Tag: Grey Butcherbird

Along the Track: Wednesday Wanderings

Posted in Along the Track, Great Cormorant, Pacific Gull, Pied Butcher Bird, Queenscliff, Wedge-tailed EagleTagged , , 5 Comments

“What about a couple of days down at Queenscliff?”, hung in the air for a few minutes.
Seemed possible. It is well outside my usual rule. Some may recall that we try not to travel more than 30 minutes or so to a birding spot. These days with extra traffic, we’ll fudge out to 45mins 🙂

So after loading up IamGrey with the appropriated changes of clothes, the right camera gear and bookings for accommodation all set. We too. Set off.

Any run down the Geelong bound freeway will call for a diversion off the highway and a run along the western edge of the WTP, along Pousties Rd for those who follow such things on maps.

I was looking right, EE looking left.—partly because that is the seating arrangement in IamGrey.

Not long before the call, “There is a Wedge-tailed Eagle on the fence!” came from the left side of the car. I should have known.
Said bird was about 100m down the fence-line from the road, but a handy short track to a fence managed to cover about 25m or so. The bird soon took note of our approach. Not wishing to put it up we stopped. But. Perhaps that was even more unnerving and it unfolded the wonderful big sails and before you could say, “There it goes”. It went.

Big grins all round, we continued on to Drysdale and the best pie shop around. There are rumours that I’d travel down there just for the pies, but you shouldn’t believe everything you read. 🙂

Armed with a fine pie, and a coffee we returned to the side of the Drysdale Railway Station, and enjoyed the repast in the lee of the wind.
Lake Lonsdale, right next to the Station, is usually a good place for wetlands birds and we set off. But water levels had changed somewhat, and most of the birds would have nested and departed. Still we managed a few worthwhile finds. But no Grey Butcherbirds that we had hoped to find.
Onwards down the coast we motored.

As it was going to be cloudless evening, we picked up some ‘fish’n’chips’ from the wonderful, “The Original Queenscliff Fish and Chips” in the main street and headed up to the Point Lonsdale Lighthouse hoping we might find some seabirds in the air in the strengthening wind.
We sat on a small table in the carpark area and opened up and enjoyed our humble meal. And both of us simultaneously saw a grey shape in the bushes opposite.

A Pied Butcherbird. Cameras of course were in the vehicle, way over the other side of the carpark, and one of us volunteered to go fetch. Knowing that by the time we were ready for photos, the bird will have flown on.
But no.
This bird probably used this area regularly and sat down tummy on the branch and watched the goings on around. Then a bit of preening, and we went back to the table. By the time we’d wrapped up the remains and were ready to head up to the Lighthouse, the bird was still happily perched.

At the top we were treated to a great view of the sun setting down the coast, and a pair of Pacific Gulls that seemed to relish the wind and the occasional wave spraying over their rocky perch.
And the sight of the Pilot Boat returning over the rough waters of “The Heads”—the flow of water between the East and West sides of Port Phillip Bay. But that will be another blog.(Please)

And top it off, as we drove back to accommodation, the full Moon began peeking over the horizon.

Here are a few highlights.


Wedge-tailed Eagle on a fence line
The colouring of the bird would indicate a juvenile.
Messing about with Pied Stilts doing their best to balance on one leg.
Another pair of Stilts practicing their synchronised flight routine
A flutter on a branch on my left and a Shining Bronze-cuckoo appeared.
Great Cormorant. Again the colour suggests a juvenile.
Pied Butcherbird in relaxed as they come mode
Right on sunset, and with a strong wind and rising tide these two Pacific Gulls were holding their station.

Saturday Evening Post #80: We Bounce

Posted in Grey Butcherbird, Saturday Evening PostTagged , 9 Comments

Greetings all my Fellow Scomo Doona Hermits!

Been cold, wet and utterly miserable weather here today, and probably has has some impact on my approach to life in general. Too cold to go out, and no where to go anyway. 🙂

“We Bounce”, is a term, that a mentor, David DuChemin coined after an accident sidelined him for 18 months or so back in 2011.
He was leading photo-tour in Italy, and was standing on a 12m high wall explaining the variations of light, form, tone, texture, viewpoint, lens selection and vision, when he misplaced a foot, and fell to the bottom of the wall. Legs, ankles and pelvis were broken, and required much surgery to repair, and even more to get right. As David tells, he was fortunate; as three or four people had fallen from the same wall the previous year, and all had died.

A year on, and he was able to walk, mostly with the aid of a cane. “The human spirit is a remarkable force,” he says.

We can’t all have perfect health, perfect bodies, perfect lives, and perfect photos… But we can chose to endure, to perservere, to take the courage to keep going, to sleep off the venom, (a reference to Honeybadgers—part of his post) to Bounce Back.

And, when bouncing isn’t enough, as David remarks, the truly blessed also have friends. And he then goes on to give thanks for all those who followed his trials that year.

So, this, is a post to say, “Thanks, Thank you to all who’ve been following along the ramblings of a Saturday evening, when we both could be wasting time watching tv, or out and about with family and friends.”
“Thank You, to all those who have tirelessly worked to bring us some stability in the dreadful condition we find ourselves embroilled, so many risking so much for so many.”

“Thank you” to our governement leaders for their forthright and determined decisions that have given us a glimmer of hope for some relief.  I only have to look at the world sats to see how fortunate we have been. Tough, yes, but we’ll Bounce Back.
It turned my head to realise that the United States now have lost more people in three months than battle casualites during the Vietnam Conflict. (58,220  1964-1975)

One good thing from being at home is that many tutors, trainers and artists have setup online access to some of their materials.
I’ve mentioned Jon Young and his “What the Robin Knows”, book before, and he has an hour or so long seminar Discover the Hidden World of the Animal Through Bird Language. In the webinar, Jon, Kristi, and Dan shared some truly fun stories and tips today that can help you tune into Nature through the voices of the birds.  It was 5:00am here, but a replay is much more convenient.
PS, its long and rambling as these sort of discussions are, so make sure you’ve a cup of the Earl’s finest, or whatever takes your fancy, if you settle to watch it. But the Nuggets fall quickly and are worth searching out.

You can view the webinar replay here.

And my  Wordpress Friend, Ashley, over at Aussiebirder.com, his blog is here
Ashley has just published a new Edition of his book What Birds Teach Us   so good luck with the publication.

For over six months, we had the opportunity to work with a single Grey Butcherbird, it has become quite confident at our presence. Now, I know that anyone who has Butcherbirds in their local patch will find that pretty ordinary, as Butcherbirds quickly assimilate.
However the last few sessions we had, Butch came out into our area on its own accord.  The featured two shots, are a result of the bird flying directly over my shoulder. Close encounter.
Had to do vertical, as I couldn’t fit it all in on horizontal. Just about full frame. Close.
Jon talks about such encounters as   Connection, Not Conflict     As awareness grows, so appreciation grows, so, empathy grows.

We bounce, but its usually a matter of choice, in life, in art, in photography.

Keep takin’ pictures, we do.

 

Remain

 

Davyyd.