"In quest of Bower Birds"- Norman Chaffer, A Bird Photography Pioneer

"Loons" and "Secret Visions" two book reviews.

Are you a Bird Photographer or Bird Artist? What do you like the most?

Photowalk at the Local Wetlands

We are fortunate to live only a short drive from a local wetlands.
A few years back it was an open area where our kids and others had driving lessons.
Now it is a beautiful wetlands and park.
During the pandemic and social isolation it is ok to get out and exercise as long as we keep our distances correct.
So this afternoon I went there for a walk and took a few pics.

This is a juvenile Nankeen Night Heron seen today 15/4/20 at another local nearby wetland.

Spring is here.

Spring is here. Well if you observe the birds and not the actual date.
Spotted one of my favourite birds sitting on a nest already in our neighborhood the other day.
We call them Murray Magpies but also known as Mudlarks or Peewees.
Their nest is held together with mud so I guess the fact there has been lots of rain in Adelaide recently has meant building material has been plentiful.

The Walk Up method of Bird Photography

Over the years I have done lots of bird photography.
Never with real expensive cameras or real expensive lenses.
I have also never sat in a bird hide all day to capture images.

My approach has been mainly to shoot as opportunity arises.

This means having a camera ready to shoot.

I have adopted an approach as under.

1. Spot your bird(s)

2. Look for cover to approach from un-noticed.

3. Preset your camera so you can re act quickly.

4. Walk slowly towards your subject taking pictures from furtherest distance and progressively
    as you get closer.

5. Watch for changes in direction of birds head and pleasing poses.

6. Aim to try to fill the frame with the bird.

7. If you sense the bird is about to take flight get ready to capture a sequence of flight shots.

8. If your bird is fairly passive and quite tame take time to quickly make any necessary camera adjustments.

9. You could try using a tripod or monopod but this will be difficult.

10. With Australian Emus you can actually attract them in close to you and get many great shots.
 They are very curious and will come form a long way off to investigate if you are sitting in a  
 stationary car and slowly waving say a red jersey out of the window.

The camera, a Nikon D60 was not up to getting this shot but nailed the next one.

These emus came from the horizon you can see in the background right up to our staitonary car.

Egret captured at Dix's Park Paringa,South Australia, Emus at Calperum Station near Renmark.

Making your Garden Bird Friendly

In Australia we are blessed to have an incredible range of native birds and some introduced species.
Many of our birds are attracted to our backyards because of our native shrubs and trees and also exotic species of plants and flowers.
We have a wonderful lot of birds come into our place every day in fact many breed here.
This is what we do, and so can you, to make your place a bird friendly place.
South Australia is Australia's hottest and driest state so water is a big priority.
We have 4 Birdbaths on our property.
Birds need to drink and they also bathe in our birdbaths and also sometimes just seem to enjoy a splash around.
 Our property  is just an average half acre house block in suburban Adelaide.
We regularly put out old bread and roll scraps every morning for our resident birds.
If I happen to sleep in a couple of spotted turtle doves walk towards our back door to let us know they are waiting.
One day we had 2 doves, a couple of crested pigeons and a handful of sparrows all approaching the back door.
Also during the hot weather we often put a garden hose sprinkler into some of our trees where the birds like to have a wet leaf bath.
We have  about 11 species come in on a regular basis.
It's a great education to have our young grandchildren giving out the bread and observing the birds.
Having lots of flowering shrubs and large shade trees is also a great habitat for the birds.
We have 3 cats. They used to catch birds but not anymore.
Two of them are a bit old and slow and the younger one seems to have learned we don't appreciate his hunting skills.
The main problems for the birds are a visit from a collared sparrow hawk, which will swiftly grab a dove or a smaller bird, or crows, which steal eggs.
There are owls here also but rarely seen in the daytime.
We deliberately leave a few tomato stakes and an old shovel standing in the garden so the birds can perch and observe.
They do like to sit on the clothesline too which can be annoying if you have items subjected to their bombs.
So why don't you see what you can do at your place.
Might I suggest you clink on the label below called "birds in our backyard".
It will take you to many other posts and pics on birds.

Canberra April 2015

We have just returned from a week long holiday visiting relatives in Canberra,ACT.

We hired an eight seater van (Kia Carnival) and headed off on our great eastern road trip from South Australia.

It was great to take some of our rellies on tours around Canberra.

We visited the Canberra Zoo which was good but because it was a cold and windy day the animals were mostly keeping out of the cold.

We also visited the Aboretum, Tidbinbilla Space Tracling Staion,Tidbinbilla Wildlife Reserve and a plant nursery and general touring of the suburbs.

We took the long way home staying in Beechworth,Moama and Pinnaroo on consecutive nights.

Here are a few pics from our Canberra holiday.

White Lion Canberra Zoo

Little Penguin Canberra Zoo

Mandarin Duck Canberra Zoo

Tree Kangaroo Canberra Zoo

Canberra Zoo Aquarium

Crimson Rosellas

From Telstra Tower Black Mountain

From Telstra Tower Black Mountain

Eastern Spinebill Canberra Botanical Gardens

Eastern Spinebill Canberra Botanical Gardens

From Telstra Tower Black Mountain

From Telstra Tower Black Mountain

From Telstra Tower Black Mountain

From Telstra Tower Black Mountain

Urban Kangaroos

Urban Kangaroo

Urban Kangaroo

Plant Nursery

Plant Nursery

Plant Nursery

View on Lake Burley Griffin

Tracking Dish Tidbinbilla

Blue Wren Tidbinbilla

Musk Duck Tidbinbilla

Black Swan Tidbinbilla

Pied Cormorant Tidbinbilla

Rainbow Lorikeets Federation Square Aviary Canberra

Crimson Rosella

Bottlebrush

Urban Kangaroos

Blue Wren Tidbinbilla

Tidbinbilla Sanctuary

Tidbinbilla Sanctuary

Wallaby Tidbinbilla

Rainbow Lorikeet