No.1 and No.2 Dams, Chiltern

No early morning photography at the lake this morning as I opted to pack up most of the camping gear to be ready for a quicker getaway this afternoon. However, this female Australian Magpie kept me company while I ate breakfast so I couldn't resist getting a shot.

Australian Magpie (female), Lake Anderson Caravan Park, Chiltern, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8, ISO 400, f/4, 1/1600

First official birding stop for the day was Chiltern Valley No. 2 Dam (a small pocket of Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, a few kilometres west of Chiltern) but, on the way, I spotted a handful of Australian White Ibis sitting on nests on a small island in a farm dam.

Australian White Ibis, Wenkes Road, Chiltern, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/2000

When we arrived at No. 2 Dam, we walked around to the bird hide but there was very little activity on the dam, except for the arrival of this Australian Pelican.

Australian Pelican, No. 2 Dam, Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 400, f/5, 1/1600

The surrounding bush was similarly quiet but this Eastern Yellow Robin landed in a tree almost immediately above my head - not the best angle but you have to take what you can get.

Eastern Yellow Robin, No. 2 Dam, Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/2000

Back at the car park we spotted a Whistling Kite circling overhead

Whistling Kite, No. 2 Dam, Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 800, f/4, 1/8000

Whistling Kite, No. 2 Dam, Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 800, f/4, 1/6400

but the highlight of this location was spotting a Yellow-footed Antechinus running along a log and climbing a tree. I almost always have the camera with long lens attached to a tripod but this morning because we were walking to a bird hide (and tripods, crowds and bird hides are a bad combination), I was hand holding the camera...highly serendipitous because there is no way I would have caught this little marsupial if I had to set up the tripod.

Yellow-footed Antechinus, No. 2 Dam, Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 800, f/4.5, 1/2000

Yellow-footed Antechinus, No. 2 Dam, Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 800, f/4.5, 1/5000

Next stop was No. 1 Dam, a small picturesque lake surrounded by eucalypt woodland.

No. 1 Dam, Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Pentax 16-50mm f/2.8 @16mm, ISO 800, f/11, 1/200

Circling overhead was another (or maybe the same as the two dams are only about 2 kilometres apart) Whistling Kite but this time much higher up.

Whistling Kite, No. 1 Dam, Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 800, f/9, 1/2500

A pair of Red-rumped Parrots landed on a stump just offshore from the bank near where we were standing and gave us great views, including the female checking out a hole in the stump.

Red-rumped Parrot, No. 1 Dam, Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 800, f/8, 1/250

Red-rumped Parrot, No. 1 Dam, Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 800, f/8, 1/320

Red-rumped Parrot, No. 1 Dam, Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 800, f/8, 1/500

Red-rumped Parrot (female), No. 1 Dam, Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 800, f/8, 1/800

This afternoon, Regent Parrots revisited.

Bunyip Wrens and Robins

A great day out at Bunyip State Park with the Birdlife Melbourne Photography Group today.

First stop was the Buttongrass Nature Walk, which passes through mixed dry sclerophyll forest/woodland and button grass heath.

Several winter flowering species were blooming giving me a chance to try out the new 70-200mm lens (I need to dig up the old botany books to check on the Acacia and Hakea species - it's been too long).

Acacia sp.
Buttongrass Nature Walk, Bunyip State Park

Hairpin Banksia (Banksia spinulosa)
Buttongrass Nature Walk, Bunyip State Park

Hakea sp.
Buttongrass Nature Walk, Bunyip State Park

We stopped at several locations watching Brown Thornbills and several species of honeyeaters but they were mostly in the treetops so difficult to photograph. However, one Eastern Yellow Robin cooperated by hanging around at eye level

Eastern Yellow Robin
Buttongrass Nature Walk, Bunyip State Park

and sitting still long enough for a few shots, with fill flash

Eastern Yellow Robin
Buttongrass Nature Walk, Bunyip State Park

and without.

Eastern Yellow Robin
Buttongrass Nature Walk, Bunyip State Park

We heard and most of us saw Southern Emu-wren in the Buttongrass but they were too well concealed by the intervening vegetation for me to photograph successfully...but that just makes a good reason to come back to this fabulous spot!

We moved on to Mortimer Picnic Ground in the far west of the park where the forest is much wetter and taller, consisting mainly of Mountain Ash and Blackwood. The picnic ground was alive with Superb Fairy-wrens and Eastern Yellow Robins so I spent my time after lunch trying out various flash on/off techniques.

Eastern Yellow Robin
Mortimer Picnic Ground, Bunyip State Park

This one is not quite in focus. Well, the feet are because that's where the head was a split second before the shot and the camera's auto-focus was not quick enough to pick up the movement...but I'm getting closer :-)

Eastern Yellow Robin
Mortimer Picnic Ground, Bunyip State Park

This female Fairy-wren was hopping around on the grass right in front of me and I managed to get these two shots a few seconds apart.

Superb Fairy-wren (female)
Mortimer Picnic Ground, Bunyip State Park

This male (in eclipse plumage) was not quite as cooperative, staying only long enough for a shot without flash.

Superb Fairy-wren (eclipse male)
Mortimer Picnic Ground, Bunyip State Park

Mornington Peninsula

I spent another great day out with the Birdlife Australia Melbourne Photography group today, covering various sights on the Mornington Peninsula. First stop at Cape Schanck meant an early rise to catch the ferry from Queenscliff to Sorrento. The sun was rising as the ferry departed Queenscliff, providing some great views of Port Phillip Bay.

Sunrise over Swan Island and Port Phillip Bay

This trip frequently gives good views of several species of seabirds (including Australasian Gannets that breed on nearby Popes Eye and several channel markers in the south of Port Phillip Bay) as well as fur seals and dolphins but I was a little early for much wildlife activity this morning. However, I did manage to catch a few sleeping Little Pied Cormorants as the ferry passed by a channel light.

Little Pied Cormorant, Port Phillip Bay

I got to Cape Schanck before the scheduled meeting time so took the loop walk that gives great views of Bushranger Bay, Cape Schanck and the lighthouse.

Bushranger Bay from Cape Schanck

Cape Schanck

Cape Schanck Lighthouse

The strong N-W wind made it a tough day for birding. We did manage to find more than 20 species of birds in an hour, including Shy and Black-browed Albatross (cruising past the Cape several hundred metres offshore), Pacific, Kelp and Silver Gull and a range of bush birds but none was willing to brave the wind to give us any worthwhile photographic moments. This Shy Albatross was about as close as any got while we were there.

Shy Albatross, Cape Schanck

Next stop was the ocean Beach at Flinders where, again, the windy conditions kept the birdlife scarce but made for some interesting seascape opportunities.

Ocean Beach, Flinders

A small flock of the ubiquitous Silver Gull made interesting photographic subjects floating on the waves just offshore. I wanted to try and get all the birds in focus so closed the aperture down to f/8 (effectively f/16 as I was using the 2x teleconverter). This made the shutter speed very slow (1/25th of a second - almost impossible to shoot moving birds at this speed) so I bumped up the ISO to 1600, which gave me a shutter speed of 1/100th--not ideal but the best I could do.

Silver Gull, Flinders

This Willie Wagtail entertained several of us for about 20 minutes, allowing very close approach of up to ten photographers while it hunted for small invertebrates amongst the seaweed along the edge of the dunes. The dull light and a fast-moving bird made photographing in the natural light challenging due to slow shutter speeds so I took the opportunity to practice some more flash photography. The best images resulted from using manual flash and dropping the power down to 1/8th. The lower power makes for a very fast flash which freezes the action and also makes it easier to balance the flash with the natural light reducing the shadows.

Willie Wagtail, Flinders

After a picnic lunch, on the more sheltered jetty side of Flinders, we headed to Green's Bush (part of the Mornington Peninsula National Park see Parknotes) and took the Circuit Track from Baldry's Crossing Picnic Area. This walk passes through a stringy bark forest with dense undergrowth providing great habitat for a wide range of bushbirds.

Green's Bush, Mornington Peninsula National Park

Forests are always challenging habitats for bird photography as the canopy cuts much of the natural sunlight and many of the birds are high in the trees so they are a long way up and are nearly always silhouetted against a bright background sky. That said, with patience, you can usually locate a range of birds that will eventually become more photographic. My favourite strategy is to walk slowly along the track listening and looking for movement, until I find a suitable location to sit or stand and wait for the birds to come to me. This is harder to do in a large group but we did see more than 20 species in an hour walk. My photographic highlights were...

Eastern Yellow Robin
Green's Bush, Morning Peninsula National Park

Fan-tailed Cuckoo
Green's Bush, Mornington Peninsula National Park

After a final bird count for the day, we parted company and went our separate ways, in my case heading back to Sorrento for the return ferry trip.

...but wait, there's more...

Brisbane Ranges Bush Birds

Last day of winter today but it felt much more like spring, with mild sunny weather and a light wind, so it looked like a good day to visit the Brisbane Ranges. August is wattle month in the ranges with the Golden Wattle in full flower creating splashes of yellow all over the under-storey at many locations.

Golden Wattle, Brisbane Ranges NP

The floral abundance and nesting season for many birds meant that lots of the usual suspects were active and easy to find.

First stop was The Crossing Picnic Area and, immediately I was out of the car, the familiar twittery Red-browed Finch chatter surrounded me. Luckily, I had already assembled the camera, tripod and flash so I managed to fire off a couple of shots with and without flash.

 

Red-browed Finch, The Crossing Picnic Area, Brisbane Ranges NP

This was to be a familiar theme for the rest of the day as I tried shooting with and without flash whenever I could manage it.

Golden Whistler (female), The Crossing Picnic Area, Brisbane Ranges NP

I found this Eastern Yellow Robin while I was stalking a Golden Whistler at the next stop (Graham's Creek Picnic Area) after spotting a flash of yellow in the tree just in front of me.

Eastern Yellow Robin, Graham's Creek Picnic Area, Brisbane Ranges NP

I didn't manage to find the whistler but did see why the robin was so active right beside the path when, on my way back, I discovered its nest on the back of the same tree in which I'd photographed it on the way up the track.

Easter Yellow Robin, Graham's Creek Picnic Area, Brisbane Ranges NP

I took a couple of quick shots and then skirted around the tree leaving the bird in peace.

Stony Creek Road runs along the north-eastern boundary of the park and offers some great opportunities for birding in the roadside vegetation.

Eastern Spinebill, Stony Creek Road, Brisbane Ranges NP

White-throated Treecreeper, Stony Creek Road, Brisbane Ranges NP

Last stop was Anakie Gorge, where I found a Spotted Pardalote and then a White-naped Honeyeater stripping bark from a eucalypt trunk and they were both quite oblivious to my close approach

Spotted Pardalote, Anakie Gorge, Brisbane Ranges NP

White-naped Honeyeater, Anakie Gorge, Brisbane Ranges NP

and, of course, the ubiquitous Superb Fairy-wrens were noisily guarding territories and gathering food.

Superb Fairy-wren, Anakie Gorge, Brisbane Ranges NP

I still need to work on flash settings and when to use (and not use) the Better Beamer. The flash certainly makes the images clearer and more vibrant than natural light and freezes the action well but it appears unnatural on many occasions and with the Better Beamer on, the flash reflection in the eye needs post production work to remove the large catch light.