Eastern Beach

Winter adventuring at eastern beach

July 4, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

On Monday, Sethy and I decided to go on an adventure. He wanted to go further afield but really wanted to find an eastern spinebill. We had found a bell miner at the zoo the weekend before and he was super excited. I decided that we’d go to the botanical gardens and then walk along the beach.

(It is also possible that we were meant to go to Ocean Grove Nature Reserve but he slept in… and I had to make a 7pm showing of Terminator with Glenn. Hey, priorities!)

Botanical Gardens

It is quite possible that knowing the general location to find a bird, and knowing the exact location, are two separate things. I had read that spinebills were found there and had found them at a couple of locations in the wild. I hadn’t watched them closely enough to really know anything about their behaviour though, nor the type of trees they favourite. I found them by accident by looking for the types of plants I guessed they would like. Boy, did that hunch pay off! We got really good looks at them and I was able to get some awesome photos. We stayed there for about 30 minutes.

It was fascinating watching them fly. In some respects, they reminded me of hummingbirds. I’m not sure they hang around the same tree. I’d love to spend hours just photographing them. Would have to research the best settings though.

Limeburners Point

The following three photos were taking while walking to limeburners point – despite someones reluctance!

It was really fascinating to see a seagull actually eat something from the ocean. I’m used to seeing them be scavengers. I’ve also become fascinated about catching photos of birds in the act of eating other animals. My photos in that respect are mediocre and I have a lot to learn. Several people on Facebook have much, much better photos. I still think it’s really interesting.

Sethy was argumentative on the way to the point, but when we got there he was fascinated by both the fish and the birds

I’d love to get more photos of cormorants coming into land and flying. The way they maneuver their body makes for great photos.

Generic pelican. Haven’t seen one in a while.

Saw swans fly past, which was amazing. Don’t often see them out there.

Got some okay photos of crested terns. They were mostly hanging out amongst the rocks at the point.

This photo is mediocre but it was a highlight of the day.

There were a couple of people fishing there. There was a man near us that caught this fish. Sethy asked if I could ask what the fish was.

The man said it was a toadfish and chucked it back. It didn’t quite land in the water and puffed up. He said it was poisonous. Seth REALLY got into it. I think he could quite like fishing and fish.

Egret. Hankering to see an intermediate but it will happen eventually.

One of the reasons I love photographing cormorants.

Gannets

A young gannet. I can’t quite figure out the age, but am guessing it is between 1-2 years.

Most of the gannet photos are generic, but there was two that stood about. Above, when the bird had something in its mouth. For all the diving, there was very little eating. Plus the photo below, where it had its mouth open.

The Promenade

Sethy really got into the promenade. There was a large Asian family who, like us, were looking for fish. It was kind of awesome, we both helped each other out.

This is pair of shoes we found in a tree. Because it was funny.

A garbage bin in the water. Littering, but amusing nonetheless.

The globefish again. The other family loved seeing this. Seth sat down and watched it for quite a while, he was really fascinated by it. We also saw large silver fish but didn’t ID those.

The above are photos of grebes. Would have loved to have gotten more, but these sufficed.

The stingray. Very thankful to the other family for finding this! We were trying to look in two many directions and I was getting hungry.

Another tern.

Was a great twitch and reignited my interest in certain types of bird photography. It was frustrating because I couldn’t do the type of photography I wanted, but it was useful as I learned a lot about the type of birding I want to do in the future.

I’m exhausted. The past few months have been horrid. I’ve been birding as a stress relief but am now struggling to figure out the role birding has in my life. I want to run away and bird but need to tend to stuff like unpacking the house and finding a job. It’s difficult, as I don’t have time to grieve. I know this isn’t about birding but today marks one month since my grandfathers death.

I want to run away but know I have to rebuild my life. This is in the back of my mind everytime I think about birding or adventuring.

Birding makes my soul happy. I like my soul being happy.

Was an interesting twitch though. The movie afterwards sucked.

Bird photography Adventures at Eastern Beach

July 4, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

It was Wednesday morning. I didn’t really feel like unpacking anymore of my stuff and kinda felt in the mood to take some photos. Sethy and I had gone to Eastern Beach a couple of days earlier so I suggested we go there. It seemed a lot easier then battling crowds at the zoo!

Birding and photographing with Sethy can be difficult. Sometimes I want to stay somewhere and photograph something because the water is super still or the lighting is awesome. Alas, a certain six year old wants to look for fish or go to the playground. I promised myself I’d return later to get photographs on my own pace. On Wednesday, I thought that Glenn going would be a good compromise. He’s a brilliant photographer and would have the long lens. I wouldn’t be able to do many photographs but I’d have more control over the shoot.

It may not have worked out as planned, but I still had a pretty fun twitch.

We ended up catching a taxi into town and walking past Cunningham Pier towards Limeburners Point. It wasn’t as active as it was the other day. It was overcast and windy, and most of the birds seemed to be less active. I had wanted to try to replicate some of the hoary headed grebe photos I had taken previous.. but it wasn’t coorporative.

Glenn loved the opportunity to get seagull photography. I’m normally not interesting in getting photos of them because I find there behavior to be boring. Glenns approach is getting a great photo of a boring bird, where as I’m more interesting in getting a bad photo of interesting behaviour. Glenn got some lovely photos of gulls and I’ll be encouraging him to do so in the future but it kinda reminded me why I don’t do birding photography with him 😛 Get too frustrated

There were a couple of gannets flying around, although they weren’t coping too close to shore. I got this photo because I thought the wings were in an interesting position. I have no idea why they will come close one day, and be considerably further away the next. Is there an ideal time of the year to find them? Also, is there a place we can be guaranteed to see them pretty close to shore? (I’m thinking about a nesting location near Portland. It’s going to be something I’ll look into.

Glenn loved this photo and was experimenting with cropping. He ended up doing a similar crop this this, which is something I wouldn’t have considered. This is why I loved sharing these experiences with Glenn, even if it frustrates the heck out of me.

Terns

I haven’t seen terns diving like this for a long time. We struggled to get decent photos of them as they would dive down quickly, but turn upwards to cancel the dive. We missed the shot moreso then got it. Glenn wanted to try it on sports mode but I think we may have gotten better results with manual. It’s definitely something to research. A friend of Glenns recommended that we try manual focus but they are too fast for that. In that respect, I’m very thankful for my bird photography community.

We did manage to get some very clear photos, which is awesome.

The promenade

The tern photos were taken near the promenade. Sadly though, this area wasn’t anywhere near as fruitful as it was for me and Sethy on the previous visit. The water was murky and the grebes were further away. We got some awesome photos of a pacific gull though!

Thankfully I pointed it out, as Glenn struggles to tell them apart from normal seagulls. I was so upset when a pacific gull flew past and he didn’t even get the camera. (He was similar with the gannets). He pointed out later that he was colour blind so couldn’t really see the red tip on the bill. I was all “but there are so many OTHER differences”. He learned that soon enough, though.

Limeburners Point

This area has been awesome for finding birds in the past but today was kinda dull. All the birds were hunkering down. I probably should have looked at the weather before leaving!

We were so lucky though. We found this pacific gull eating a fish head while seagulls were hanging out. Glenn was able to get his ‘money shot’ and got some brilliant photos. I would have loved to have got photos of these guys with Glenns lens, as I interpret stuff differently. So stoked that he was able to enjoy it though.

I also found two pied oystercatchers, something I don’t think I’ve seen there before? The coloring looked a bit weird initially but I think that it is moreso that one oystercatcher was sitting in such a way its head looked like a tern.

Glad we went, because I got some more photos for the blog and learned more about the questions I wanted to ask about certain birds and photography. It’s one of those twitches are a bit boring at the time but will help me down the track.

We went to the botanical gardens to look for spinebills and dipped. Hoping to go back there, either by myself or with Glenn/mum. I also twisted my ankle on this adventure which didn’t really hit me until a couple of hours and kms later. 🙂

Rainy Eastern Beach and Limeburners Point

June 14, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

This trip took place on May 31st

Late May/Early June was particular difficult for us. On the 30th of May, we got the phone call telling us to get to hospital now. Papas health had deteriorated and the family had been called in. This happened 10 minutes prior to a cadets adventure so we hopped in the car, got there 10 minutes early, and my parents rushed to the hospital.

My parents went to the hospital every day for the next 5 or so days. I knew that this would disrupt Seths routine a little bit so decided we would do the Eastern Beach adventure. We’d start around Cunningham Pier, walk to Limeburners Point and see where we go from there.

The weather was quite windy and the rain was taunting us, so it wasn’t the best day to find stuff in the ocean. Seth loved the water hitting the barrier and then hitting his face. We also saw a number of gannets.

They were flying a lot further out then I’ve seen them in the past and it was difficult to get photos of them. I’m curious as to how the wind impacts their proximity to shore? It sucked, because Seth couldn’t see their awesome dives.

We were able to see 3 juvenile pacific gulls, which was amazing. They were flying low and close, we got so many photos of them in flight. So much detail!

Below, I can see that the bird has something in its mouth. I have no idea how to tell what it is, though

Stormwater Pond

We then walked around Eastern Park towards the storage pond where we have seen that crake in the past. We stopped to see the bats, which was a real highlight. Despite the cold, they are still incredibly active. We saw some interesting fungi, although they weren’t as good as other locations.

This photo shows the underside of the ibis, where you can clearly see the red.

I as initially disappointed as we didn’t see a grebe, but this one showed up from behind the reeds. I wonder where the others went to?

It was a very kid friendly twitch that allowed me to get some great photography. We saw way more pacific gulls then usual. Maybe the bad weather brought them closer to shore? Will look into it – and will also look into where to find kelp gulls!

Also: we found a rat skull. It stinks, but I’m working on it.

Another stingray at Eastern Beach!

April 14, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

On Monday, during our botanic gardens adventure, Seth was faced with a difficult choice. Do we explore the promenade and play in the water, or do we go on Thomas the Tank Engine? Seth chose the latter – and quickly regretted it. We didn’t get to look for fish! I promised him that we would return to Eastern Beach later in the holidays and have a proper adventure.

On Friday, we returned with Nan. Seth loves adventuring with her. She sees so many things that we miss and he loves showing off what he’s learned. We spent about 5 hours there just wandering.

Recently, Seth and I came here without a camera. We were exploring the area where the yachts/boats are docked and looking at the fish. We saw several species in addition to several crabs. We didn’t have much luck on this visit as the tide was out but still saw swarms of fishies.

We didn’t see much else until we got to the promenade. It was awesome seeing these hoary headed grebes. They were stretching and being cute. Would have loved to have stayed longer to get photos of them (theme of the day!) but I wanted to be where Seth was. That kid has an eye for finding stuff that I wouldn’t otherwise see.

I’m not sure whether this fish is the same species as earlier. I made sure to get photos of all the fish we saw so I could show mum afterwards.

We spent at least 20 minutes watching this cormorant dive for fish. It’s becoming a recurring theme of my photography.

We were also lucky enough to see another sting ray! I had saw one on an earlier adventure with Glenn and had been looking out for one ever since. This species was a different type called a fiddler ray. Seth and Nan also saw what looked like a globefish. I can’t confirm because I was in the toilet at the time.

Larger fishies.

We then walked towards limeburners point, to see if we would have the same luck with birds of prey. It was at this point that I brought up that one of the cadets leaders, who Seth loves, dislikes Justine Clark. Mum chose that moment to sing ‘watermelon.’ Seth now sings a version of that song which includes the line “What have I done.”

No idea where that came from 😉 We also saw these ‘butterbums’ in the trees. I struggle to ID them in the field, but am getting a lot better at telling them apart when I get home. I’m finding bird identification to be a lot easier now.

Seth also discovered this awesome spider. I wonder what species it is? So well camouflaged!

Mum noticed these ladybugs, too. Some had stripes and spots and some just had stripes. I’ve done a quick google and I have no idea how to figure it out. Maybe ask someone at the field nats?

It was a really fun adventure. It was a big one, but Seth loved it. He loves sharing the things he has discovered with others, especially nan. One of the things he most enjoyed was showing nan the concrete chair near limeburners point.

There was a gannet floating about. It was one of those lovely days that celebrate the end of summer.

Easter Adventures at Geelong Botanic Gardens

April 5, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Today marks the end of the first week of the school holidays. Other then the moth night, Sethy and I hadn’t gone on any adventures. We’d gone to the botanical gardens briefly on the Monday but I was feeling too sick to properly explore.

We decided to hit the storage pond to hunt for the pesky Ballions Crake, meander through the botanical gardens and end at Eastern Beach. Firstly:

We found the crake! We only saw it for a couple of seconds and it was a lot smaller then we expected. Sometimes Seth will say he’s seen a bird when he really hasn’t. He pointed to the exact spot where I had seen it and said it went behind the green grass. He also said how small it was. The above photo is the only photo we were able to get but I’m so glad we finally got to find the little bugger.

Now just need to find the lewins rail and I’ll have knocked off a lot of the ones that have taunted me thus far.

We saw just two grebes this time, and two pacific black ducks. I couldn’t tell if the grebe was from the previous or most recent clutch. We had a quick check again for the crake and, after dipping wandered over to the botanical gardens.

The main target at the gardens was the rufous fantail, eastern spinebill, pink robin and white browed scrubwren. Someone was a bit hyper and the gardens were pretty crowded. We did see a million bajillion leaf curling spiders, though – something I wouldn’t have known about if not for the local cadets group.

We did see this juvenile grey fantail, which I initially thought was a white browed scrubwren. It looked different. I’m quoting from Kevin Bartram in the bird ID page here, but “The buff tips on the wing coverts Is a characteristic of immature plumage, they are remnants of juvenile plumage.”

It was those tips on the wing that confused me – just little things, because I generally don’t pay attention to them in the field. I’m not a lazy birder but there is often so much going on that I have limited attention.

According to Graeme Chapman, there is a subspecies that migrates north from Tasmania in the winter. These often look darker then the other subspecies you find here. I never really knew that. Does the local subspecies migrate?

I’m not as confused anymore and more fascinated. We also saw a rufous fantail! I got good views of the colour and Seth saw the bird. Apparently this time of year is a great time to see them while they are migrating to their winter grounds. A mate says he doesn’t often see them so we were pretty lucky 🙂 I only went there because I had seen reports of them on ebird, I didn’t know they were that elusive. It’s fascinating how much you learn.

We went near the back where we spotted this sulpher crested cockatoo enjoying a sunflower head.

Limeburners Point

We then mosied over to Limeburners point, hoping to find a couple of pacific gulls. We were very lucky, Seth got good views of this Juvenile.

We saw this adult on a light pole but it appeared to have an injured leg.

There were a number of terns and cormorants about but we were quickly distracted by a black shouldered kite that was hovering nearby. It was awesome that Sethy got to see that hovering behaviour, I was hoping we would see a BSK when we went to Lake Victoria in March.

We saw it grab its meal and fly off to a nearby pole. I’m assuming it was a rat or a rabbit based on it’s size.

The following pictures show some interesting behaviour we saw. The kite landed on a pole and two butcherbirds weren’t happy about it! They would continually dive at the kite – either to defend their territory or to get a free feed. The kite wan’t too happy about it.

Seth walked up the hill to get a closer look and the bird flew off. I knew that would happen but understood Seths desire to get a better look, as I was looking through the camera. Was glad to capture the behaviour

It was a fun twitch. Seth didn’t get as much time to play as I’d normally plan for, as we had an impromptu trip on Thomas the Tank Engine at Eastern Beach. Also saw an egret and another juvenile pacific gull near the main beach.

Will try to do another two adventures during the holidays. Glad I got to get the little dude another 3 lifers!