My Nature Blog
During the school term, it can be hard to arrange to hang out with Sethy sometimes as it depends on both my health and other commitments. On school holidays, it is so much easier. Just find a day where it is sunny.
During our November visit, I fell in love with a brolga chick and promised myself that I’d return to watch it grow. I didn’t have the money to get out there before now and boy, had it grown!
Last week, Sethy and I went to Serendip to participate in two of the junior range activities. I’d been wanting to do them with him for years but the timing was never right.
We started off the morning with a behind the scenes tour which involved feeding the animals. [Read more…] about We Are Now Junior Ranges! 5 Hours At Serendip
Yesterday, Glenn and I went to Serendip. I’d been hankering for a proper adventure in a while. The trip to the Gold Coast didn’t count. I wanted to be immersed in the bush for a couple of hours. I wanted to be able to watch the same species for a while. Heck, I wanted to be around Glenn without feeling panicky about the impending weekend of doom (which is what conferences often feel like.)
We got there and I could just feel my body relax. The carpark itself was calming. It’s brilliant that we have such a place fairly close to home.
One of the priorities for the day, as you’ll quickly work out, was photographing the young cape barren geese. I know it sounds silly but I want to get them at different times in their life cycle so I can establish patterns in terms of growth/behaviour/feather changes.
Plus who doesn’t love photos of baby birds? Fortunately Glenn got into it too. A lot of the photographs are focused on the goslings with their teeny weeny mouths open.
There were young that were slightly older. These guys must have bred really early!
Look at the detail on their tiny wings! Can’t wait to see the down drop and older feathers come in.
A good shot of a fairy wren jumping. Glenn could be around the most amazing rare bird and would still try and get the ultimate wren shot. Would love to take him and see some of the different species of wren. Just not emu wrens as their elusiveness would probably drive him nuts.
In the past, Glenn would have focused on the easy birds with his photography. In our first visit it was all emus and marsupials. I’ve been working really hard with Glenn lately to focus on watching the bird for a while and really capturing their behaviour. It hasn’t come naturally to him but he has improved so much. I’ll tell him a bit about the bird and what to expect, and he’ll go into an area with an idea of the type of photography to get.
He was photographing something else in here when I saw these two rails sitting down. Their behaviour was interesting, very loving. It was like they were rubbing their beaks together but not actually feeding. I thought the mother might be sitting on a nest.
Interestingly, I saw a slightly older rail chick when visiting here in September last year. Wonder what they do if they get too many? There are about 7 in here as it is.
I do want to emphasis that I was on the path at the time. I was already sitting down trying to photography my one true love, the musk duck. If you look in the third photo, you can see a baby peeking out from under it!
I nearly screamed. I told Glenn to turn around to try and get a photograph. I knew he’d love it.
I love photographing baby birds and various behaviour. There is so much to learn and I’m so grateful for Serendip.
Other captive
I did have ulterior motives for going here. I wanted to photograph the freckled duck again! I thought the captive area would be great for other practice, but was surprised at just how much Glenn got into it. I’m such a proud girlfriend. It’s bloody hard to get good at bird photography and he’s giving it his all.
I got the above shot of it flying. Glenn got the below photos. It’s funny, these were so easy to get. In other area, I spent about 15 minutes trying to get a photo of the same species of bird, only wild, trying to catch a fish. All of them turned out crap.
Mostly because I had the boring normal lenses but whatever. Glenn’s the better photographer and he works 5 days a week.
My favourite duck. I found him! I could easily come back here and spend all day in this enclosure. The lighting was horrid and the freckled duck wasn’t as visible this time.
Look at his tail, though.
Glenn got the above one. We both wish the lighting was better but just look at that shot. This is how I know that Glenn will be successful. He needs work understanding the technical camera stuff, and I want to start teaching him about presets, but look at what he captured.
Female freckled duck.
Suspect the above birds are scarlet chested parrots. I need to see more parrots in the wild!
A displeased swan confronting a grebe.
A bug that initially scared the poop outta me.
Close ups of a whistling kite. It is an artform trying to get someone else to see where a bird is in a tree. We do need a superior lens for shots of birds in flight.
This magpie was a complete butthead. We were waiting at the entrance for a taxi when I saw this angry looking bird swoop me. I sat down and it did it again!
Glenn thought it was hilarious, even after he told me how much it hurts. He also tried to get a photo of it, despite it trying to go him. We had moved away and tried to be respectful of it. We had to catch the taxi!
Glenn got a good photo, and a glare, from me.
We got other photos and I’m still planning to visit here quite regularly. Birding would be so much easier with a car! There is so much that I want to check up on and photograph.
I’ve also gotten more work lately. It’s a bit difficult trying to balance everything but I know this is a short term thing. Get the work out of the way and I can do more adventures. It’s spring.
I also need to do more research into the technical side of things to help Glenn.
The Werribee Treatment Plant was the place I wanted to get to this year. I contacted someone from Birdingpals in January, asking if they could help. He forwarded my address onto a local but nothing came of it. I was going to hire a guide for the day but that requires money I don’t have. I’d accepted that I probably wouldn’t get there anytime soon and decided to find affording birding destinations close to public transport and camp grounds. I know I’ll be doing that next year.
I asked for advice on the Facebook group – and got an offer to visit Werribee Treatment Plant for the morning. We only got to visit a small part of it but I loved it. Birding is the only time my brain gives me real peace.
I love raptors. Normally I have to work really hard just to get a glimpse of one. Here, they were everywhere. So many species. So many calls. It’s worth coming here just for the plethora of raptors.
I was called a sick bitch for getting this photo. Well, I am one. 🙂 I’m not sure what species it is but LOOK! It’s doing a poop!
It sounds silly, but getting decent poop shots has become an obsession of mine. I was photographing a new holland honeyeater and accidentally got a photo of it doing a teeny one. Glenn was jealous, and we both have been trying to top my original shot. It didn’t help that we saw some hilarious bird poop shots online. This… is was the culmination of a lot of work and hoping.
Was so honoured to see this white bellied sea eagle. I think that they are a magnificent bird and could spend all day watching them. I become enamored with them during the 2014 breeding season via EagleCam. I was devastated when the chick died. I just think they are so beautiful – I’m particularly fond of eagles.
We saw this guy and both got out of the car, carefully so as not to scare it away. I had trouble focusing. Then it turned around and hung out above as for a while! Got some interesting photos with lens flare. This alone was the trip.
Another highlight was hearing the call of a whistling kite in the wild. Glenn fell in love with the bird after hearing a captive one at Jirrahlinga. I loved it.
I think this is a pipit, although we all know how easily confused I get. Loved how it wasn’t as skittish as the one I saw elsewhere.
We went to a bird hide and saw a number of shorebirds. The tide was out a fair way. There were a LOT of sandpipers, and one red necked stint. Lots of swans and avocets. I saw a couple of sharpies being territorial
Also got photos of a curlew sandpiper! Only a couple of sandpipers left to see. Finally feel like I’m making a dint. I know I’m at the annoying stage of just list building, but I’m trying to learn as much as I can. Once I’ve learned as much as I can about the birds in the area I can focus on just watching them.
A nest. Was wondering whether it was the sea eagles?
Zebra finch. Was so excited to see. I love robins, wrens and finches. I think they are fascinating. I love the markings on this guy.
A chat. I want to see other species of them 🙂
This is more then just a buff banded rail. We saw something run across the path and were a bit confused. It looked a bit unusual – almost like a rufuos bristlebird? We waited for it to come closer. We saw that it was a rail but didn’t understand why. I looked at the photos and that was when I noticed that there was a tiger snake in the frame!
Think I may become a herper?
Dipped on any other crakes and rails, not for lack of trying. They are now a group of bogey birds that vex me so.
Loved the reflections here. Totally worth coming back just for photography. We saw musk ducks, Great crested grebes, shelducks. It was beautiful to see them up close.
Common greenshank or mash sandpiper. Can’t instantly tell them apart yet.
A much better shot of a golden headed cisticola. Not bad for something taken through a windscreen!
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Had such a fab time and am so grateful to those that have been helping me lately. I’d love to return. Feeling a bit crazy because I haven’t birded for 5 days 😛 Silly work.
Today, Glenn and I went to Werribee Zoo. I’d gone there last year for my birthday and thought Glenn would get a buzz out of it. Yes, I did have the ulterior motive of birding. The primary goal though was to let Glenn have fun with the telephoto lens.
It was a bit hit and miss. A couple of animals weren’t on display. There were primary school students there – screaming and crying – so we didn’t stay in some sections as long was we liked. Most of the animals were just sleeping, which doesn’t make for interesting photographs. I felt like I’d made a mistake recommending that we go here.
Fortunately, the safari experience made up for it. So many birds of prey!
Black kite. Mama knows how to ID those.
The above two are whistling kites. I had to consult my guide as I’m unable to ID these just by looking yet. I like how I got a shot of the top of the wings too. I have noticed that the western suburbs have a lot of kites. It is probably a bias, as I haven’t explored it in depth. I’m basing it on 3 visits to Serendip, todays trip and last week when I saw two black shouldered kites.
I got a glimpse of this fella, or lady, while we were on the tour bus. I only got a glimpse of it and instinctively snapped two shots just in case. The bus was very bumpy and the lady was going quicker at that point. I tentatively ID’ed it as a nankeen kestral, with a slight possibility of being a light coloured brown falcon. This was because my gut said kestral when I first saw it and falcons… have no idea about those yet.
As usual, I posted it on a bird identification FB group. I’m so amazed at how people can tell what a bird is with such little data. It apparently holds itself more like a falcon, and Nankeen kestrals aren’t that common in the area. The ‘chest was too large and the body proportion wrong.’
I love how people know so much. I fucking love this hobby. I don’t know how people are able to hold all this information in their heads. I probably wont add this to my list yet but still. Learned a lot. Especially at a time when my priority was making sure Glenn got the awesome photos.
I had checked out a map online, and asked on Facebook, and knew to concentrate on the areas that had a lot of water. The photos we got were of birds that may be considered generic but I don’t care. I love baby and juvenile birds.
Dusky moorhen plus chicks. It looked like one of the birds were still on chicks. The photos aren’t the best as I took them using the Nikon. I wish I could have gotten some close ups of the chicks. They looked very young, and it looked like several birds were working together to feed them.
Young swamphen. I was confused as to what it was, thinking it might have been a crake. Then I saw the adult. This was in a wetland area of the Aussie animal section. There was a bunch of annoying teens screaming and swearing as they walked through the section that made birding difficult.
The buff banded rail. Got several long looks at this little guy and had a lot of opportunities to get good photos. Glenn got these, because he knew that I really wanted them. I could have spent most of the day photographing it.
New Holland Honeyeater. We photographed this guy after walking around for half an hour. Glenn made a comment about how it was just like what we do at home – photographing common birds. The birds here were more used to humans and allowed for really great shots. This is blurrier then I would have liked but I was letting Glenn use the Canon.
Blackbird. Loved the contrast with the beak
Ducklings. Because they’re ducklings.
There was a section of the wetlands where there was a grey fantail and a silvereye having a bath in a stream of water. None of the photos really turned out but I loved watching it. I also saw a red browed finch in the area. Common… but I want to see how many of the alleged 160 species in the area I can find.
It was recommended that I look out for black chinned honeyeaters and purple crowned lorikeets. I had no luck but didn’t get a chance to properly explore. I did see two species of ibis and pelicans flying over.
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I would like to return again so I can birdwatch properly. African animals in an artificial settings don’t really intrigue me. I did want to see the serval cats but that presentation was cancelled.
Also wanted to go to Truganina afterwards but someone had chewed up the memory cards. Fair enough, I’ll be doing so much birding over the next week to make up for it!
