As I post this, the first month of 2021 is almost done! Time to make a concerted effort to catch up my blogging for 2019 and 2020, so expect a fairly rapid succession of posts as I endevour to achieve this aim.
Why?
Something about chronology I guess! A sense that I have catalogued highlights of my photographic journey with my camera until the end of 2020. Given my "early" retirement near the end of that year and the passing of Xmas for that same year, I also decided to treat myself to an upgrade from my FZ200 to the FZ300. Seems I have worked the FZ200 shutter plenty and I feel comfortable with flexibility and ease of use of this fixed lens camera for my bird photography. Putting together this blog has afforded me a sense a satisfaction with the quality of photos I am capturing ... I check enough photographic sites to have littel doubt they could be a whole lot better with far better equipment. However, the enjoyment and ease of that enjoyment from the lightweight, simple and elegant Panasonic equipment I have chosen has been ample reward. If I can achieve something slightly improved on the last five years from my upgrade over the next few years I am sure to be well pleased 😊.
So, to a few more selections from March 2019, this time from some time spent rambling around Ballina during a few nights stay at the Ramada on the river which was cashing in a Xmas gift.
We begin with a cute welcome swallow curiously wondering what I was up to. They were plentiful on and around the tables and chairs resting in wind sheltered, sun-soaked balconies of the resort. This one has its head well tilted to the right and its wings partially spread to saok up some of the sun's energy before taking off to grace the air again as swallows do!
Continuing the theme of showing off the flexibility of the avian neck, this next photo of a darter demonstrates it at the extreme! This was on the rocks of the wall at the western entrance to the small adjoining boat harbour. Also enjoying the energy and drying power provided by the sun, the fascination for me was the appearance of the neck being twice twisted ("wrung-out!") as it peered across the water to it's right. Not quite eyes in the back of your head, but next best thing!
Same darter, same location, and entirely serendipitously I was clicking when it decided to have a big word with me 😀 ... amazing transformation in profile with the neck not twisted and the beak open; though it still looks like a fearsome weapon not to be pecked or speared with!
Very near the same spot as above, this pair of curious silver gulls offered an excellent glimpse of the sheen these birds can have. The white of their necks and breasts merge seamlessly with the soft pastel grey of thier wings. This contrasts with the sharper black and white tail feathers and certainly the red beaks. The white eyes are glassy and appear almost "ghostly" set in the thin red rims. Really very striking ... and so much less annoying when they are not disrupting your picnic!
The next collage is presented to offer a glimpse of the changing environment of the birds viewed from our south west facing balcony. Basically the same view as two progressive stages of sunset and then (relatively) early the next morning. Keen eyes may notice the first and third photos of the collage are similar panoramas, while the second zoomed in on the right hand side of the (wider) sand bank shown in those. I took the morning one because when I looked out, it struck me how similar the tide level was and so the contrast was notable (to me) 😉.
The final two photos for this post offer glimpses of the way the river accommodates different birds in different ways. The first one is a small flock of silver gulls floating effortlessly on the river in an early morning gentle breeze and simply drifting with the tide. Sedate ... again, offering a glimpse totally belying their nuisance when you are trying to eat nearby! The second photo (the final one of this post) shows a much larger flock of little pied cormorants preening on the sandbank as it slowly disappears with the incoming tide. So good to capture a reasonable sized flock.
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