laughing kookaburra

Photogenic Laughing Kookaburra at The Property

November 25, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

This weekend, I went the my parents bush block with my family. There was a car show on at Meredith, which is about half way there. The plan was that my parents and nephew would do their own thing and I would both join them for adventures, and bugger off birding.

I did have an ulterior motive for the day. Yes, I wanted more photos of birds doing poop. We get a lot of birds there that you don’t get in suburban Geelong and it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Bird poop photography can be very time consuming and it isn’t fair to ask friends to wait around for hours.

I’d learned, from Chris Humfrey, that kookaburras often poo after or during calling. I tried following calls a couple of times that day but was only able to get good views of one.

I saw this guy and instantly put my backpack on the ground and laid down. This guy was beautiful and the lighting was great. The property is known for jumping backs (ants that have a painful bite) and these skinks whose bites bring people to tears, but I didn’t care. The lighting was great and the lens was heavy.

I was able to get him (her?) yawning and fluffing up. I imagine the photos would have been better if I’d shot in raw but that’s irrelevant. I rarely get to see kookaburras out in the open like this.

Yummy Photos at Buckley Falls

November 23, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

One of the main reasons we visited Buckley Falls last week was to look for skinks. Lets face it, a 7 year old kid has different priorities. We did see a couple but didn’t have much luck with catching them. We settled playing in a little ‘rock pool’ area. It’s where there are are a bunch of rocks that lead to really small falls. A lot of water gets pooled between some of the rocks and it’s a popular place for kids to play.

I was half watching Seth and half looking around me when I noticed the friendly kookaburra had returned. The initial photos just showed a blur between branches. That was fine, I just needed to confirm the species for ebird. Then I noticed – he/she was hunting!

In the following series of shots, you can see that the kookaburra managed to catch a skink. It isn’t the clearest shot – not like the kingfisher with a skink at Yea wetlands. Still, it was pretty exciting. A shame it also caught that bit of reed at the same time.

White Faced Heron Eating

The kookaburra wasn’t the only highlight of the day. There was a white faced heron that was tolerant of our presence and fished close to where Seth and I were sitting. It ducked its head in the water quickly and pulled out this.

I have no idea whether it caught a fish or an eel. It was astonishing to see. Even Sethy was captivated.

I highly recommend Buckley Falls for those who are patient and are into this type of photography. You can get so many interesting photos of birds fishing if you are willing to wait. It’s better to do this on a weekend when there are less kinds around.

Honeyeaters Galore at Anakie Gorge

September 1, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Yesterday I visited Anakie Gorge with my parents and the little dude. Both mum and Sethy had celebrated a birthday in the previous week and this was their celebratory adventure. Mum loves the area and we used to go there heaps growing up.

We ended up walking from the gorge to the Stony Creek picnic area. It is fantastic, especially for kids that love rocks. I’ve done a separate post about the walk. You can read it here.

What I really loved however was the birdlife. I hadn’t really fallen for the Brisbane Ranges until this past visit. I was intrigued, definitely, but it was just another place. Woodland birds didn’t interest me. I have now visited enough times to find consistent patterns and I must say, I was intrigued.

One of the first things we noticed as soon as we got there was these two kookaburras sitting in the tree. They quickly started laughing. I was disappointed that we didn’t see them pooping as Seth and I both learned that kookaburras always poo when they laugh. There was a third further on.

We also saw a couple of eastern yellow robins at the start of the track, which was lovely. No scarlet robins, like we’ve seen at other locations. I was hoping to get a flame today but I may have to wait until next year for that.

We were still in the picnic area when I saw this bird and tried hard to get a photo. I was so hopeful it was a crested shrike tit, as a large sign in the area had one pictured. I double checked just in case and alas, just a golden whistler. It wasn’t all for naught though – Sethy managed to pick up TWO more lifers on this day!

We were very fortunate to see this yellow faced honeyeater. I’ve been trying to boost Sethys honeyeater numbers but it is hard, as all the fun ones seem to be at places that are hard to get to via public transport. We didn’t get good lucks but he was happy.

He was more happy though to see the yellow tufted honeyeaters. There was so many around and their call is quite distinctive. Their markings are so beautiful. If you want guaranteed photos, just wait around at the Stony Creek Picnic Ground.

The picnic ground made it so easy to just see them up close. We could see them feeding, interacting and just hanging out.

Look at the yellow marking near his ear? It has now made me determined to see all of the subspecies.

I believe this one was eating at the time. There was a number of wattlebirds around chasing them off, which made it hard to get photographs.

There was a solid number of white naped honeyeaters around. They were so small when flying that I did wonder if they were a finch. It was only when I looked closely that I realized they were a honeyeater. I still think they are rather boring.

This bird really pissed me off. I can never remember the call so I would follow it and follow it to no avail. It would fly off, hiding deeper in the bushes. Then I finally found it and realized it was *this.* Butthead.

I’ve since learned these are spitfires. Sethy was pretty stoked to see them.

I’ve learned that I probably will have some difficulty combining birdwatching and walking. After doing reading, I’m very intrigued at what other birds and animals I can find in the area. I’m not sure just how much I will be exploring this area but I must say. I’m starting to get hooked.

Recent Birding Adventures in Geelong

December 16, 2013 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

None of my recent twitching adventures have been worth writing an entire blog post about. Here is a collection of some of my favourite sightings.

I’m hoping to hire a birdwatching guide next year when my health and finances improve. [Read more…] about Recent Birding Adventures in Geelong