Saturday, May 12, 2018

Photos 21 - 30


Australian pelican: Graceful in motion on the water … streamlined … reflection ahead of the wake and a stare to stop you in your tracks J.



Superb fairy wren: Makes the reason for “superb” more obvious than we usually notice; so many shades of blue to catch your eye … again, be still … listen to the wind … watch the feathers and see them still.



Superb fairy wren (with dinner): Not until you check later do you see the green grub … it makes you notice all the colours that surround us and how distracting the bright ones are … then they swoop!



Eastern spinebill: A sense of lightness and agility to leverage the spine bill to feed on the nectar. Much more easily heard first … then you notice the movement … then if you’re lucky, the flower too J.



Galah: Even a humble galah can look gorgeous. We all have to eat, but we don’t have to share and there’s a sharp eye making sure.



Chestnut-breasted mannikins: A walk along beside Emigrant Creek, the road is quiet, the birds are curious … they pop up to see who’s there … be still … watch, let them settle, contrasting colours … watch the grass dip over as they balance … click … what a world we let pass us by.



Eastern rosella: Late afternoon … you see the flash of colour … you hear the call … there! Take your time … its feeding time … the gorgeous pastel hues. Must the sun go down?



Azure kingfisher: No … not a pity about the eye because it adds to the mystique of it’s quest … a translucent beak tip, red legs and feet, rusty breast feathers and the powerful azure head and wings … this one you see dive and fly … and then you’re transfixed until it’s ready to pass you by J.



Rainbow lorikeet: Ruffled after a rainy day as the late afternoon sun shines through. A coat of magnificent contrasting colours that needs no description.



Superb fairy wren (family): Middle of the day … a distinctive chitter chatter, lots of chitter chatter … no one else around … watching with my ears, hearing with my eyes … there are four! Hi there … thanks for checking me out and looking at the birdie J.

Photos 11 - 20


Black-shouldered kite: The late afternoon sun captures the sharpness of the vision and the strength of the beak. The sense of power and authority befits the positon atop a tree surveying it’s realm … and right beside a road too.



Red-browed finch: So tiny, yet so bright and able to blend so well. Way down among the ribwort plantain flower heads provide a useful contextual sense of scale. The lightness is evident by the still vertical stem the bird is clutching.



Eastern rosella: This was a fantastic find amid the variegated foliage of a camphor-laurel. The cheeky curious look is as priceless as the vivid plumage. Up close and personal in nature … being there, listening, seeing.



Black-necked stork: About to drive off … whoa there, what’s that standing tall over the other side? Australia’s only stork and on the endangered list in NSW. Hard to figure out what is “black” about that neck J, but quite the handsome creature.



Royal spoonbill: A breeding pair in the late afternoon sun grazing for dinner. Their distinctive red forehead and yellow eyebrow are vivid atop the heavily pitted black spoons J.



Laughing kookaburra: No gum tree, but a very keen eye across the (home) garden in the early morning sun. Clearly enjoys digging in the red soil J.



Female variegated fairy wren: The value of being patient and taking time to watch flight patterns. The components for the nest were spotted in flight, so seeing where it headed located the nest … found a tree and waited … and was fortunate to catch the careful scan outside before the next take-off J.



White-breasted woodswallow: They move like a swallow, but they look very different … dusky grey and snow white and heavily “mascaraed” eyes. Easy to spot and beautiful to view.



Red-backed fairy wren: Walking down a dirt track near the airport … you hear them … slow down … listen … then you notice the flash of colour, the stark contrast with the foliage … be still and they will be too. Then they’re gone L.



Rainbow lorikeet: If you do not see them you can certainly hear them! The kamikaze of the sky with rich rainbow hues in rain or shine. A wonderful subject.

Friday, May 11, 2018

Photos 1 - 10


Masked lapwing: This shot was taken on my birthday while I REALLY was just experimenting with auto settings on my brand new camera. The surprise was seeing plovers (masked lapwings) on the beach J.




Striated heronI had been watching this heron being harassed by pee-wees (magpie larks) and finally it settled on this mangrove branch … the best bit was the next shot … 



Striated heron: Every now and again you are very fortunate J. This is absolutely not touched up in any way (& no electric shock applied) … I just happened to click my shutter when a puff of wind blew across the water from behind the heron – same bird, same spot as the last photo & no more harassment!



White-faced heron: Love to just do what the heron is doing … wait and watch and notice movement to catch … the heron, however, is far more graceful and far quicker to react! Also looks much better than me in the mirror J.



Welcome swallow: Could not believe a swallow possessed such beautiful colours. This day I learned by taking time to observe the flight patterns, on windy days they like to rest on the sheltered side (leeward) after their airborne feasts on bugs. This one has a bib to catch any morsels J.



Bush-stone curlew: Had the good fortune to be called to a “rescue” of this curlew in the University Plaza. Managed to capture a view while being carefully checked out through a gap in a hedge. Wonderful feather textures and translucent eye. Turned out to be a false rescue … he was just fine, if a little lost.



Little corella: Driving along the river bank to South Ballina this tree by the road was full of corellas taking a rest. The light was fantastic clearly contrasting the pastels of the bird with the stronger tones of the tree and clear blue sky. Nature at her best J.



Osprey: Nature at her best again … a disdainful look from on high making sure I was no threat J. A reminder that we are mere humans who need to respect our place because “you can’t do this!” The contrast of the fluffy cloud and clear blue sky enhances the sense of updraft & gracefulness of flight.



Sacred kingfisher: Mr Reliable … often noticed in flight and watching patiently in the mangroves by the wall for any movement below. The shades through turquoise and buff breast feathers are finery to behold … here a soft sunlight enhances with iridescence.

Red-browed finch: What an end to another wonderful sojourn at Eltham Pantry. A pair from a flock feasting on pecan shells in a bin of caught with a watchful pose in afternoon light. The vibrancy of their plumage shines.


2017 Exhibition

This post first presents my Exhibition statement and second, some photos of the exhibition space to provide a context for the exhibition (16 - 27 October, 2017).

My Birds on Canvas Exhibition statement:

Discovering the beauty and serenity of photographing birds.

I had the pleasure of being sedentary for 3 months in Norfolk, UK during February-May 2016. My wife and I were visiting for the birth of a first granddaughter for one of our daughters, the fourth of our granddaughters and sixth of our grandchildren. So among the joys and challenges of such an event, it was a rare opportunity for an extended break in a different environment to develop my skills with my camera as I explored Norfolk and the few other places in the UK to which we ventured.
 For my birthday in 2015 I purchased my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200 digital bridge camera. I had previously been more than content with various point and shoot cameras which had served us well in capturing memories of life as it was lived and enjoyed. As talk of retirement had begun, the apparent need for interests other than work became a theme of conversation. Photography and canoeing were often mentioned, along with spending time between kids and grand-kids and, well, whatever it was that recently colleagues seemed to be doing that made them carry a permanent smile with them J.
So, I had 3 months in Norfolk with my camera. I had the luxury of time and flat county with an approx. 40 mile radius bordered on the north and east by the North Sea. We were based in and near Norwich city by some lakes amid farmland. Winter was nearing spring in an environment where deciduous equated to seeing nature naked and begin to reclothe herself. So, I was looking forward to exploring in luxury of the time I had with the very good camera I had in my hands.
So, to birds …
My son-in law’s father, Sean, invited me to go bird-watching on 23 March around Cley Marshes on the north coast. It was an overcast, still, bleak afternoon. The walk around the marshes and along the stony beach being lapped by a very passive North Sea, was however, fascinating for the range of birdlife observed. This was the first of several such excursions, alone and in company, around the many reserves of Norfolk and Suffolk that fostered my interest in photographing birds in their natural environments.
One other pivotal moment for me was a day near the end of our 3 months wandering RSPB MInsmere (Suffolk) for 5 hours with Sean and his long-time friend and birdwatcher extraordinaire, Geoffrey. Geoffrey has been reporting his bird sighting monthly since in 1959! That 5 hours was quite the education. The photos below offer a sense of my gratitude and the ease with which one easily feels immersed in the moment and space … a reflection of where it all began for me …
This is Sean (left) and Geoffrey scanning at one point across RSPB Minsmere.


The next two encapsulate for me the sense of satisfaction and beauty you get to behold when you take the time to “tread lightly, listen with your eyes and watch with your ears” J … reed warblers are very easy hear but very secretive about emerging from the reeds. You hear them easily, and with enough patience may be rewarded with a flash of movement to track … the first one is on a bullrush head amidst the extensive reed beds at RSPB Minsmere; the second is in the reeds on the south side of the Lake at Blickling Estate (Norfolk) the day before our 3 months was up.



So from these inspirations I have been far more aware of, and so noticed far more of the wondrous range of birds we have on our Far North coast doorstep (with a single exception from the Adelaide Hills) … just because I have taken a bit more time to stop and notice what is here. I hope you enjoy the sample J




Set out below are several photos presented to offer a sense of the exhibition space. The first two show the hanging "wall" standing down the centre of the ground floor atrium space. On either side of the wall are the photos exhibited on canvas. Most were 30 x 30 (cm), some 30 x 20 (cm) and one was 30 x 40 (cm). At the top of the second photo, and on the third photo you can obtain a sense of scale for the fantastic digital version of the photos (described below) that was prepared to complement the photo canvases.




The photo above provides a sense of scale for the digital version which was displayed on a similar screen at the Gold Coast (GC) campus library - the GC screen is the same size but the rectangle is "on its side" offering a third perspective 😊. Each canvas had a description (see photo pages) as well as some details of the camera settings, date the photo was taken, and location co-ordinates on a sticky label for the viewers (see bottom left of photo below). The digital version simply presented this same information on the very large screen in a much more visually stunning manner:

  • top third used the co-ordinates with Google Earth to zoom between locations;
  • middle third is the original digital photo; and
  • bottom third shows other details as though (literally) written in a field notepad.
Each photo displayed moved to the next every 15 seconds; simultaneously the location zoomed out and back in to the next and the notepad changed to the next page! There was also a birdsong soundtrack (not specific sounds for these birds) played subtly in the background to add to the sensory experience. Thank you Jeremy Austin for your vision & expertise!




This final photo shows the Bird on Canvas welcome for patrons entering from the Plaza end of the SCU Learning Space building. My thanks to Libby Pownall and other Library staff for their enthusiastic hosting of the exhibition.






A (late) beginning




I was watching an episode of Gardening Australia tonight and they had a feature on a WA lady who takes pictures of insects around Bunbury. She publishes (some of) them on The Insect Diary.  Turned out to be on Blogger ... and there are some wonderful entries in her diary!

So, I have maintained several blogs for (some of) our trips over recent years. And I have been contemplating for some time how I might best feature some of my accumulating bird photos online. While I have investigated setting up a dedicated website, maintaining it is more than I care to take on presently. So, viewing The Insect Diary provided a simple solution to try that was hiding in plain sight ... rather like many birds I have managed to photograph; and even more who have eluded my lens despite being in plain sight!

So here we go ...

I will offer as my first sharing the photos from my first (and only) exhibition in the SCU Learning Centre, Lismore campus during Bird Week, in October 2017.


The two pictures of a sacred kingfisher on this first page were taken in 2015 on one of my first outings with my current camera (Lumix FZ200). It was close to the breaking waves on the surf-side (Main Beach) of the north wall at Ballina.