Pardalote up close
Spotted Pardalotes
My regular daily walk takes me along a road bordering our five acre property and then towards a nearby railway line which runs from Adelaide to Melbourne. This road has a reasonable collection of remnant mallee vegetation between the road and the fences along nearby farms and other properties.
On a recent afternoon walk my attention was caught by the movement of a small bird in the roadside vegetation. I stopped to have a closer look, edging to within a metre. A Spotted Pardalote was feeding at a height of about a metre. Totally ignoring me it continued to feed while I watched up close. I admire these beautiful little birds whenever I see them, and their cheerful chirping in our garden is always welcome.
I usually don’t take my camera on these walks, so I’ve included a photo I took some time ago of two of this species visiting one of our birdbaths in our garden.
Perhaps I should get into the habit of taking my camera on my walks because I’ve missed some excellent photo opportunities in recent weeks.
Magpie portraits
Australian Magpie
A few days ago we had some wonderful rain. When we get significant falls of rain, we also get sizeable puddles of water in our gravel driveway. The birds often take advantage of the water and enjoy a splash or two. I managed to get a few portrait shots of one of our resident magpies.
Australian Magpie
Australian Magpie
New Holland Honeyeaters
New Holland Honeyeater
Sometimes everything just works really well when taking photos of birds.
Here is a case in point.
I looked out of the window from my office and saw this New Holland Honeyeater perched on one of the branches of a bush in the garden. I grabbed my camera and clicked; I was quite pleased with the result.
Sometimes you do win them.
New Holland Honeyeater
Grey Fantail at last
Grey Fantail at our bird bath
Sometimes it is the common species that give birders the most problems. With me it is getting good photos of the common garden bird, the Grey Fantail.
This bird has been visiting our garden in recent weeks. It is a regular visitor during the cooler months. I haven’t been able to get a good close up photo until earlier this week. I chased it around the garden on several occasions over the previous week, only to have it elude me and my camera every time. They are not known to sit still for very long.
Eventually, it settled on the bird bath for long enough for a photo. It then returned several times over the next few minutes; I was waiting with my camera ready focussed.
Grey Fantail at our bird bath
Grey Fantail at our bird bath
Dusky Turtle Dove sunning itself, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Dusky Turtle Dove, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
I delight in getting good photos of birds when I go out birding. Sometimes a great shot presents itself with little planning on my part. On this occasion this Dusky Turtle Dove in Addis Ababa last December was not aware of my presence high up on the other side of a small stream. My camera was at full zoom so I was pleased with the result, a nice clear photo.
You can read more about my encounters with this species here, including the frustration of getting good photos of it in poor lighting conditions.