Tag: Great Egret

Snapshots: Biting of More than You can Chew

Posted in Great Egret, Werribee River ParkTagged , , 6 Comments

Here’s a quickie, hope it makes you smile.

Sometimes a day at the office for this Great Egret brings on more than expected.

Or
The tale of the Egret that hoped to grow up to be an Osprey.

As my old footy coach used to say, “Never let you Ambitions Outweigh your Capabilities.”

I was sitting at The Shallows, and well, it wasn’t as the tide was running high, so not much happening. And the weather was blowing all get out and deep dark clouds were appearing.

I saw this Egret on the other side of the river. Too far for much real work, and besides it was mostly hunkered down among the small trees, trying to keep out of the wind. I spent more time with some dotterels and a few spoonbills, and was well into my second cup of Grey of Earl, when I heard a loud “SPLASH”, and without turning round, I knew instantly what had happen. The Egret had gone into the water. What I didn’t know was what it had caught. Hard to get it in the water and  it was on the bank and behind the trees before you could say, “That’s a big Fish!”.

The next few minutes were between hilarious and painful, as it wrestled to get that size fish into a position to swallow. And to make things worse its new friends the Straw-necked Ibis  were getting close hoping to get a morsel or two.
In the end after much neck manipulation, and headshaking, it decided that a new approach was needed and it took off behind the river bank, and I lost sight of the outcome.

I waited, but in the end the weather, and time ran out, and I left not knowing how it had fared.

Enjoy

Saturday Evening Post #005

Posted in Great Egret, Saturday Evening PostTagged , 2 Comments

The Werribee Mansion was built by the Chirnside family back in the late 1880s.  They were  pastoral dynasty that reaped significant profits and the Mansion was among one of their many extravagant projects.  They also maintained a deer park, in the vicinity of the suburb Deer Park. Makes sense right?

They also were members of the Acclimatisation Society, that set out to import species into Australia to provide sport hunting, and included foxes, rabbits, alpacas, pheasants, sparrows and thrushes. It’s a long painful list that we still pay for among decimation of native species. 

One part of the gardens was turned into an ornamental pond. However because of the quality of the sandy river soil, the lake was mostly left empty as it drained quickly.  It was only ever topped up when ‘important’ guests were in residence.

It is interesting to walk among the huge trees in the garden and contemplate that the layout, and those who conceived it, was for another generation. Now stately and immaculately maintained by Parks Vic, it is a pleasure to wander the gardens and see locals and visitors enjoying the grounds.

The Ornamental Pond is still there and is always filled with water these days.  Which makes it a home for freeloading ducks, coots and waterhens and the like. Some, such as grebes and cormorants and egrets have to ply their trade among the frogs, bugs and small fish that seem to be in abundance in the lake.

One Great Egret is regularly found there.  I’ve named it ‘Grace’, for Graceful and Gracious.  Not habituated, but neither afraid of humans, this bird works the pond and its verges and also spends time preening on the trees and small island in the area.
Which makes it a most interesting photo subject.

So much so that I have become quite clued to its body language and can often predict a flight, and a flight path, and sometimes, predict a landing point.
Given the right sunshine, the richness of the dark shadows among the trees, and a hint of luck, a very happy hour or so can be spent by the pond.
Thanks to the foresight of the ‘landed gentry’ who would know doubt be horrified to see common folk picnicking or conducting weddings on their lawns.

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Saturday Evening Post 001

Posted in Great Egret, Saturday Night Post, Uncategorized, Werribee MansionTagged , , 10 Comments 
“Thus it is said:
The path into the light seems dark,
the path forward seems to go back,"
Lao Tzu

What, I said to myself, is the point of having a blog if I don’t post something to it?
So after bumping into Robin Whalley’s site, The Lightweight Photographer,  he is all into Mirrorless cameras, get it, light weight!!!!  I thought his idea of a current shot with a little bit of ramble seemed like a good way to keep the blog roll rollin’. (think a theme song is in there somewhere, shades of old b&w tv and Rowdy Yates.)  Oh, I date myself.

Had a bit of time at the Mansion Lake of recent.  And as the evening sun was dropping behind the trees, small shafts of light ran between the wonderful, large, trees, and made great little spot lit openings on a super stage.
All I had to do was call in the talent, and have it fly into the light, and being the obliging bird it is, (This egret is a regular at the Ornamental Lake, and has been on the blog and my Flickr sites on more than a number of occasions.) it did.

BTW, Robin Whalley has some rather useful books and vids on using software such as Lightroom, Photoshop, On One and others.  His approach I rather enjoy, and as he is now doing a series on Nik Software, my fav Noise Reduction and Sharpening tools, I guess I’m a bit hooked.

Cue Great Egret.  Enter Stage Left.

Great Egret.jpg

Click for larger SIZE

Picture Postcards: Egret Veil Ballet

Posted in Great EgretTagged 3 Comments
10 November 2017

 

Whether it is a movie, a painting, a symphony, or a ballet, 

it’s always insightful and inspiring to see someone 

express themselves through the arts.

Justen Eason

 

A few pictures on the blog, will in no way express the rich time that I spent with this bird.

For its own reasons, it began its morning cleaning session.  I was able to move around its isolated position to keep the light right and the backdrop just a hint.  The superb elegance of the shaping, caressing and supple body movement kept me enthralled for around 30 minutes or so.  Enough to make over 6o super images, all of which has a subtlety of finesse that its impossible to bring it all together in just a few special images.

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