Glimpses of Australia-Pelicans and Cormorants and a few seagulls.

How To Attract Amazing Birds - Bird Photography Secrets Revealed!

Jan Wegener has some amazing bird photography techniques.

Unwanted Encounters with Australian Birds-The Noisy Miner

This was an attempt to produce an educational video on how to use an incident light meter with my good friend Greg. We may continue and add to this at a later date.

Encounters with Australian Birds. episode 6. The Tawny Frogmouth

Encounters with Australian Birds Parrots Ep 5

Episode 5 in my Encounters with Australian Birds series.
A correction is in order here. The shots of the Crimson Rosella at the close of the clip were at at Strathnairne near Canberra not Strathgordon.

Encounters with Australian Birds Episode 2: Apostle Birds

Encounters with Birds Episode 1 Kookaburra

Encounters with Australian Birds Series

James the Lyrebird

I love finding old books in bookshops that highlight Australia's Fauna and Flora and the many past authors who investigated Australia's wonderful diversity of Animals,Birds and Plant Life.

I found one such book the other day called the "The Lore of the Lyrebird" by Ambrose Pratt.
In it I found the wonderful story of Edith Wilkinson and "James" the wild Lyrebird she befriended.

James became a celebrity in his day and you can find many references on the internet including
the short film in the link below.

As yet I have never had the pleasure to photograph a Lyrebird and have had one fleeting glimpse of one on Mt Buffalo in Victoria.

A children's book has also been written based on the story by Jackie Kerin.

Here below is Jackie telling the story on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7H7drsjvxg

Major Mitchell Cockatoos eating Padymelons

On a trip back from a holiday to Broken Hill in NSW my wife and I came across some Major
Mitchell Cockatoos taking padymelons from the side of the road to trees and then eating them. We watched and filmed and took still shots for about a half hour.These Cockys are just some of the beautiful Parrots and Cockatoos we are blessed to have in Australia.Padymelons are a native melon that unfortunately are bitter tasting and not palatable for humans. They are commonly found in outback Australian country sides.

I hope you enjoy this short video. It is not high quality but an encounter with birds which is always a treat.

Also I have now added a beautiful close up image of a Major Mitchell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Mitchell%27s_Cockatoo

Over the years(since 1970) I have captured hours of movies on standard and super 8 movie film, then VHS and SVHS video, Mini DV video and now from digital slrs and iPhones etc.
Family events, sports matches our kids were involved in, holidays, wildlife birds and out back Australia.
Now that I am "retired" ie. when not babysitting Grandchildren, I am having the pleasure of going through and editing my extensive archives.Some of it you will see here on this blog.

Another Bird Encounter-Thrush on a cup

Grey Thrushes are one of my favourite birds as much for their friendliness and beautiful bird song as anything else. There have been very many generations reared on my in-laws property at Renmark.When my father in law Dud Foweraker was alive they would be at the back and front doors all the time for handouts. A little less frequent in their visits now.

Just found a gem to add to this.
The Grey Thrush by C J Dennis

SINGING all the summer long
Matin hymn and evensong,
Fluting freely thro' the noonday's drowsy hush;
Pouring from my leafy bow'r
Benedictions every hour,
I am the friend of all the world. Grey Thrush.
Mine no monotonic lay
Harping all the livelong day
On a single melody, however sweet;
But, with many a turn and twist,
I, the bushland's soloist,
Offer all my varied repertoire complete.
Happiest songster of them all,
Who can hear my joyous call
Yet find no echoing gladness in his heart?
Madrigal and lullaby,
Chant and canticle sing I;
Every mood l melodize with careless art.
Singing all the summer long
Matin hymn, and vesper song,
Fluting freely thro' the noonday's drowsy hush;
In my drab habiliment
Peace I sing, and glad content,
I'm the bushland's master melodist, Grey Thrush.
The Grey Thrush
by C J Dennis (1876-1938)
The Singing Garden (1935) p.71.

More Encounters with Birds

One of my all time(so far) favourite experiences when photographing and videoing birds was on a holiday to Echuca and Moama a few years ago. We stayed in the Moama Carvan Park which was convenient for filming the many different Paddlesteamers passing in front of our cabin on the River Murray.
It was also very close to Horseshoe Lagoon which at the time was a swampland with plenty of water.
It was abounding with birds and the highlight for me was a walk through the trails on the island, formed by the lagoon. as dusk was approaching.
Also some gentle rain was not far off.
I was using my Canon XL1 video camera which worked well in low light but was great for capturing sound also.
I know the XL1 is now superseded by other technology, but there has never been a more stylish and practical video camera in my opinion except for its 1 or 2 later upgrades.
The noise of the frogs as the rain fell in some parts was amazing.
I was standing still, more recording the sounds of frogs than doing anything else, when I sensed a bird fly past and land on a tree branch nearby.
It had been very quiet in this, much as owls make no sound in flight.
I soon realised it was a Kookaburra with his back to me so I started filming him.

After filming a few seconds  he turned his head sideways and there were frog's legs dangling from his beak.
I kept filming just transfixed by the cycle of nature in front of me.
Eventually I moved on but he would have sat here for some time digesting his meal after he had eaten.
Below is that film sequence.

I have had some other encounters with Kookaburras and I will post another clip later of one in Melrose in the Southern FlindersRanges of South Australia.