hoary headed grebe

Lake Lorne + Mcleods Waterhole: Spring 2015

November 14, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Earlier this week, Carolyn and I went on an impromptu trip to Lake Lorne. We’d met at Balyang (where I had been birding for 2 hours) and she wanted to do a bit more adventuring.

I was up for it. I’d been planning on walking home when she texted but it is always fun birding with her. After a hit of humming and aahing, we decided on Drysdale. I’d explored so much of the Barwon and Geelong area lately, and both of us were keen to see how things were going.

We did see this family of swans at Lake Lorne. Unfortunately, there was a deceased adult nearby.

At Mcleods waterhole there was a pair of blue billed ducks which was exciting to see. My new goal is to get a really good photo of them.

A hoary headed grebe in breeding plumage. Nice seeing them, I’ve missed seeing them at Eastern Beach.

Below are a number of freckled duck photos that I took. There weren’t as many ducks compared to the last time I was here. It’s amazing how much things can change in a matter of months. I do want to learn more about their behaviour in the wild, they fascinate me. I recently learned that they are the rarest duck in the country. Cool.

We were walking around the back of the waterhole when I saw these purple swamphen chicks. I always love seeing chicks and it was awesome to see. I have no idea why there are so few at Balyang. I still have found any eurasian coot babies yet… I am trying though 🙂

Noisy Miner Vs Goshawk

This was pretty awesome to witness. We saw a noisy miner have a go at, and subsequently chase off, a brown goshawk. We couldn’t ID it at the time, I had to go home and look at the photos. I’m basing this on the tail and glaring eyes. The photos are sub par but show some interesting behaviour. I love it when little birds attack much larger ones.

We were both pretty knackered at this point. This post may not be as interesting as others, but it is always worth documenting the changes. I’m thinking of trying to visit here each season and seeing what I can learn. So many places to visit, such little time. And so much fear of catching more then one bus 😛

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!

Late Winter Eastern Beach Adventures

August 6, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

This trip took place on 27 July

Last Monday, I made an impromptu decision to go to Eastern Beach. It has been, and still is, a regular haunt for adventures with both my boyfriends. I’ve gotten some great photos in the past. I always leave a little bit disappointed.

When I’m here with others I can’t spend time getting the photos that I want. I’ll see awesome behaviour but will be focused on watching a nearly 7 year old, or giving tips to help Glenn improve. It’s all worth it, but sometimes I just want to sit and watch grebes for an hour.

Which is what I did.

Granted, I only got one good photo of a grebe with fish. I was also focusing on the terns and cormorants in the region. Last time, I was able to get decent photos of the grebe diving. This time, they weren’t willing to let me come close. I only got the above photo by sheer luck.

A cormorant feeding. These guys swallow their meals so quickly, you have to be very observant and quick to capture it.

I love this photo mostly because of the ‘no diving’ sign. I’d never be lucky enough to get a photo of a bird diving in front of it.

Gannet Photos

There were gannets close to shore again so I spent about 90 minutes trying to get photographs of them. I’ve since found that I’m very good at tracking them but the lens is horrid at getting pics of birds in flight. It gets out of focus so easily and can take 30 seconds to refocus. I’m not technical enough to figure out why but GAH! The photos are similar to ones I’ve gotten in the past but I’m still aiming for the elusive shots of them diving and eating.

Bats at Eastern Park

Losing my phone

I decided to walk back to Geelong via Eastern Beach again. None of the birds were really worth photographing but there was a beautiful rainbow. I decided to try and get a cliched instagrammable photo. I’m not sure any of them really worked out but hey, it was worth a try.

I was near the boats on the piers when I realized my phone wasn’t in my bag. I looked in all my other bags. I wandered the beach for an hour.

It was lost. Someone would have picked up it by now. SHIT! I had only upgraded the phone about 6 weeks before. I was on a 24 month contract.

I got a phone call 4 days later from the Optus Shop. Someone had handed it in.

I know how lucky I am. And that I’m glossing over the facts. It could have really triggered my agoraphobia. I felt shit for a couple of days but was back adventuring that weekend with the little dude.

In retrospect, the photos weren’t worth losing my phone over. Otherwise enjoyed the shoot.

Photographing Grebes at Eastern Beach: Family Trip

July 25, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

After photographing the spinebills at the botanical gardens, Seth and my parents made our way to Eastern Beach. Things have been so stressful in our family recently, with our grandparents death and me moving out. It’s very rare that all of us are together for adventures. Sethy was so excited.

As was I. I’d made it my mission to photograph grebes diving into the water. It’s a lot harder then it seems! Usually, I’m with Seth or Glenn and can’t focus as much as I’d like. This time, I was able to really focus on capturing them. Sethy was in the playground with mum, so I spent 20 minutes just watching them.

They dive very quickly so I had the camera on sports mode. This meant the photos aren’t as clear as I would like, but I was able to capture them mid dive. I was also lucky enough to catch some of them with fish. Glenn isn’t patient enough for this part of it, so I was stoked to get the shots. I wonder what type of fish it is?

Other animals

We were lucky enough to find other animals on our adventures.

I suspect this is an eleven armed seastar. According to Australian Museum, they are commonly seen at low tide levels. I’ve never seen them here before. It is amazing what you can find at Eastern Beach if you really look.

I don’t know what this fishy is but the Mr wanted a photo of it.

Another stingray. It is always pretty awesome to see one of these guys.

The following pictures are of a cormorant diving for food. They aren’t the best – I was just about to leave and I fired off a couple of shots.

I do want to focus more on getting photographs of birds feeding. This hobby is so addictive and fascinating.

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.