Category: Birds

2010 – 2019 My Favourite Images

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2010-2019 My Favourite Images from the Decade

 

The decade for starting a photography business, making new friends and lots of travel.  I hope you’ll enjoy my little journey down memory lane, these are some of my favourites.  Some you will have seen, others possibly not.  I’ve tried to limit the images to 2 per year but sometimes that was a little too hard.  

I look back and see a lot of variety but I still don’t know what my style is, perhaps someone can help me with that??

2010 – The Forth Bridge, Scotland.  Playing with light trails and long exposures at Blue Hour

 

2010 – Eilean Donan Castle, Lock Duich during Blue Hour

2011 – Experimenting with coloured lights and light painting.  Waroona

2011 – Playing with Macro in the backyard

2012 – One of the first times that I pre-visualised an image and then successfully made it happen.  Hampton Arms Bookstore, Greenough, Western Australia

2012 – The beginnings of my interest in minimalism. Maritime Museum, Fremantle.

2013 – A lone bicycle the morning after a Typhoon hit. Hoi An, Vietnam

2013 – Just a quick snap taken in the Ferguson Valley near Bunbury. These cows were so friendly, within a minute they were all coming up to me at the fence. So glad I got that first shot in.

2014 – Ah India, such an incredible place and rather heart stopping on the back of a motorcycle. Somewhere in Rajasthan.

Congelin Square

2014 – A minus 0 degree winters morning on a camping trip with the motorbike club. Congelin, Western Australia

 

2014 – More playing with coloured lights and light painting. Johnson Rd Yarloop

2015 – Female Scarlet Robin with breakfast, Barrabup Pool, Western Australia

2015 – A still autumn morning Kellands Ponds near Twizle, New Zealand

2015 – View of Coronet Peak on ‘fire’ in the late afternooon light. Taken from the balcony of our accommodation. Queenstown, New Zealand

2015 – Multiple exposures blended together.  Commercial Hotel, Meekatharra

2016 – KT The Cockatoo, this Female Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo photographed in my home studio

2016 – A sight I’ve always wanted to see. A multitude of African animals at a waterhole. Etosha National Park, Namibia

2016 – Love this sand dune.  Dune 44, Sossusvlei, Namibia

2017 – Sunset before the storm, Lake Ballard, Western Australia

2017 – A reminder of how small the world is these days. Brynja, reaching to her homeland, Iceland) and our Aussie mate Tom from down under. Eagle Rider Motorcycle Tour, Baja California Sur

2018 – My neighbour competing in the Best of the West Stockman Challenge, Packsaddle event. Dardanup

2018 – Fun with Silhouette at a Workshop in Fremantle

2018 – Spotted Pardalote in our front yard in Roelands. He/she stayed a couple of days, was possibly looking for a potential nesting site.

2019 – Our mascot ‘Jacks’, that we take along on our bike rides, meeting his own real life kangaroo which took a real shine to him. Donnelly River, Western Australia

2019 – Tidal Flats Tail. An aerial taken from a helicopter at low tide. Sandy Point Broome

2019 – Gimlet Trees. An in-camera Multiple exposure of Gimlet Trees against the bark of a Gimlet Tree. Near Norseman, Western Australia

Results Wagin Woolorama 2019

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Oh wow, where is this year going?? Half way through March already and this is only my first blog post for the year. Such neglect of my website.  I will have to try and rectify that over coming months. I’ve a few ideas for topics rolling around in my head but getting them out is another issue.  But for now I’d just like to talk about my results at the Wagin Woolorama Photography Competition last weekend and to give this Agricultural Show a plug as it is a really enjoyable day out.

Photo Comp

Firstly I’d like to thank the organisers of the Photography Competition that runs as part of Wagin Woolorama.  Glenys and her team do a great job every year putting together this competition. 

1st Place 'A Half of Anything' - Repeating Doorways 2019 Wagin Woolorama

1st Place ‘A Half of Anything’ – Repeating Doorways

 

This year, they introduced two new special categories, each with great prize money for the winner.  I was fortunate enough to take out the Portrait category with this image of the Namibian man starting a fire the tradition way, which most of you have possibly seen before.  If you’d like to see the winning landscape image by my friend Richard Hall please click here.

 

1st Place Portrait 2019 Wagin Woolorama

1st Place Portrait – Fire Starter

Here’s my other entries that did well this year.  

2nd Place Open Colour KT The Cockatoo 2019 Wagin Woolorama

2nd Place Open Colour – KT The Cockatoo

Highly Commended Mono - Moses Rock 2019 Wagin Woolorama

Highly Commended Mono – Moses Rock

Two Trees - Highly Commended Landscape 2019 Wagin Woolorama

Highly Commended Landscape – Two Trees

 

Evening Rodeo

After the day events have finished, like the shearing, sheep dog trials and judging of the animals, there’s the evening rodeo.  I love to watch the action and also the fashions.  The checked shirts, bright colours, fancy jeans and those hand made leather saddles.  Love it!

Wagin Woolorama Rodeo

The dust, setting sun and cowboy hats

Cowgirl Wagin Woolorama Rodeo

Bright coloured clothing

Wagin Woolorama Rodeo

Cowgirl clothing

Bronc riding at Wagin Woolorama Rodeo

Bronc riding

Finally Found One Black-shouldered Kite

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Black-shouldered Kite (AKA Elanus axillaris)

It’s only taken about 3 years but I’ve finally spent some time with a black-shouldered Kite.  I’ve managed to get a couple of photos of these birds before but they’ve been off in the distance or have flown off on my approach. But not this day.  The weather was stunning for the middle of winter, no wind, not cold and beautiful reflections in the estuary.  The birds were chirping, people out walking everywhere.  

Black-Shouldered Kite Leschenault

I just love those red eyes and yellow legs and feet.  These small to medium raptors feed by dropping to the ground upon seeing mice, small lizards and ground birds.  More information can be found at Birdlife.

A big shout of thanks goes out to my friend Chris Tate for letting me know that this Kite has been hanging around Leschenault lately and that I had better get my act into gear and get out there.  

Black-Shouldered Kite Leschenault

Great Egret

I also came across this Great Egret sitting up on a branch for me.  These guys are often on the ground in amongst the grasses or in the water so you don’t always get the opportunity to photograph them legs and all.  These birds are stunning when they are in their breeding plumage usually in summer.

Great Egret

Bremer Canyon Killer Whales

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Bremer Canyon Killer Whales

Male Orca Bremer Canyon

El Notcho, Male Killer Whale

I spent a wonderful day last weekend out on the water, south of Bremer Bay, in the area called Bremer Canyon.  This is a hot spot for Killer Whales and it’s still  unknown to many West Australians.  Our tour with Naturaliste Charters started at the Bremer Bay Boat Harbour at 8.30am.  We left the coast with some incredible skies which stayed with us for a few hours.

clouds and the sea

Then the first of the mammals arrived, an escort from a pod of Common Dolphins.  They were along side of us and also a number at the bow just keeping ahead of us.  This is the first time to my knowledge that I’ve seen Common Dolphins, it’s usually Bottlenose that I’ve come across.

Common Dolphin

Common Dolphin

Then it happened, just as we were approaching the area known as Bremer Canyon, we had our first Killer Whale sighting.  

The next couple of hours we were kept busy with many Killer Whales coming and going all around the boat.  A kill or two was made.  The Flesh-footed Shearwater are always ready to pick up any leftovers and the odd squawk could be heard around kill time.  They are usually silent at sea and noisy in their colonies. 

Orca tail

A little bit of breaching and tail slapping was happening.  A couple of times we had one dive under the boat and come up the other side right in front of our very eyes except of course I had my camera in the way and she was just too close and too fast to photograph.  After that I made sure that I put the camera down for a while and just enjoyed watching all of the activity.  

Orca Killer Whales Bremer Canyon Western Australia

It’s possible to identify every individual Killer Whale.  The size and shape of their saddle patch (the grey area behind the dorsal fin) acts like a finger print.  Also the size and shape of their dorsal fins and any scars they may have help with a quick ID.  A male dorsal fin is taller and more triangular than the female. 

Orcas of Bremer Canyon

Orca doing a roll sequence images

My last Killer Whale image on this post is of one ‘Surging’ apparently this is a very economical way for the them to swim.

Orca Killer Whales Bremer Canyon Western Australia

The Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross are the smallest of the Mollymawks and are listed as vunerable by the Dept of Environment.  

Albatross at Bremer Canyon

Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross

Flesh-footed Shearwater

Flesh-footed Shearwater

 

 

 

 

 

Day 7 La Paz to Cabo San Lucas

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Day 7 on the Bikes

We took a wrong turn this morning but I was happy as we had passed by an area with lots of cactus and the Turkey Vultures were drying their wings so Andy slowed down for me on the way back so I could capture a shot.  Quite atmospheric with the low cloud around.

Morning tea rest stop was at a little town called El Triunfo.  They had a great character coffee shop down Harley Davidson Drive  and a music museum.

Lunch saw us in the artist community of Todos Santos, which has a number of art galleries and lots of souvenir shopping.  Silver is a big thing here so there is a number of shops selling everything silver.  We ate lunch at the Hotel California.  I believe that the band The Eagles have filed a lawsuit against the hotel for leading people to believe that they inspired the bands biggest hit.  They have a huge souvenir shop which gets a lot of sales.

Spent the night at Bahia Hotel Beach Club a block back from the beach and a room overlooking the pool. The beach front is full of resorts or restaurant which each have an exclusive bit of beach.  Trying to upload a photo of this below but current wi-fi is not letting me.  Lots of people down here for sunset, drinking games etc.  Dinner at La Dolce Italian Restaurant which served up the most beautiful food and we were looked after by the owner (a friend of our van driver).


Turkey Vultures on the cactus

The restrooms at Hotel California Todos Santos were quirky

The Mission at El Triunfo

Lots of little eateries on the side of the road, lots closed down also

 

Black-Cockatoos Visit my Backyard

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Black-Cockatoos

We have a dead tree in our backyard which Andy has threatened a number of times to cut down “it’s jarrah, good firewood” he says, but I won’t let him.  “It’s the Cockie tree” I say to him.  Sometimes we have the odd Galah land there and a couple of other species but it’s by far utilised the most by the Forest Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos.  They sit there and shriek, preen and mate (as I witnessed for the first time yesterday).  They also roost for many months of the year in the Red Gums just beyond our fence line.  Our area is full of Red Gums or Marri trees which grow these big nuts, we call them honky nuts, anyway, the Black Cockatoos love them.  As do the Red Capped Parrots and the Ringneck Parrots (28’s).  

The birds discard the nuts after eating the large seed from inside, by discard I mean throw on the ground for us to trip and slip on.  We’ve even had one put a hole through one of our front windows when Andy was mowing.  At the moment it must be peak honky nut season as our driveway is just a layer of honky nuts.  

Forest Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoos

I believe that the subspecies that can be found here are listed as vulnerable.  This is due to destruction of woodlands and forests and also competition for nesting hollows.  These birds spend a lot of time in our neck of the woods.  A good supply of food and nesting hollows in the old trees keep them coming back year after year.  For more information on these birds head on over to the WA Museum website.

Black-Cockatoos visit my Backyard

Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red-tailed Black-CockatoosRed-tailed Black-Cockatoos

 

 

White-tailed Black-Cockatoos

Baudin’s Black-Cockatoos AKA Long-billed Black-Cockatoos

These beautiful birds have started to visit our backyard over the last week or two.  The way I see it, that means there’s good news and bad news.  The good news is that I get to see them daily.  Then the bad news.  They must have lost more of their habitat/food source and they have to venture further afield.  More info here.

 

Boudin's Black-Cockatoo

Female

Boudin's Black-Cockatoo

Male

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

White-tailed Black-Cockatoos

Baudin’s Black-Cockatoos AKA Long-billed Black-Cockatoos
Carnaby’s Black-Cockatoos AKA Short-billed Black-Cockatoo

While the Carnaby’s are so very similar to the Baudin’s their beaks are the decider.  The Carnaby’s is wider and shorter tipped.  They also are listed as Endangered.   I usually find it hard to tell them apart unless they are in flocks together.  There’s  some images and more info at this link.  I’ve only just realised that I don’t yet have a photo of a Carnaby, I’ll have to rectify that very soon.

 

Honky nuts on a Red Gum Tree

 

Thanks for stopping by, if you’d like to see more of my bird images please click here.

 

 

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The Wonderful Namibian Birds

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Namibian Birds – Well how do I start.

Those of you who know me well know that I love to photograph birds.  I didn’t realise that birding would play such an important part in my trip to Namibia, but I was wrong coming home with more than just a handful of species.

There are about 600 birds species native to Namibia.  I think I managed to capture about 10% of these.  Most are just record shots but others I’m very happy with.  You could easily make birding your primary reason for a trip to this Namibia.

I should mention that 90% of these images were taken with a full frame camera and a 70-200mm f2.8 lens with a 1.4x converter attached.  I was resting my camera on the vehicle for most of the photos.  Because I can’t hold the camera steady with much over a 200mm focal length I really need to use a tripod when ever I can.

Bird

Great White Pelican

day-13-damaraland-9049

Ostrich

 

Aka Flying Banana

Yellow-billed Hornbill Aka Flying Banana

Namibian Birds

Kori Bustard

Namibian Birds

Greater Flamingo

 

Crested Terns Fishing Bremer Bay

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Crested Terns fishing at Bremer Bay.  What a lovely sight for me.  I’ve never taken the time out to watch these magnificent birds, what a mistake.  I’ll not be overlooking them in the future.  Their long pointed silvery grey wings seem to effortlessly soar them through the air.  How they manage to catch the smallest of fish from a plunge starting a couple of metres above the water, is beyond me.  While the photos are not top quality they’re my first of this type so I’m happy with them.  I hope that you enjoy them also.

Fishing Crested Terns

fishing-terns-2

fishing-terns-3

fishing-terns-4

fishing-terns-5

fishing-terns-6

fishing-terns-7

fishing-terns-8

 

The Wonders of Victoria Dam

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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.

Victoria Dam-3

Australasian Grebe

Victoria Dam-5

 

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.

Victoria Dam-4

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

Victoria Dam-2

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.

Victoria Dam-1