Gang Gang Cockatoos in Geelong

Gang Gang Cockatoos are seasonal visitors to the Geelong region. They usually arrive in autumn to feed on the ripening 'gum-nuts' of several eucalyptus species.

Gang Gang Cockatoo (adult males), Deakin University, Waurn Ponds
Panasonic Lumix G9 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f/4-6.3 lens
195 mm, ISO 200, 1/200 second @ f/8

Gang Gangs are sexually dimorphic, i.e., (adult) males and females look distinctly different. Males have the bright orange-red head, females have grey head but have beautiful cream and orange banding on the breast and belly.

Gang Gang Cockatoo (adult male), Deakin University, Waurn Ponds
Panasonic Lumix G9 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f/4-6.3 lens
400 mm, ISO 400, 1/640 second @ f/8

Gang Gang Cockatoo (adult female), Deakin University, Waurn Ponds
Panasonic Lumix G9 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f/4-6.3 lens
400 mm, ISO 200, 1/100 second @ f/8

Like all cockatoos, they have large, powerful bills and highly dextrous feet, which they use in combination with a hard, rough tongue to manipulate food.

Gang Gang Cockatoo (adult female), Deakin University, Waurn Ponds
Panasonic Lumix G9 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f/4-6.3 lens
400 mm, ISO 400, 1/400 second @ f/8

Gang Gang Cockatoo (adult male), Deakin University, Waurn Ponds
Panasonic Lumix G9 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f/4-6.3 lens
350 mm, ISO 400, 1/400 second @ f/8

In this video I discuss how to photograph birds high in trees in bright, sunny conditions.

Early morning waders at Kirk Point and a day at the WTP

I was due to meet the Melbourne Birdlife Photography group for the monthly outing (this month at the Western Treatment Plant in Werribee). The night before, I checked the sunrise and tide times and weather predictions and all looked perfect for an early morning shoot at Kirk Point (just outside the treatment plant).

Check my YouTube channel for a video of today's shoot.

The rocks at Kirk Point are overnight roosting sites for many species of birds, including several species of migratory wading birds. As the tide rises, the rocks further from shore get inundated and the birds come closer and closer to shore. If you get there early enough (in this case I was there 30 minutes before sunrise) the birds will encroach much closer than you could approach them.

I was not disappointed. Hundreds of Red-necked Stint and Curlew Sandpiper, along with gulls, terns and cormorants, settled on the rocks just metres in front of my chosen perch on a rock on the beach and caught the orange glow of first light.

Red-necked Stint, Kirk Point, Point Wilson, Victoria
Panasonic Lumix G9 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm lens @ 100mm, ISO 800, 1/1250 @ f/6.3

The small migratory waders are due to take off on their long migration back to the arctic in the next few weeks so my attention was drawn to them.

Red-necked Stint, Kirk Point, Point Wilson, Victoria
Panasonic Lumix G9 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm lens @ 400mm, ISO 800, 1/1000 @ f/6.3

Red-necked Stint and Curlew Sandpiper, Kirk Point, Point Wilson, Victoria
Panasonic Lumix G9 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm lens @ 400mm, ISO 800, 1/1000 @ f/6.3

Red-necked Stint, Kirk Point, Point Wilson, Victoria
Panasonic Lumix G9 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm lens @ 280mm, ISO 400, 1/1000 @ f/6.3 

Several of the Curlew Sandpiper had started develop breeding plumage indicating an imminent departure north.

Red-necked Stint and Curlew Sandpiper, Kirk Point, Point Wilson, Victoria
Panasonic Lumix G9 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm lens @ 318mm, ISO 400, 1/1000 @ f/6.3

As the tide continued to rise, only cormorants (Pied Cormorant and Little Black Cormorant) remained on the outer rocks (and one gull lurking in the background)

Pied Cormorant and Little Black Cormorant, Kirk Point, Point Wilson, Victoria
Panasonic Lumix G9 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm lens @ 280mm, ISO 400, 1/800 @ f/6.3

while the waders took flight for alternative feeding and roosting locations.

Red-necked Stint and Curlew Sandpiper, Kirk Point, Point Wilson, Victoria
Panasonic Lumix G9 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm lens @ 280mm, ISO 400, 1/1250 @ f/6.3

The rest of the day was spent at the treatment plant in great company. It's always a thrill to take first time visitors to this spectacular birding location.

Lake Borrie, Western Treatment Plant, Werribee, Victoria
Panasonic Lumix G9 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm lens @ 124mm, ISO 200, 1/500 @ f/6.3

I have never seen so many Pink-eared Duck at this location but they are always difficult to photograph on the wide-open waterways of the treatment plant. I did manage to 'sneak up' a little and shoot through the reeds.

Pink-eared Duck, Western Treatment Plant, Werribee, Victoria
Panasonic Lumix G9 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm lens @ 280mm, ISO 400, 1/1250 @ f/6.3

Hundreds of Welcome Swallow and Fairy Martin were hunting insects around the bird hide and I managed to get a few good shots of the martins - normally a challenge as they are rarely still for more than a few seconds.

Fairy Martin, Western Treatment Plant, Werribee, Victoria
Panasonic Lumix G9 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm lens @ 400mm, ISO 400, 1/640 @ f/6.3

However, the main highlight of the day came late in the afternoon with this capture of a juvenile Lewin's Rail - my first photograph of this elusive species and first sighting in Victoria - two ticks with one bird :-)

Lewin's Rail (juvenile), Western Treatment Plant, Werribee, Victoria
Panasonic Lumix G9 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm lens @ 400mm, ISO 400, 1/640 @ f/6.3

Happy days :-)

An Osprey in Melbourne!

The Eastern Osprey, Pandio cristatus, is a species rarely seen in the central region of Victoria and almost never in Melbourne. A solo female has been spotted along the banks of the Werribee River in western Melbourne this week and the bird watchers and bird photographers of Melbourne have been all in a flutter. While I have seen and photographed this species elsewhere in Australia, I couldn't resist an early morning start to get to the location, at which she'd been spotted for several days, just after sunrise. Several other birders were already there with cameras and binoculars scouring the trees along the river banks. Apparently she'd been here earlier but had flown off up river, so we waited, our numbers swelling to about 20 by the time she was spotted in a tree on the opposite bank. She stayed, posing for portraits, albeit long distance ones, for about 30 minutes...

Eastern Osprey, Werribee River, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 + 1.4x adapter, ISO400, 1/2000 second @ f/5.6 (cropped)

 before taking off...

Eastern Osprey, Werribee River, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 + 1.4x adapter, ISO400, 1/2000 second @ f/5.6 (cropped)

and plunging into the river and catching a small fish then alighting on a branch closer to us and proceeded to eat the fish. I missed the fishing because of shrubs and tree branches in the way but managed a few shots of the dining room.

Eastern Osprey, Werribee River, Victoria
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 + 1.4x adapter, ISO400, 1/4000 second @ f/5.6 (cropped)

Tufted Duck - first sighting in Australia

It has been a (very) long time since I've posted something here but the sighting of a new vagrant species in Australia this week prompted me to get out and find the bird this morning. A male Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) was spotted at the Western Treatment Plant (WTP, aka "Werribee Sewerage Farm") earlier this week and it had the Australian twitching community all a flutter (pun intended). This was the first ever sighting of this species anywhere in Australia. So, camera gear and binoculars packed in the car, I picked up my son at 7am for the hour's drive to Werribee. We initially investigated the location at which the bird had been spotted on Wednesday but, while there were plenty of interesting birds, there were very few ducks and no sign of the foreigner.

Twitching (searching for new/rare bird species) at the WTP has some distinct advantages over other locations:
  1. LOTS of birders go there and when a new species is sighted you can guarantee you won't be alone,
  2. The country is VERY flat so you can see for kilometres,
the result of which is that when searching for a rarity, it's easier to look for the crowd of birders than to look for the bird.

As we were leaving our first location, a little disheartened, we spotted a collection of cars (yet to find a suitable collective noun) a couple of km away at another series of ponds. A few minutes later, we had joined the throng (below - the gap in the middle is where we had been) - binoculars, telescopes and long lenses pointed towards a flock of ducks (mostly Australian Shelduck) and a few grebes and coots clustered on the other side of a pond.

It only took a few minutes for the first call of "I've got it!" to rouse the gang into cries of:
"Where?"
"You see the last hangar...just below the right hand side of that"
"You mean near the pile of dirt?"
"Yes, just near the those swans close to the bank"
"Wait, I see it, no, it's just dived..."

My 300mm lens was never going to be sufficient to see the bird clearly so I added both 2x and 1.4x tele-converters to my Pentax K-3 (crop factor of 1.5) giving me a virtual focal length of 1260mm. Even then, the bird was not much more than a blur in the distance.

Tufted Duck (centre of photograph near the grassy bank) with Australian Shelduck and Eurasian Coot
Pentax K-3, Sigma 300mm f/2.8 lens x2 and x1.4 adapters, 1/125 sec @ f/12.5

Fortunately, video is more forgiving of having so much extra glass and I (unusually) had the foresight to switch to video for a few seconds, capturing the bird preening and wing-flapping.

I'm not sure how many species that is for me now in Australia (I'm not a fanatical counter/ticker) but it's always great to find such a rarity and very happy that it's my 300th bird in Australia on this blog.