Honeyeaters among others.

After the birdcall, the count was 45. Not a bad day’s birding. Mr An Onymous and I went back past Big Rock to have another look for some Scarlet Robins we’d been working with the previous week, and just as we were leaving we spied another Eastern Yellow Robin just off the side of the road.
Enjoy

As an aside, the Editor of Werribee Wagtails newsletter “Wag Tales”, Shirley Cameron is handing over the job, and I’ve taken on the task. Bit daunting as 26 years of love, care and attention to the group by Shirley sets a pretty high standard for the incoming ‘new bloke’.
One thing I’m going to do is add the pdf of the magazine to this blog, and you should be able to find it from the Front menu Tab. Will make an announcement when the first one goes ‘live’.

To add to that, I’ve created a new Flickr page that will have some of the magazine photo content for viewing, also allows us to have others add material for the pages. We’ll hasten slowly.

Yellow-rumped Thornbill at bathing duties, preening in the early morning sunshine.

One of a number of Scarlet Robins for the day.

My find of the day. One Red-capped Robin, and I can't wait to get back down to have another look — My find of the day. One Red-capped Robin, and I can’t wait to get back down to have another look

Pair of Jacky Winters. Rare to see them sitting together.

Restless Flycatcher, quite happy to perform with 25 people watching

Jacky Winter always a favourite find for me.

Female Scarlet Robin hunting with a large flock of Flame Robins

Tawny Frogmouth, quite near the Main Office area and completely oblivious to our presence.

Scarlet Robin, attack of the mirror birds

April 1, 2014April 1, 2014Posted in Panasonic FZ200, Scarlet Robin, You Yangs5 Comments

I’ve been looking for some places that are easy access and where we could spend a few hours, as we did at Woodlands, without having to commit a day to the travelling.

We took a trip down the the eastern side of the You Yangs and found foot access from a fire track, and it opens up into quite an interesting open woodlands. At the end of the road leading to the gate is a small car turnaround and carpark. So with Mr An Onymous, and EE for company I took a trip down the road and parked. It was one of those glorious mornings that photographers really dream about. A little mist rising from the ground, brilliant sunshine and lots of lovely old gum trees in open paddocks, to make the most wonderful landscape scenes. And of course, I’d left the shorter landscape style lenses at home. So I struggled with the 300mm trying to get some decent framing.

We parked in the carpark area, and as I was getting out of the car I heard the distinct call of a Scarlet Robin, and looked about. Then as I opened the back of the car to get the cameras out, a streak of red flashed by, straight to the mirror of the car, and began flaying away at the bird in the reflection. Stunned and cameraless we watched as he made several passes, first on one side of the car, then the other. Satisfied that honour had been done he sped off. Only to return a few minutes later and repeat the process. But we were ready this time.

Then out came his extended family, another 3 males and 2 females. They hunted over the carpark, sat in the sunshine on the wire, and watched too, fascinated by his ability to see off the mirror bird intruder.

The two females were a bit more circumspect and required a bit of careful approach, but they also allowed us some good shots. Which was great, as although the males are such super colours, its the fine, muted, understated colours of the female that seem to me to be the more elegant of the pair.

After yet another bout of mirror butting, he decided it was time for a rest and retired to a fence line, and he allowed me to get a close approach. So close that in the end, I was on the limit of the focus of the camera. With the lovely early light still cascading over him, and enriching the background, it wasn’t hard to make suitable portraits. EE also got a shot of me, from over my shoulder, working with him.

What a great start to a good morning. We have no idea if they are permanent residents. But they certainly were not bothered by our presence at all. A guy walking his three grey hounds past by, and I was ready to put the camera away as the dogs would no doubt scare the birds. But, all 6 held their stations. So I figured that perhaps they had done all this before. Certainly the speed at which he attacked the mirror bird and the constancy of the attacks could only lead to the conclusion he’d done it all before. He also seemed to immediately attach himself to the underside of the mirror, as though it was pretty much normal business.

Must try and get back for another look.