The Wonders of Victoria Dam

On a recent overnight visit to Perth I headed up to Victoria Dam (a water supply for Perth City) in Carmel early in the morning.  My aim was to do some birding but it turned out to be much, much more.  It’s quite a walk on the weekends as the 2nd car park is closed and that’s closer to the dam.  Armed with my 300mm f2.8 birding lens and backpack with some breakfast, oh and don’t forget the rain coat as it had rained overnight and was still threatening to start again.  I didn’t find any birds that I hadn’t photographed before.  I was hoping for some Firetails or a Western Rosella, maybe next time.

Birds

This Australasian Grebe was happy to forage around in his little pond with me photographing him until a family joined us and the noise scared him into the reeds.  I was quite surprised at how well he blended in with the ground and the water in the 2nd image.

The Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo is a common sight in many areas.  We have them roosting in the bush behind our place. This female was not alarmed by my presence and stayed long enough for me to get a few shots off.  This is a female (white bill and yellow spots) Forest Red-tail, a subspecies found in the South West of Western Australia.  These birds are listed as Vunerable, if you wish to read more about them here’s a link to the WA Museum.

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Australasian Grebe

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and More

The early morning light, recent rain and a good quality lens at a big aperture make for good bokeh.  Here’s a great little article on Bokeh is you’re interested in the effect. I’ve never really used my 300mm lens for anything other than birding or sports photography.  Today was a different story.  There was just too much to photograph and I didn’t have another lens with me.

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The low cloud cover, or was it fog, in the valley created a beautiful mood which I did my best to capture.

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I was very surprised to see the city appearing out of the clouds.  Quite a cropped image but I think shows the diversity of the views from the walk down to the dam.  In conclusion, it appears that I didn’t photograph Victoria Dam itself.  And as I didn’t photograph any new birds perhaps I need to come back another time.

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