Eastern Beach

Nesting Masked Lapwings

September 2, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Another day, another post about Eastern Beach. The goal for day was to photograph the bats and then try and get some of the spinebills at the botanical gardens. The radar looked promising and we thought we had a couple of hours up our sleeves.

Ha. As usual, we didn’t really make it past Eastern Beach. It turned out accidentally well. The lighting was in our favour and we ran into a photography friend from twitter. The birds weren’t as numerous as I often see but we had a good photography day nonetheless.

One of the first things I saw was a cormorant diving for fish. It wasn’t having much luck so I walked a bit further. Glenn stayed to photograph the grebe. I didn’t see why – it wasn’t really doing anything. Then I looked at the photos.

Oh Glenn Hewett, I love you! He managed to capture pretty clear photos of them eating. If you look you can see some kind of growth on its face. Look at the water splash detail in the second photo!

Alas, we didn’t have much luck with gannet photos. There was one flying really low over us but Glenn struggled to focus. The photos from the smaller lens turned out crap. I think I may have gotten Glenn to agree to another lens but I’ll ask again tomorrow.

Masked Lapwings

We were walking up a grassy hill when I heard a lot of squawking. I looked ahead and saw a masked lapwing that was staying pretty till.

“Glenn, walk around. I think there is a nest up ahead.”

Unfortunately Glenn thought I was talking about a tree and moved in the direction towards the pair. Well, they didn’t like that! One started swooping Glenn while he tried to walk away. He snapped a couple of photos – including one of the eggs, like I asked, before walking away. I did start telling him about the bird photography ethics but it wasn’t necessary. He understood, it was an accident. I’ve never seen them nesting before, I’ve read that they do it in crazy places. It was exciting. I kinda want to return when there are babies. I would love to get a photograph of them with little legs under their wings. From a distance, of course.

Other animals:

As usual, I wandered a along the beach to see what animals I could see. I’m becoming obsessed. I did find two jellyfish. These were quite small and have been cropped closely. I’m not even 100% sure they are jelly fish. They may be the lions mane one I saw elsewhere?

Finally, a starfish that looked like it had seen better days.

I’m going to be stepping back from adventuring for a bit. I’ll still focus on nature but not as much. I’ll wait until next year to look for some species and revisit some locations. It’s becoming less about helping me and more about stressing me out. I’m struggling with my minimal workload and family commitments. So I’ll step back, focus on work, and bird when I have more funds and energy. Huzzah!

Testing out the new lens at Eastern Beach

September 1, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Guess what? WE HAVE A NEW LENS FOR GLENNS CAMERA!

We’ve been having trouble with our sigma lens for some time. I don’t know whether it was us, or a fault, but it just wasn’t doing a good job. It struggled with birds in flight, I never had any chance. If the bird was still then you just had to cross your fingers and hope you got a good one.

In July, we went to Werribee Treatment Plant and I was able to test out a friends lens. It was fast! The quality was clear. And it was affordable!

When cropped, the image were superior to the Sigma photos. I made the decision then to buy one as soon as possible.

Glenn, of course, needs more time then me to make a decision. Eventually, it was Thursday of last week. I was at the Post Office, picking up the lens. Shortly after, I was at the beach testing it out.

Just using this welcome swallow image to have a break in the story 😛 As as soon as I got to the beach, my jaw dropped.

ANOTHER DOLPHIN!

Last month, Sethy and I were at Eastern Beach and we saw a dolphin. It was the first one I had seen in years but I didn’t have a camera on me at the time. I made the best of a bad situation.

This time, I RUSHED to get the new lens out of its box and out of the camera. I ran, wheezing, after the dolphin fast as I could. It was rather difficult as I was half way through a cold and had been struggling to breath.

I made it onto the pier. It was at a distance, but I was confident I could get one or two clear snaps. I fired off about 30. Then I remembered.

I hadn’t put the memory card in the camera. When I got there, my focus was more on finding a loo (which I found later.)

Oops!

It was a hilarious but fascinating experience. The weather was worse then the last time I saw the dolphin but there was maybe 1-2 gannets diving around it.

I was disappointed but also too sick to really care. After I had called Sethy and Glenn (in that order), I got on with the very difficult task of testing out the lens.

It does focus quickly, which is a major plus. Glenn and I were starting to detest the other lens. I struggled to get it to focus where I wanted to. That is understandable as it was the first time using it and I may have been hyperventilating over a dolphin. I took the above photos to try and get a shot of it singing, but also to show the detail of it’s feathers and markings.

It’s a beautiful bird. Glenn enjoys getting photos of them. I’ll try and see how I can help him get even better ones!

The next goal was to try testing it on the gannets. I assumed there would be more, given the weather. There was one that was flying over so I tried shooting it.

The lens focused rather quickly but, as you’ll see, only one part of the bird was super sharp. That is understandable as it was a test run and I wasn’t refocusing as the bird was moving. Perhaps it would be easier if I hadn’t zoomed in so close?

There were times when I was lucky and got a pretty sharp image of the bird.

It did lead to some interest blurred shots and I’d love to photograph it.

From a distance though it seemed to get a bird in focus, and really crisp detail.

It struggled a bit when I moved quickly from the bird in flight to getting a shot of this cormorant eating. Compeltely understandable as I moved ‘whoooosh!’ rather quickly. There was no way in heck the previous camera could have focused this quickly. The other photos didn’t work out.

This is awesome. It means Glenn and I can sit down and just watch birds in the way, and be confident we can get super clear shots of them diving and eating. Glenn has the lens right now. 🙁 I want to test it again.

It did a really clear shot of this welcome swallow singing, something we wouldn’t have been able to get before. We could have with the kit lenses but not this good.

Only took this because it is the type of shot that Glenn loves.

This is the bird as it was about to dive. The lens struggled with these type of shots, as the bird was a fair distance away and the weather was horrid.

But then you look at the clarity of the shots of the birds once they have resurfaced. DAMN! WOW. What the?

Look at the water ripples spreading from the bird.

A cormorant looking at us funny.

Random photo while I was phoning Glenn.

Overall:

The lens is a Canon EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS. I was pretty impressed with it. It makes life so much more convenient for us. Before, we could have to take the two kit lenses plus the zoom. Now we just have to take one.

It is about $400 less then the Sigma. I don’t think that was necessarily a bad purchase, as it probably would still come in handy in some situations. We know we have a decent chance of getting the shot now. It means we can be so much more confident. And it can work in a variety of photography situations. We’re pretty stoked.

Glenns friend checked it out and was impressed, saying it was sharp. I don’t know if the other lenses were as sharp in comparison.

Now to convince him to upgrade his Canon body! The 600D has been brilliant, but a friend lent him a much better one and it performed magnificently in low light situations. I’d love for Glenn to get one sooner rather then later and see how it impacts on his street photography. He says he wants to get to know the lens on the current body first.

Then there is my selfish desire to get both an underwater camera and a macro lens 😛 I want to catch different types of wildlife on film. I think we’ll focus on Glenns stuff at first, at least. The plan WAS to get back into the hiking 🙂

Dolphin at Eastern Beach!

August 29, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Today, Sethy and I were at Eastern Beach. We were mostly in town to spend his birthday money. The weather was shit so I decided to leave my camera bag in the car. The idea was sneak down to the beach during a break in the weather, walk the promenade, and then go home.

The day dragged on. We walked around. Got caught in rain. Played on the playground. Got caught in rain. There was at least two gannets flying around.

We were about to leave when I saw about 4 gannets flying low over the water. It seemed like one was diving but I didn’t see the bird come up again. Then I realized. The splash was coming from a dolphin!

I know they sometimes come into the bay but I rarely see them. It was amazing. It was the first dolphin Seth had ever seen.

The gannets were following the dolphin. They were flying really low over the water and just diving. They were diving from about 2 meters above. At one point there was at least 8. At this point, I really really wanted the camera because the odds would have meant that I’d capture at least one of the gannets eating. It would have been a struggle in that weather anyway.

The above video is a youtube clip of various snippets of the iphone footage I took. After youtubing other dolphins in the bay, I’ve noticed that is is common for gannets to follow them. It amazes me how much there is to learn about their behaviour.

Need to find more gannets. They are fast becoming my favourite species.

Want to learn more about the relationship between gannets and dolphins? Check out these videos:

NEW JELLYFISH! And Gannets At Eastern Beach

August 28, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Yesterday was Mr Sethys birthday! Naturally, that meant I had to go to the Australian Geographic shop and get him his present. I thought that seeing as I was trekking all the way into town, I may as well check out the bird situation at the beach. I’m always sulking because the birds/wildlife are doing interesting things on the days I’m there with someone else. I can only increase my chances of getting good stuff if I go there more frequently.

Naturally, I got distracted by other things.

I have no idea what the above critter is. I’m assuming jellyfish of some description. I’ve emailed Melbourne Museum about it. I’ve been too nervous to email them about some of my discoveries. Now, I realize that yes, it may be an annoyance to those who answer emails of stuff that is otherwise easy to identify. But, it will be worth it. I figure that ultimately, it will be in the best interests for science if I have accurate identifications of stuff. So many animals and rarities out there go unnoticed because the observer doesn’t understand that what they are seeing is amazing. Some of the photos I get will be useful to science one day. Probably not know. It’s a matter of odds. Eventually I’ll capture something that shows something – a behaviour, plumage variation or so on. Hence why I’m now going to question everything. The digital era will help science so much, especially in the future.

*Edit* I may have written this post over two days hence the OMG! I just got an email back from the museum saying they suspect it is a lions mane jellyfish. I never would have suspected that! I’m going to wait until October, when the expert is back, to confirm but wow. That is so interesting. I did see a picture of a lions mane and dismissed it, because it looked nothing like it. But of course it doesn’t look like it! It would be a young. I’m guessing because it has eight tentacle thingies. Damn, I love science.

I recommend you read 15 Facts About The Lion’s Mane Jellyfish if you want to learn more. It is a really fascinating creature.

I thought it amusing that all of these balls had washed up in the one clear spot. It made me think cheeky thoughts.

This is the same species of sea star I had seen on a previous trip with Sethy. I don’t know if it’s worth noting them, or whether they are a pest. I don’t know anything.

Gannets

I was so incredibly lucky to see the gannets close to shore again. It was brilliant. I’ve been doing reading about gannets and they say that they normally prefer it a lot deeper. So, why do I often see them in the waters of Corio Bay? These guys were flying really low over the esplanade. The waters are maybe 1.5-2m deep. Doesn’t that put them at risk of injury?

I also read that they often swallow the fish before they rise to the surface. This explains why it’s so hard to photograph them eating. I need to find a place where I can see a lot more of them and hope the odds are ever in my favour.

I took so many photos to capture their colouring and behaviour, so I could look at them closely and see what I could learn. I read that gannets can be distinguished by albatrosses because they flap slightly more. You can also tell the local gannet species apart because of the black and white tail feathers. If it was a cape, it would be all black.

Would we occasionally get a cape down here? I’ve never bothered to check.

This was to show just how far the ripple spreads after they dive.

The clumsiness after they dive.

I noticed little white bits in the black parts of their wing. Does this indicate anything?

You can see this even clearer front on.

The first four features under their wings are white and kinda translucent. Any reason for this?

If you look here, it looks like the middle wings are kinda translucent too. Like there are several layers of feathers. There probably is, I’m just curious as whether it means anything.

View from the top. Look at how bright those feathers are!

I am so proud at how the photos turned out. They are considerably clearer then what is normally achievable with that lens. I noticed that the weather seemed to be similar to what I was with Glenn. It was very close to rain and it seemed to be coming from the direction of the You Yangs. That is, pushing the yucky weather to shore.

This trip has raised way more questions then usual. I went to a presentation on terns last week and saw that there was so many subtle things that influence an ID. Gannets aren’t the same, but it has made me question various aspects about them.

Have no idea how to find out the answers to half these questions but hey, I’ll learn eventually. At least I now know what I need to task.

Gannets and Corellas at Eastern Beach

August 6, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

You’ve probably already figured out that Eastern Beach has become my new haunt. There are lots of places on this side of town, and in Melbourne, that I’m keen to explore. However, Eastern Beach is a great place to take either of the boyfriends, knowing that they can happily spend a few hours here and enjoy themselves. There is more going on then at Balyang.

Yesterday, Glenn said he was going to go down to Eastern Park to try and replicate some of my bat photos. I told him that he should probably go to Eastern Beach first. I mostly suggested it because I thought he could learn a lot trying to photograph the grebes and cormorants .

When we got there we were in for a surprise. There was a gannet and it was the closest I’ve ever seen to the shore. I’ve gone to photograph them, what, 10 times now in varying weather? I’d never seen them that close to shore. Perhaps it was the spotty rain but damn I was jealous of Glenn. I had to sit there and watch while he got to have all the fun.

He had the same focusing issues that I did, despite the birds proximity. We still struggled with the medium kit lens. Glenn was clearly frustrated and wasn’t too keen to look at the photos when we got home.

Fortunately, I have the experience to look at the photos on a computer screen before completely wiping off the shoot. The photos aren’t as clear as I’d like but I still think he got some magnificent photos. Many are better then the ones I’ve gotten! I think one of the birds may be a juvenile.

I love gannets and hope to be able to improve my photography of them, as well as find places to get closer photos.

Other birds

There was a definite emphasis on the gannets – mostly due to how close they were! Many other birds were hunkered down and being boring due to unpredictable rain.

I love the below photo of the seagull. Not too fond of the other ones Glenn got – I think they are too generic unless something is particularly interesting about their behaviour.

He did get some awesome photos of the terns, below. I think he could have gotten better ones if he didn’t stop too look at the back of the screen constantly. Something is playing funnybuggers with our camera and we can never tell if the photos are clear or not, so I don’t blame him. He misses out on heaps of opportunities though.

Above is a photo of the tail of the hoary headed grebe during the dive. I really wish Glenn had the patience to explore this theme in photography but don’t blame him, the weather was abysmal.

I really do think I’ve taught him enough to get good bird photography here. He has always been skilled but never noticed a lot of the stuff about birds. He’s at the zoo today and commented that “I never would have known all these bird names if not for you!”

I’m trying to teach him how to watch the behaviour so he knows how to predict what will happen next. I want him to learn how to move quickly when an opportunity presents itself and also how to be patient to wait for all the elements of a photo to line up. I believe these skills would really serve him well in street photography.

And he is learning. I love it.

Corella Nesting Behaviour

We were about to leave when I looked up. “Glenn! There’s two corellas up there!” We watched them for a little bit when we realized that they were displaying the same type of nesting behavior that we saw at Balyang recently. I don’t know whether this behaviour is specific to cockatoos/parrots or even birds of the cacatua genus.

We were there for about 15 minutes and couldn’t get any photos of the corella with bits of the tree in its mouth. I’m still impressed with the photos Glenn got. It was fascinating to see.

Still not overly interested in photographing white cockatoos but still, it was fun.