December (2019) delights

Closing out another wonderfully fulfilling year of photgraphing birds. What a joy it is!

Not too much commentary here, I'll let the images do the talking for themselves and just be sure to identify the birds (but not every one where there may be a sequence. Remember, if you click on a photo you will open a slide show of just the pictures and you can view them full screen by default.

Thanks for joining me on my journey 👏

Pelican in glide flight

A pelican flock keeping an eye on the silver gulls!

A dusky moorhen

A eurasian coot

The next three photos were a treat to be able to get so close to the royal spoonbill, The breeding plummage (as head-dress) is in full view, as are teh red and yellow eye "make-up". The wonderful bill indentations also. I share two standing perspectives and one feeding action.

I had to include these two from my review simply because they offer a sense of the beautiful environment (this is the glades behind Byron at ByronResort). They both "have wings" too ... there is a bee hovering over the flower in the first one; the second one has a blue dragon fly hovering over one of the buds - your challenge to find it !).

The majesty of an egret!

Quite the weapon at the end of those sharp eyes!

Always on the lookout ...

Laughing kookaburra peeking ...

Watching intently.

Back to the most common of them all. A fine series of portraits here, again amply demonstrating the sublime palette of the rainbow lorikeet. We are so fortunate to have such gorgeous settings in our yard.

A humble squeaker (noisy miner) competing for nectar.

Little wattlebird in the same competition!

One final set of portraits of birds enjoying our front garden birdbath. This time the noisy friarbird. A single one that emboldened another to try it out too!

And a final image of a feather left behind ... a metaphor for the year that was 2019, now "left behind" but holding so many memories to build on in 2020. I look forward to you sharing my Bird Photo Gallery as it continues to be curated.

A visit to Adelaide

We are fortunate to have seven beautiful and full-on grandchildren. They are spread around the place: Norfolk in the UK, Adelaide and Casino in Australia. This visit was not long after the birth of number #3 (Felix) in Adelaide, which meant a catch up with mum & dad and Violet and Eliza too. How quickly they grow up!

So, just as the 2016 visit to Norfolk set me on this path proper, this visit to Adelaide offered a renewed awareness of birds in a very different urban environment. You will see in coming posts also, that Casino has much to offer when another set of grandchildren are visited in that more rural setting. This set of photos was captured during a visit to a very urban nature reserve: Oaklands Wetland Reserve, in the southern suburb of Warradale. You will notice a couple of "new" sightings, but also that birds from our local environment are also there 😉.

Australasian grebe

Eurasian coot

Royal spoonbill

I thought I would have a go at videoing this Royal spoonbill to capture the hoovering, or vacuuming action they use for foraging. Just 15 secs, but interesting to check out another feature of my camera deserving of more attention perhaps for demonstrating the behaviours of some of the birds?? Something for me to ponder and experiment with in time.

Purple swamphen

Pacific black duck resting

Blue Skimmer dragonfly ... come on ... it has wings!

Little pied cormorant

Yep ... also wings ... honey bees.

Pacific black duck showing off!

Australian wood duck

The ubiquitous rainbow lorikeet