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Australian White Ibis

Eastern Park Stormwater Harvesting Pond

December 31, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

On Thursday, Glenn and I went to visit the Stormwater harvesting pond. We were on a macro photography adventure and I wanted to check on the young grebes. I thought that Glenn might want to try his luck at leaf curling spider or dragonfly photography.

These photos are rushed because Glenn was feeling anxious and I made the call to just go to the gardens, where we had a blast. Will definitely be returning here to get clearer photos of the chicks.

One of the first things I noticed though was this great egret in breeding plumage. Yes! It had some feathers on its beak. I was able to get some photos of it fluffing its feathers before going to join Glenn. Next season I will definitely emphasis photographing other birds.

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Grebes

As I’ve said, these photos are mediocre because I was in a rush. You can clearly see how its feathers and markings have changed as it matured.

I could only see three of the chicks. They are still being fed, although are considerably more independent.

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White Ibis

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One of the highlights about this time of year is getting photos of birds having a bath. They can look so much different! I’ll be creating a collection of photos later for these types of shots.

~

My next goal is to spend a couple of hours around the botanical gardens by myself, doing macro photography at my pace and also looking for birds. I did notice a blackbird nest hidden in a tree near where some bugs were hanging out. I’m also keen to find where the night herons are nesting, and whether you can still find bassian thrushes there. So many birds, so little time. And I’m crazy enough to be thinking about going back to uni 🙂

Filed Under: Geelong And Surrounds Tagged With: australian grebe, Australian White Ibis, great egret

Swan Bay: Viewing from a distance

August 7, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

I used to love hiking. I had to drop the hobby when my agoraphobia worsened. I couldn’t leave the house and lost my fitness. I also lost all my blog posts from around that era.

Sometime, before 2009, I walked Bellarine Rail Trail. I did it over two separate visits and both 16km walks were enough to encourage me to buy expensive hiking shoes! The majority of the walk was through farmland and was beautiful, with the occasional opportunity to photograph a black shouldered kite. I was enamoured though when I got to the Swan Bay portion of the walk.

I don’t know if it is possible to get any closer, especially as I’ve since learned that birds love this area.

The photographs are beautiful but are of rather generic birds. I didn’t have the zoom lens at this time and my feet were blistered. I’m so keen to return here – especially over summer – which I know will annoy the heck out of me considering it is an hour on the bus. Also keen to explore swan bay. No idea how I’ll explore here as well as focus on Serendip + my other chosen locations.

It truly is an amazing wetland.

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Filed Under: Bellarine Peninsula Tagged With: Australian White Ibis, black swan, eastern rosella, pelican, swan bay

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