Glenn hours at work have changed. By the time it gets to his weekend, he’s exhausted. Last Monday, I told him he should come with me to Buckley Falls. I had visited there the week before and noticed that there were a lot of fairy wrens there.
Long story, but Glenn has been trying to get the elusive shot of a fairy wren. They move so quickly that it is hard to get a clear shot. I was sitting there being taunted by the other birds that were hiding on me so I decided to call Glenn.
“They are teasing me. Oh, how they vex me! By the way, you should come here. Reed warblers too, if you can find the ****ers”. I’ll be writing about that trip shortly.
He was hesitant about going but was feeling better by the afternoon. We caught the taxi there and he was immediately gripped. He didn’t know where to go. Wrens everywhere! I haven’t gone through the photos yet because, well, he takes so many photos and it should be his job.
I did hear this little guy with a beautiful call though. I wasn’t sure if it was a bird I had seen before. I got home and youtubed the sound. Yep, definitely a grey strike thrush. I saw another one of them near Fyansford. I know they are generic but I don’t find them much around home.
We walked closer to the falls. Glenn got distracted by a great egret and a heron. He sat down on the rocks for about half an hour to get photos. It was difficult as people kept on walking past and scaring it away. An older man even walked past Glenn to get closer to the bird. Which is fair enough, but I felt for Glenn. He got some interesting photos. A friend in a FB bird group got brilliant photos of one eating an eel though – and his camera isn’t even a DSLR! We really need to investigate the lens situation.
Another FB friend observed a night heron there. Even though it’s a taxi ride away, I’m thinking I have to visit here more and suss out the birdlife. I’ll have to budget for taxis.
We got to Fyansford and saw some interesting birds overhead. Well, I did. I assumed they were just straw necked ibises, as they were pretty far away. Once I got home I realized that they were pelicans! I should have told Glenn and gotten some photos with the zoom lens of doom. Oh well.
I noticed this nest that looked like it belonged to a crow. Couldn’t get any better photos, but was an interesting find.
Sacred Kingfisher
Glenn was on a bridge. I was about to cross it when I heard a call that sounded different. I walked slowly so as not to scare the bird away. I was standing Glenn and looking at the bird that had the interesting call.
“Oh Glenn. I’ve been looking for a kingfisher for ages. You’re my good luck charm.”
He was snapping away a lot of photos while asking further questions about kingfishers – ones that I were unable to answer. I’ve only been back into birding for a year!
We got some interesting and clear shots. Well, Glenn did. I was too busy rambling about how happy I was and how life now made sense.
Birdwatching can trigger my anxiety but often, the payoff can be so worth it. This day was worth the times I’ve been stuck on a train crying because I wasn’t coping. It was worth the migraines and self doubt, and feeling so depressed because I can’t even leave the house to bird. It was so beautiful. People had mentioned seeing them along there but I didn’t think I’d be so lucky.
The sucky-eater
I saw flashes of yellow in a tree so snapped away, hoping that it would prove to be a stupid shrike tit. I ended up submitting these photos to a bird identification site. One of the photos was definitely a white plumed honey eater, a bird that I had seen on multiple occasions. I couldn’t figure out what the bird below was though. Maybe that shrike tit?
After lots of back and forth, I realized that this was the HONEYEATERS BUTT. It looks like a beak and head but no. You can clearly see the leg.
I felt like an idiot but hey, I learned a lot!
We ended up catching a taxi back from Fyansford. Glenn was boring and didn’t want to explore further. We were walking towards the hotel when I saw a bird of prey. I grabbed the camera off him – he wouldn’t have had time to find it. I had seconds to get a photo that would capture enough detail. And it worked! It wasn’t perfectly clear, but was clear enough for me to learn that the bird was a black kite.
Definitely want to return to Fyansford and explore the common. I want that area to be as familiar as Balyang Sanctuary is. It may be difficult if I end up moving before the end of the year. I don’t want to move from this area, the wildlife is magnificent. My nephew and I were walking back from Balyang and saw two different species of possum. In suburban Geelong! That would never have happened in Corio.
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Glenn and I are are getting increasingly frustrated with the Sigma lens. I’ve been looking at the quality of the photos from other people in the photography group. They tend to have lenses that cost 8-20k. I’m thinking that we stick to this one until we increase our technical understanding and then get a 400m Canon. Not the best option, but is affordable and meant to have much sharper photos. I worry that I’ve led Glenn astray with the sigma purchase but we have gotten some fantastic shots with it. I guess it’s a testament to how much we’ve improved.
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