eastern spinebill

Eastern Spinebills at Geelong Botanical Gardens

July 25, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

These photos are from a 30 minute photography session at Eastern Park. I wasn’t able to learn much about their behaviour other then that they remind me very much like hummingbirds. They are secretive and incredible hard to photograph.

I did make an effort to photograph them at high speed but failed. Apparently the Canon 600d doesn’t allow you to do more then 1/250 shutter speed when the flash is raised. I’m stumped at how I can get high speed photographs without the images being too dark.

This session was worth it for the learning. Their behaviour reminded me of hummingbirds, so I’m also interested in researching other Aussie birds with similar behaviour.

Exploring the Brisbane Ranges in Winter

July 5, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

This trip took place on the 26th of June

I woke to the sound of my phone buzzing. It was a text message. It may have been around 11am.

“Want to go birding around the Brisbane Ranges today?”

You bet I did! I was exhausted and burnt out. Barely up to being social. But I have some sort of spiritual experience when birding. It calms and refreshes me. It makes me feel excited about life again. It reminds me of why I push myself through so much, even though I’ll probably never fully recover from anxiety.

I LOVE the Brisbane Ranges area. We explored it a little bit as a kid. My parents, or my grandparents, would take us out there for adventuring. I was interested at how the terrain was different and how many rocks there were. I wasn’t interested in birds or flora at the time, which is disappointing. Past Jade could have learnt a lot!

I haven’t been able to get there as an adult. It’s one of those places that is difficult to get to without public transport. I’m very much intrigued and would love to explore it properly.

Lower Stony Creek Reservoir

I’ve struggled to find much information about this area. Maybe I’m confused with the Stony Creek Picnic Area? I know we started at a picnic area and walked down the lower reservoir.

Animal poop we found – suspect rabbit? Still interested in learning more about animal droppings 🙂

There was a yellow robin there. I don’t understand what type of environment they love as I’ve found them in a couple of different types of forest. As always, it was rather photogenic.

A very unique type of fungi. The stalk thingy looks different to other types that I’ve seen. I definitely need to educate myself more about fungi. Carolyn was saying that someone she knows uses a dental mirror to look underneath the fungi. That is a great idea and something I may think about doing.

Yellow Tufted Honeyeater!

I did see one in the past at Chiltern…. just before I killed the camera. I was so upset as this is such a beautiful bird and I really wanted photos. This photo is mediocre but it was awesome to see one again. I really want to study this bird more and get much better photos. I also want to see the helmeted honeyeater subspecies.

Golden Whistler. It may be a generic bird and it is one that I am seeing more and more often, even close to home. It was fun to get some photos of it doing something different instead of just posing like it normally does.

Burchell Trail. I took a photo of this sign to remind me of my previous love of hiking and how I’d love to do this walk one day.

More poop. Suspected wallaby or kangaroo.

Lower Stony Creek

This area, in particular the dam, is very significant to the history of Geelong. Well, the water supply. It may be boring to some but I thought it was interesting and so, as usual, took a photo.

You can get more information about the history of it at Barwon Blogger.

This map is blurry and may not be useful to anyone. I added it, as I always do, to add context. The following couple of photos are intended to show what the reservoir looks like when there is no water in it. Glenn could have gotten some really awesome photos there.

Yellow faced honeyeater. After much thinking, I’ve decided that these birds are awesome. (I either love, or hate, honeyeaters. Don’t ask.)

A different angle.

Eastern spinebill. Took forever for me to see my first one but now they are popping up all the time. Definitely worth researching 🙂

White naped honeyeater. This is one of the species that I don’t like, although there is no logical reason. Possibly because it is so difficult to photograph with very little reward 😉

White browed scrubwren. Definitely want to research subspecies and behaviour as they are awesome.

More fungi. There was much more fungi there that I didn’t photograph. It is so interesting, I wouldn’t have thought that such a dry area would have had fungi!

Steigletz

It was so fascinating going to Steigletz. We went through the township, including going past the church. I’d definitely love to return to the area and learn more about it. I don’t think it’s feasible anytime soon but man, it is beautiful.

A scenic, but otherwise useless, sign.

Unsure, but suspected grey strike thrush. Or female golden whistler. Normally I use the wings to tell them apart.

Scarlet robin. We saw two, a female and male, in different areas here. There was also a large number of crimson rosellas but they were fairly skittish.

White throated treecreeper. We heard a number of them around that day. I haven’t found a consistent type of environment they like but it was always awesome seeing them.

More fungi!

Loved this trip. Am so very grateful that Carolyn asks me on these adventures, even if it means going out of her way. I love learned about new areas and she has been a fantastic mentor. So much knowledge about the various parts of nature! She also understands my social limitations and it makes it so much easier for me.

I can be an agoraphobic people hater but still get lonely.

Anyway! Brisbane Ranges is really interesting. It’s amazing how you can have so many different environments in such a small area. Visiting here helped place a lot of the other areas in context and gave me something to compare other places to. I’ve been focusing on areas close to the ocean – mostly because they are serviced by public transport.

The natural world is so diverse and I’m so fortunate to be able to experience it as much as I have lately – despite my many limitations. I love birding.

Change of tone from yesterday, hey?

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.

Visiting Ironbark Basin with Vic Birders

June 22, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

It really did feel like we were repeating my birthday again – although that was one of the reasons I wanted to return! At 9.30 we went to Ironbark Basin to see what birds we could find.

I’m fascinated with the diversity in the area. I didn’t see the pardalote and treecreeper I saw on my previous visit. We definitely heard the treecreepers though. This time, I was moreso trying to listen to what the others were saying and pointed my camera accordingly. As a result, I have a lot of photos of honeyeaters!

Got some really great views of crescent honeyeaters. I’ve seen them multiple times now and think they are cute, and am getting more comfortable ID’ing them.

I also got some lovely photos of yellow faced honeyeaters. These were my favourite honeyeater of the day, I love their markings. I need to learn more about their personality. Alas, these Vic Birders trips aren’t about hanging around at the same spot for too long and I couldn’t get to know the birds better. I’ll definitely be returning here though to learn more about it!

White naped honeyeater. Have very little interest in them, both in terms of behaviour and photographically. Maybe someone can change me mind?

It was lovely to get good views of a couple of eastern spinebills. I’m thinking I may take Sethy here to find them instead of the botanical gardens in Melbourne. A lot of diversity, although we may need a scope/binoculars.

Adult female golden whistler. I can now ID them, although the ID’s are never confident and I often check with a bird ID group before hand.

Highly recommend visiting here if you are a nature nerd. It’s worth spending half a day here. Will be fascinating to see how it changes over the various seasons. I may ask on Facebook. It’s become a new favourite haunt.

Toolangi State Forest and Murrundindi Reserve

December 16, 2014 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

I knew nothing about Toolangi. It had a couple of pages dedicated to it in my book about finding birds in Vic, but all I knew was that it had lyrebirds and leeches. As fate would have it, I wouldn’t only glimpse one of those species last Sunday. And, sadly, it wasn’t the lyrebird.

This was my first outing with the Vic Birders group. I was a bit nervous, seeing as I’m new to birding AND struggled socially. I needn’t have worried though. Everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful, and I left feeling calmer and happier then I’ve felt in a long time.

Toolangi State Forest

Like many others, I was up at an ungodly hour to get to Toolangi by 7.30am. Many others were there earlier. It was a struggle to get up that early but it was worth it. It was a fantastic days birding.

One of the first birds I saw was an eastern spinebill. It is as beautiful as I expected but is also a lot smaller. I’ll have to go to the botanical gardens to get closer photos of it. I dipped on a lot of birds early on as we were in one of the cars towards the back and many birds flew away before I could get there.

When I got there, though, I met someone that I had met previously at Balyang! We had bumped into him at Balyang during the winter and chatted briefly about the Southern Boobook he had seen there. I had visited there a number of times afterwards with on luck – and had sent Glenn a profane text about how I couldn’t find the f***er. A soon as I saw Matt at Toolangi he said “Oh, I’ve met you and your partner before!”

It helped me feel more relaxed and he is a pretty cool guy. He is a snake catcher and told me that yes, snakes can strike fast even on a slow day. I shouldn’t have been so complacent when I previously saw one at Jerringot.
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Also saw a rufous fantail which was fantastic.

Robins

I have a fondness for robins. I can’t explain why. They are more interesting then wrens. I think it’s because they are so dainty.

The first bird I saw was a pink robin, which was exciting. I’ve only really seen the Eastern Yellows and, once, a scarlet. The colouring was so bright. It was beautiful. Andrew Allen was kind enough to show me the difference between the species using his app. I should probably get a field guide on an app – I’d left my guide in the car as it’s HEAVY. Everyone that day was helpful towards me and answered my newbie questions. I really appreciated how I was treated as an equal despite my huge gaps in knowledge.

Andrew had the same lens that I did which just confirms that the main fault lies with the lens itself – we must have gotten a dud. I also got a leech on me early on in the trip. The words ‘it’s cute’ escaped my mouth before I could stop myself. I assumed they were a lot larger and more painful. Mums attempts to make us terrified of leeches have failed.

Anyway, apparently the pink robin (female) has been seen around Geelong botanical gardens. Methinks I need to visit there without family (Glenn or Seth) so I can bird without interruption or fear that I’m boring them.

The above two photos are a rose robin. You can tell because the grey is lighter and the markings are different. It was a lifer for many.

In terms of subspecies – there are no other races of rose robin. It looks like there is a Tasmanian subspecies of pink robin that I’ll have to track down. Darn my obsessive brain!

This is a lifer… I think. My notes say that I have already seen it, but I can’t find any record of it in my images. Weird. Regardless, it was awesome to add another honey eater to my list. I also saw a yellow faced honey eater and got very blurry photos of a crescent honeyeater.

White throated treecreeper. The only thing that annoyed me about the day is that people would hear bird calls, say what they were, and walk on without looking for them. Most of them had seen those birds and I didn’t want to slow anyone down. There were many birds I so desperately wanted to see – and this was one that I found by accident! I saw movement and was photographing it when someone walked up and said what species it was.

This is less of a complaint, it’s more about how I want to return there so I can bird at my own pace. Being such a newbie really limits things. And, I know that people would have helped out if I spoke up, I just didn’t want to take away from their experience.

Between Toolangi and Murrundindi

These photos were taken along the drive to Murrundindi. It was really funny. We’d drive, stop and listen, then keep on driving. I got photos of these trees because it was really sad to see.

Murrundindi

I was a bit knackered when I got to Murrundindi. It was a beautiful place but the day was heating up and I had learned not to exert myself. I didn’t walk as far as the others and missed out the skink, but I still got to see this little guy. Maybe it’s the yellow faced honeyeater? 😉 It’s hard to keep track.

It was a really fun morning and I really felt like I was around my kind of people. Everyone loved nature. Everyone wanted to learn. None of the bullshit associated with high school and the social media sphere. Passionate people. The kind of person I want to be.

I’ll probably be backing off of birding somewhat for the rest of the year and focus on freelance stuff. Was toying with going to Mud Islands tomorrow but my budget says I’d be better off staying here. I do want birding and bushwalking to be a large part of my life, I just need to figure out how to balance it with managing anxiety and work.