rainbow lorikeet

Balyang: 24/11/2015

December 1, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

I’m just going to use dates rather then come up with creative titles for my Balyang visits. I’m just there so darn much. Fortunately, I’ll probably only be visiting for another couple of weeks. I’ll still continue to go to mums and explore the Barwon, just not as the pace I’ve been currently doing.

This current birding project has actually been incredibly exhausting!

Anyway, I was photographing these cockatoos below because I thought the increased number of birds meant I had a better chance of getting a poop shot. I didn’t notice until later that one of them had fruit in its mouth!

I got these generic house sparrow shots while waiting for it to do something else. I’ve learned from experience that they don’t give any warning beforehand! It is an interesting challenge, trying to get lovely photos of them.

There was a lot of young people feeding bread to the birds there, which was annoying. I’m too shy to say anything at this point.

This swamphen saw a silver gull land with a large piece of bread and decided that it wanted some! 🙂 It kinda looks like a dinosaur here.

These long billed corellas were grooming each other and then had a nap. Not from a great angle, but that was because I was lying down on the ground photographing lorikeets.

I nearly got shat on several times while trying to get photos of lorikeets doing the same thing. I had a couple of near misses when trying to get the shots.

I spent ages just watching about 10 of them fly around above me. I got to get a very close look at the colours of their tail. I probably shouldn’t dismiss them as a photographic subject so quickly.

Finally, the red wattlebirds are still working hard feeding their chicks. They have been a consistent background call for the past 6 weeks or so.

As mentioned, it has been an exhausting month. At least 10k+ photos taken at this one location, all of which is painstakingly documented. I definitely wont be doing it again next year. However I’ve learned so much. I’ve got so many questions to seek answers for, which I’ll be doing when things slow down. I can start working on guides for certain birdwatching locations.

It has also taught me so much about managing anxiety and birding with patience. I’ll definitely be writing more about that late.

Cockatoos and Corellas Starting To Fledge At Balyang. With Bonus Poo shots.

November 24, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Those that know me know that I’ve been after the elusive bird poop shots. They’ve heard be ranting about the near misses. They’ve nodded in support when I’ve actually gotten one. They’ve feigned interested at the appropriate moments.

At Balyang last week, I was fortunate enough to get THREE shite shots in one morning. This has been unprecedented. I’ve been trying to get all three of these birds for a while. I can watch the cormorants for 30 minutes without much luck. If they do go, they’d go when I was itching my face.

The following shots are weird. I also think they are hilarious. Glenn has commented that they almost look fake.

Nah. I got pooped on twice by little birdies trying to get these, so they are definitely real.

Young long billed corella

I noticed that the corellas had left a hollow that they had been in for some time, and that a sulpher crested cockatoo had moved in. I didn’t know whether this was normal and hoped all was okay.

Sethy and I were at Balyang when I saw this. Alas, we were too busy looking for bugs and they weren’t there the next day.

I’ve also seen little corellas in the area. Regardless of species, that sulpher crested cockatoo doesn’t like any of them getting to close to its hollow. It was frequently scaring birds off.

Smaller birds

Again, lots of smaller birds flittering about. Got this white plumed honeyeater with breakfast.

Below is probably the lovely lorikeet that defecated on me. Oh well. Shit happens.

I was also fortunate the get photos of the juvenile white faced heron. They loved hanging around the mating tree for a while but I am noticing them venturing further away. 🙂 They’ve done a good job staying safe.

Cockatoo

I was looking at the cockatoos in the mating tree when I noticed some weird behaviour. It looked one of them was feeding the other. I watched for a little while longer… and saw a third head pop out! I’m guessing it must be fledging season for cacatuas. Good on them 🙂

Whew! So many updates from just the Barwon River area recently. Who knew that there could be so much activity in such a small space? I missed out on so much during the years I lived near there.

Hot Balyang – in more ways then one!

October 21, 2015 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

Yesterday, I watched the little dude. One of my first thoughts when mum asked me was “Oh, what a shame. I guess I’ll have to check out Balyang again.”

I don’t know how often is too often when checking out on the nesting behaviour, but once a week is seeming like a good balance. Last year I would have said that was too much but now I am a lot better at observing behaviour I would have missed last year.

It was an unexpectedly warm day and hit early 30’s. The cormorants were definitely feeling the heat.

Last week I saw a number of birds hanging out at the nests together. This time, many of them were hanging out away from the nests.

Great Cormorants

There were two great cormorants there, both panting, which led to some interesting opportunities. Was able to get great detail shots of their mouth.

I got this awesome shot. I’m actually getting quite good at pre-empting what was about to happen. Of course, it is easy to know when a bird is about to poop. They raise their tail and squat a little bit. If you’ve had a pet, you know it. But it’s so difficult to actually get because you have to watch forever to actually notice the original behaviour.

I now have an official page for photos of birds pooping. This is the best photo I have so far because it is the clearest. I only have three but I now want to collect ‘the set.’ I want to get as many photos of birds pooping as possible.

Parrot nesting behaviour

Normally I don’t really pay attention to birds clearing out hollows or poking their heads out of them. It could mean anything.

I got intrigued in July when I saw the cockatoos clearing out a hollow. I developed this obsession with nesting. I’m glad I watched.

The above photo is pretty tedious. The below series is awesome. I got a photo of this cockatoo leaning out of the tree. I *knew* there would be another nearby and it could lead to some interesting photos. I was right.

The cormorant went to the hollow. Then it flew to a try to, well, be a cockatoo. The nearby cormorants weren’t too happy!<

Mating house sparrows

I was so lucky to get the following series. I saw movement near the trees and thought ‘they were going to mate!’ It was incredibly difficult to see. It was about 1o metres away on the little island. They were specks against a similarly coloured background. Incredibly difficult to capture. But I did it! The photos are mediocre but that is okay considering.

Other:

White plumed honeyeater. I’m in love with this lens.

Arguing silver gulls.

I’ll be returning here frequently over the coming weeks to get more nesting/mating behaviour. The narrative isn’t as creative as it could be but the behaviour certainly warranted a post! 🙂

Autumn Balyang

April 27, 2014 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

The past month has been crazily busy. I’ve barely had the chance to bird – let alone go on Seth and Aunty Jade adventures. It’s been brutal for everybody. Mum is busy caring for her very ill father, so Seth doesn’t get as much one on one time with his nan as he’d like.

They came up here this Thursday with the intention of having Seth and Nan bonding time. I appreciated this, as it gave me the chance to get some work done. On the Friday, though, we decided to go to Balyang. I hadn’t been there in months and was keen to see how it changed. And, Seth loves showing off his favourite spots to others.

We saw several darters in their usual spot near the bridge. Two nests had babies in them – so cute!

I was mostly there to test out the new telephoto lens that Glenn had bought. It’s brilliant for up close bird photography, but I’m still figuring out how to use it. I love the amount of detail we now get.

The Grebes

It was sunny, so we sat in the shaded area of one of our favourite spots. It was a bit disappointing. The water was very low and none of our favourite species were there. No spoonbills, herons or ibises. I looked out and saw something that didn’t look like it was a swamphen. I was very grateful for the lens when I snapped some photos of it, primarily for ID’ing purposes.

I asked on a Facebook group and it was ID’ed as a hoary headed grebe. Apparently the eye colour is a giveaway? It feels like I’ll never get the hang of this.

We walked a different way home. We went further along the barwon and up the ‘second set of stairs.’ I was keeping an eye out on the water, looking at the eurasian coots and swamp hens. Then I saw this!

“Seth. Look! I’m pretty sure that’s an Australasian Grebe!” He was excited too, as he’d never seen one before. I took the heavy lens, and the camera, out and snapped some photos. Then nearly died on the walk home as I have no tolerance when it comes to hills

This means that Sethy and I have seen all three Aussie species of grebes in the span of three days. On Wednesday, I had joined Seth and my parents for an appointment that we quickly found out was cancelled. We went to Eastern Beach for a short while so the mister could play in the playground.

I was fuming at how much time had been wasted that week. Mum, who was under a lot of stress, always brings up how she is under more pressure and has even less time then I do when I bring up how I don’t get the chance to do things for me as much. It’s even more important for me though as my anxiety symptoms worsen if I don’t do things that calm me down.

Seth was in the playground and I turned to look at the water. I saw the usual – a tern, a cormorant. We went for a walk and I noticed a darter that was really close.

It wasn’t a darter though. Look at the feathers around the head…. it’s a crested grebe! I had to check my bird book when I got home to be sure. Seth was pretty excited! Grebes have always eluded me so it has been fantastic to knock off two lifers in one week.

Back to Balyang. While I was excited to see a grebe, I was also a little bit forlorn because I didn’t see my good friend, the pink eared duck. Until Seth shouted at me ‘There’s the pink eared!’

The little dude was sitting at the bank close to us. A rare photographic treat! I told Sethy that it is also occasionally referred to as a zebra duck which, apparently, he already knew. Watching Steve Backshall is turning him into a smart-arse.

I only got a photo of this wattlebird because Seth pointed it out. I love how the photo turned out. Not bad for a cheap lens! I’m really excited to get to know it better.

Lorikeets

I saw two lorikeets sitting next to each other and tried to replicate a photo I saw on instagram by Echidna Walkabout. Not easy with a lens that ways 2kg and a wrist that is cramping something chronic.

I’m impressed with the lighting and bokeh achieved in this photo, though I don’t know how I did it. I followed up with two awesome pics of them flying off although I cropped their wings because I was zoomed in too close.

I would marry this lens.

Swamphens

I probably should visit Balyang more before I move. Great for practicing photography! Hopefully will get down to Ocean Grove Nature Reserve tomorrow for some more adventures.

Pelicans at Balyang

October 3, 2013 by Jade Craven Leave a Comment

This post is sheer indulgence. I get so caught up in learning as much as possible that I forgot to just sit and enjoy watching birds. I was very fortunate to find 2 pelicans resting on the nesting boxes when I got there.

I’d been talking to mister Sethy about pelicans wingspan recently, so was stoked to get this photo.

He was on the nesting box closest to the car park. There were noisy children chasing the ducks nearby so he flew off.

I was annoyed, yet grateful to be able to get shots of the bird in flight.

Pelican Yawn

I walked around Balyang looking at other birds and sat down near the remaining pelican. He was a bit sleepy.

STRETCH!

Just a little more!

And side angle!

These photos are perfect to show both Glenn and Seth. It was shortly before 6 and the lighting was perfect.

He then began to groom himself, which is an amusing sight. I love watching birds groom but it must be a lot harder with that beak!

Eventually he flew away, letting me get several more shots of him in flight.

I sat down for about 20 minutes watching these two. It was so calming and peaceful – and fun! I just wish I had the other camera.

Other birds:

A cute rainbow lorikeet in flight. Normally don’t get shots like this as there is too many leaves obscuring the view.

Purple swamphen in a tree. Thought it was amusing – don’t normally see them up there!

Eurasion coots having a snuggle. I need to capture more loving/evil moments between animals.

Return of the honeyeater! See, I’m learning 🙂 This little dude moves so quick.

I didn’t see any darters in my normal spot under the bridge. Imagine when I saw all of these in tree. I’ve never seen this many at once. Maybe it’s the time of day?

This was a tree that had fallen over the path between the swamp and the main road. I wanted to capture *some* kind of evidence of the crazy weather we’ve endured lately.

For about five minutes, the lighting was just magical. I would have loved to experiment with the light in different areas of the sanctuary but I was distracted by the pelican.

Worthwhile birdwatching trip. Reminded me to focus on the joy, rather then the chase and competition.