A Long Weekend in SW Victoria: Part 3. Lower Glenelg National Park

The Glenelg River meanders from the Grampians through south-west Victoria eventually spilling into the Southern Ocean at Nelson. The Lower Glenelg National Park surrounds the navigable part of the river and its surrounding forest. We drove through the park this afternoon following the river, stopping at scenic lookouts and river access points.

Glenelg River, Lower Glenelg National Park

We went on several walks and found lots of birds but they were mostly in the treetops and out of photographic range.

Perhaps the most common bird seen and heard was the Grey Fantail and this character spent about 10 minutes feeding on insects in a shady spot in one picnic ground. It was so dark that even after pushing the ISO to 1600, I was still shooting at around 1/60th of a second making it impossible to capture the fast moving bird. The flash did allow me to capture a couple of shots and because the bird was close to the background the flash filled behind the bird.

Grey Fantail, Lower Glenelg National Park

Just near the end of our travels through the park, we spotted a flock of about 8 Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos that hung around long enough for a good look and a few photographs. As with many parrots, even when hanging around in larger flocks, pairs of birds often are found close together as seen here (males have the red eye ring, where in females the eye ring is pale grey).

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Glenelg River National Park

There were also several species of plants flowering spectacularly including Victoria's floral emblem, Pink Heath. I found this specimen while on a walk. I'd left the smaller zooms and macro lenses in the car so tried my best using the 600mm worth of lens (300mm + 2x tele-convertor) I had mounted on the camera. The ultra-telephoto flattened out the image a little too much so I used some fill flash that added a bit more depth to the shot.

Pink Heath, Epacris impressa,
Lower Glenelg National Park

I did bring the macro lens on the next walk and managed a couple of shots (albeit hand held).

Native Fuchsia, Correa reflexa,
Lower Glenelg National Park

Silver Banksia, Banksia marginata,
Lower Glenelg National Park

The rest of the weekend:
Part 1. Cape Nelson
Part 2. Sunrise at Bridgewater Bay
Part 4. Shore Birds