A bit of birding in lieu of a pelagic trip

The pelagic birding trip we were booked on today from Port Fairy was postponed due to the weather so I dropped into a few places on the way home to see what I could find.

First stop was the wetlands at the start of the Port Fairy Rail Trail. Several Golden-headed Cisticola were calling from the reeds but they stayed in the centre of the wetland so I couldn't get any closeup shots. This was the best I could do.

Golden-Headed Cisticola, Port Fairy Rail Trail
Pentax K-1, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 800, f/4, 1/400

Golden-Headed Cisticola, Port Fairy Rail Trail
Pentax K-1, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 800, f/4, 1/500

Three Common Greenshank were feeding along the edge of the Moyne River but only one was close enough for a half decent shot.

Common Greenshank, Moyne River, Port Fairy
Pentax K-1, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 800, f/4, 1/1000

I tried Belfast Beach but there were people and dogs along the beach so I didn't bother looking for any birds and headed for Killarney Beach, where I found three of my fellow pelagic-trip refugees and we took a walk along the western end of the beach. We spotted six Hooded Plovers but decided not to approach them too closely as they were fairly skittish. A pair of Kelp Gulls was hanging around on the shore and this one stayed still long enough for a long-distance shot.

Kelp Gull, Killarney Beach
Pentax K-1, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/2000

There were also Sooty Oystercatchers and Australian Pied Oystercatchers flying around.

Sooty Oystercatcher, Killarney Beach
Pentax K-1, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 400, f/8, 1/2000

Australian Pied Oystercatcher, Killarney Beach
Pentax K-1, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 400, f/8, 1/500

Australian Pied Oystercatcher, Killarney Beach
Pentax K-1, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 400, f/8, 1/1250

Lunchtime was beckoning so I grabbed take-away in Warrnambool and went to Thunder Point to eat and watch the avian passers-by. These two Little Ravens sat right next to the car allowing me this shot out of the window.

Little Raven, Thunder Point, Warrnambool
Pentax K-1, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 400, f/11, 1/250

The final stop before heading for home was a quick drop-in to Lake Purrumbete just outside of Camperdown. There was very little bird activity on the lake but this Little Pied Cormorant posed for a few shots on a fence post in the middle of a flooded paddock - again shot out of the car window.

Little Pied Cormorant, near Lake Purrumbete
Pentax K-1, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/2500

Brisbane Ranges National Park

It has been several months since I've been out birding so I was very pleased to join the Melbourne BirdLife Photography Group in an outing to Brisbane Ranges National Park today. The weather was fine and slightly overcast but the high winds made it challenging for bird photography as most of the bush birds had hunkered down to get out of the wind. A couple did show themselves for a few shots though.

White-throated Treecreeper, Anakie Gorge, Brisbane Ranges NP
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 400, f/4, 1/200

Eastern Spinebill, Bert Boardman Recreation Reserve, Steiglitz
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 adapter), ISO 400, f/4.5, 1/500

A Wrybill or two (thousand)

After yesterday morning photographing Gannets at the Muriwai Gannet Colony, I spent this morning at the Miranda Shorebird Centre. Most of the Arctic migratory waders had gone but the real target species for the trip was to photograph Wrybill - small endemic New Zealand plovers with a uniquely sideways bending beak (allegedly always to the right). I had never managed to see these birds before so was looking forward to an encounter. I checked the tides and was happy to see that high tide was early afternoon, which would give me enough to time get to Miranda (about an hour's drive south of Auckland on the Thames estuary), visit the Miranda visitor centre and after the compulsory t-shirt purchase, check out the hides overlooking the tidal mudflats. So far, all was going to plan. What I did not check, though, was the tidal height. It was a neap tide (the lowest high tides in the tidal cycle) so even at its highest point, the water did not cover the mudflats in front of the hide so all the birds remained hundreds of metres away. However, you make the best of what you find so I settled in and scanned the mudflats to see if I could at least find a few Wrybill among the small wading birds pottering around the mudflats.

As I was about to give up, a flock of waders wheeled over the distant sand bar towards the hide

Wrybill, Miranda Shorebird Centre, New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/1600

Wrybill, Miranda Shorebird Centre, New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/1600

and settled along the small channel in the centre of the mudflats, about 250 metres away.

Wrybill, Miranda Shorebird Centre, New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8, ISO 800, f/4, 1/2500

Closer inspection confirmed them to be Wrybill - it is just possible to see the characteristic black 'necklace' on some birds and, if you use your imagination, a few appear to have curved bills. So, mission accomplished, I have now seen and photographed this species, albeit at a distance. The flock apparently numbers about 2600 birds - I didn't count them myself, but feel free to have a try in the photograph below :-)

Wrybill, Miranda Shorebird Centre, New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/6400 (stitched panorama)

There were also lots of birds flying past and overhead but the only half decent shot I got was this pair of Pied Stilts aka (in Australia) as Black-winged Stilt,

Pied Stilt (Black-winged Stilt), Miranda Shorebird Centre, New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (+ 1.4x adaptor), ISO 800, f/8 1/1000

which could also be seen more closely, feeding in the ponds alongside the road (this one was photographed through a fence from the car window).

Pied Stilt (Black-winged Stilt), Miranda Shorebird Centre, New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (+ 1.4x adaptor), ISO 800, f/8 1/1600

Now, to plan a trip back to Auckland in summer and at a good high tide...

Muriwai Gannet Colony (New Zealand)

I was working in Auckland yesterday so decided to stay for the weekend and visit the Muriwai Gannet Colony and Miranda Shorebird Centre, both less than an hour's drive from central Auckland.

Muriwai is one of the black sand beaches on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand (see map).

Muriwai Beach, North Island New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 @ 16mm, ISO 400, f/8, 1/125

It is the home of a large colony of Australasian Gannets, only a few hundred metres easy walk from the car park at the beach. About 1200 pairs of gannets breed here over summer but by this time of the year there are very few birds resident in the colony.

Muriwai Gannet Colony, North Island New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 @ 10mm, ISO 800, f/8, 1/1000

Muriwai Gannet Colony, North Island New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Pentax 16-50mm f/2.8 @ 28mm, ISO 400, f/8, 1/250

However, there were still a few remaining, some with juveniles still yet to fledge (and, unfortunately, a few recently dead juveniles)

Australasian Gannet, Muriwai Gannet Colony, New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (+1.4x adaptor), ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/800

Australasian Gannet, Muriwai Gannet Colony, New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/2000

and enough adults flying around to provide some in flight targets

Australasian Gannet, Muriwai Gannet Colony, New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (+1.4x adaptor), ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/1000

Australasian Gannet, Muriwai Gannet Colony, New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (+1.4x adaptor), ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/640

Australasian Gannet, Muriwai Gannet Colony, New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (+1.4x adaptor), ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/1250

Australasian Gannet, Muriwai Gannet Colony, New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 @130mm, ISO 400, f/4, 1/2000

as well as some shenanigans on the ground.

Australasian Gannet, Muriwai Gannet Colony, New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm, ISO 400, f/4, 1/2000

I found one 'outsider' among the roosting gannets.

Brown Booby (immature) + Australasian Gannets, Muriwai Gannet Colony, New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 @200mm, ISO 400, f/4, 1/1600

Brown Booby (immature), Muriwai Gannet Colony, New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (+1.4x adaptor), ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/500

and I managed to get one half decent shot of it as it flew away (unfortunately I had the 70-200mm zoom attached to the camera and no time to swap over to a longer lens).

Brown Booby (immature), Muriwai Gannet Colony, New Zealand
Pentax K-3, Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 @200mm, ISO 400, f/4, 1/2500

still to come...the search for Waybill at the Miranda Shorebird Centre.

Indented Head Fly-by

I spent today with the Melbourne Birdlife Photography Group, checking out some of my favourite sites around the Bellarine Peninsula. Unfortunately, the weather was dismal - grey clouds and drizzly rain - for most of the day but we managed to get a few shots of birds in flight at the last stop for the day at the Indented Head boat ramp. Indented Head juts out into Port Phillip Bay, intersecting a well used seabird flight path, so it's a great place in the late afternoon when birds are heading back to roosting sites for the night. With heavy cloud cover, the light was not great so it was a constant balancing act of trying to get the best ISO and aperture to maintain at least a reasonable shutter speed but a few cormorants and gulls provided some entertainment.

The lights and railings on the jetty provide roosting spots for the gulls

Pacific Gull, Indented Head
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 extender), ISO 400, f/4, 1/4000

Silver Gull (immature), Indented Head
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 extender), ISO 400, f/4, 1/3200

while they wait for the returning fisherman to throw them some scraps.

Pacific Gull, Indented Head
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 extender), ISO 400, f/4, 1/2000

Pacific Gull, Indented Head
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 extender), ISO 400, f/4, 1/1600

Silver Gull (immature), Indented Head
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 extender), ISO 400, f/4, 1/6400

Little Pied Cormorant, Indented Head
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 extender), ISO 640, f/4.5, 1/1000

Pied Cormorant, Indented Head
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 (x1.4 extender), ISO 640, f/4.5, 1/2000

Bunyip State Park + Warburton

It has been way too long since I have been out birding so, despite the weather forecast, I was glad to get out into Bunyip State Park today with the Melbourne Birdlife Photography group.

We spent the morning at Dyer's Picnic Ground on the delightfully named Black Snake Creek Road. Unfortunately, the weather prediction was pretty much spot on: heavily overcast with frequent showers. This made the light very poor and there were not many birds around but when life gives you lemons, make lemonade...so I took the opportunity to practice using fill flash with the Better Beamer. This requires a balancing act of finding the right ISO and aperture settings to get the background exposure with enough light so you don't get a bird on black background and dropping the flash power sufficiently to not over expose the bird or make the flash look too obvious. The two shots below are the best I came up with during the morning but I didn't quite get the balance right - there's still too much flash. This is most noticeable in the eyes - ideally you need to get the flash off camera as much as possible but I don't have a flash bracket so there's a little work needed in Lightroom to remove the eyeshine. Also, the shadows in the background are too obvious - this mostly due to the background being too close to the subject. Ideally, it is good practice to watch your background and move around o get the best possible background but there's not much you can do with small birds in low vegetation and you only have a few seconds to get the shot.

Brown Thornbill, Dyer's Picnic Ground, Bunyip State Park
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 + 1.4x adapter, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/180 (+fill flash)

Grey Fantail, Dyer's Picnic Ground, Bunyip State Park
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 + 1.4x adapter, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/180 (+fill flash)

The afternoon stops did not yield much worth photographing so I took a drive through the park through to Powelltown, where I planned to take at least a short walk along the Powelltown Rail Trail but, as I arrived, it started to rain heavily so I continued the scenic drive through some back tracks to Warburton, where I managed to find a pair of Australian Wood Ducks roosting on a tree in the Yarra River.

Australian Wood Duck (male), Yarra River, Warburton
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 + 1.4x adapter, ISO 800, f/9, 1/180 (+fill flash)

Australian Wood Duck (female), Yarra River, Warburton
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 + 1.4x adapter, ISO 800, f/9, 1/180 (+fill flash)

The combination of larger birds and greater separation from the background made these shots more successful with the fill flash.