I posted 2 cool shots of a hunting black shouldered kite on FB today. One is elegant and graceful, the other is just plain gross. Guess which one got more "engagement"?
If you like my photos I give you more! Another Pied Stilt enjoying the sunset and taking the opportunity to have a little bath. It was pretty close to dark when I took this photo and it is only due to the wonders of modern technology (cameras that can shoot at massive ISO and de-noise technology to clean up afterwards) that I can take a photo in such low light AND still freeze water droplets - I could barely see the birds without the camera - but I could still see the colours of the water (and sky). #birds#birdphotography
The number 1 rule of photography is to capture the things that give you joy. I went to the lake tonight, I missed the best light and thought I wouldn't get anything good. But it was warm, and peaceful and as the sun sank the water turned pink and the pied stilts came across the shore right in front of me and I thought it was beautiful so I took some photos of them and their reflections. I've had to apply some serious de-noising as these photos were taken in the almost dark and I've also taken the liberty of removing some little black splodges that were marring the mirror perfect water. I think these give a good FEEL of the serenity of the moment, although obviously I can't capture the whole experience of sunset outdoors on an unseasonably warm Autumn night. #birds#birdphotography
The Welcome Swallows are busy collecting little balls of mud - which is confusing me because they should be migrating North now and this seems like a very nest building activity. However, it has been enormous fun to crouch at the lake edge and try to catch them in motion. Pretty happy with this shot 😊 #birds#birdphotography
Small Australian birds are actually REALLY aggressive. Our honeyeaters are enormously territorial and spend a lot of their time shooing other birds out of their territories. But the KING of aggressive behaviour are our little willy wagtails. They will take on anything - and they normally win. As an interesting aside I have never actually seen a raptor preying on willy wagtails, but the ravens and kookaburras certainly do. #birds#birdphotography
This picture contains grey teal (the boring duck type birds), Australian White Ibis (better known as bin chickens and for good reason) and my favourite (ok, just for today) Glossy Ibis which are the cool bronze coloured birds with all the architectural body parts. I also like to refer to them as shiny disco chickens but you need better light for this description to fit. #birds#birdphotography
High key Spoonbill. Low key Spoonbill. Full colour Spoonbill. The light was terrible this evening - but I was so happy because we finally got a few drops of rain which we desperately need.
I went birding somewhere different today - and got rewarded with some species I don't normally see. This handsome fellow is a Western Whistler (they used to be called a Golden Whistler, till the powers that be decided they were a separate species and deserved their own, much more boring name). #birds#birdphotography
Catching breakfast is only the start of the battle. The whistling kite caught the stilt, but then had to evade its sibling AND a swamp harrier who came to see what all the fuss was about and whether there might be a free meal involved. Kite no. 1 managed to keep the stilt all to itself. #birds#birdphotography
These Carnaby's Cockatoos are an endangered species, but currently there are hundreds of them at Yanchep National Park. I really struggle to take nice photos of birds en masse like this - I just don't have the eye to put any sort of composition or coherence into these images. It's just chaos. #birds#birdphotography
In a school of fish, such "chaos", the inability of a predator [the photographer!] to focus on one is very much a feature. In a flock of birds, I wonder, may this be the case too? In addition to further benefits like many eyes on the horizon and early warning calls from conspecifics about predators.