birding – Page 2 – Nature in Focus

Eyre Highway

First stop on the Eyre Highway after Fraser Range was Balladonia. The golf hole here is named “Skylab” in homage to the bits of the NASA space station that scattered its bits all over the area in 1979. The Balladonia Motel includes a museum with some interesting displays and information, and provided a decent cup of coffee to keep the support crew awake while the men wrestled with the ‘fairway’. The opening image for this post was taken more or less from the tee; if you look carefully you can see a red sign in the centre behind the trees, marking the green’s whereabouts. No signs showing where the golf balls went to!

The Skylab tee at Balladonia

Eagle’s nest at Cocklebiddy – with eagle high in the sky

Contemplating the fairway at Caiguna

Caiguna golf – 90 mile straight

Balladonia also marks the beginning (or end) of the 90 Mile Straight – one of the longest stretches of straight road (146.6 km) in the world – between here and Caiguna. Definitely not the most scenic drive, although the blowholes near Caiguna were interesting (just not very photogenic). Cocklebiddy was the next stop – this is the launching point for visiting the Eyre Bird Observatory, something I would have loved to do. Unfortunately that would have required a 4WD drive camper and more time than we had available, as the road into this part of the Nuytsland Nature Reserve is really rough. Instead we spent the night at Madura Pass, a much prettier campsite than I was expecting. A highlight for me here was seeing my first wild Major Mitchell’s cockatoos – didn’t get the best pictures but so happy to see them.

Juvenile Black-faced cuckoo-shrike

Major Mitchell’s cockatoos

Sunset through the eucalypts at Madura

We spent a bit of time the next day exploring Eucla, the next stop on the golfing agenda. The hole’s name “Nullarbor Nymph” references an interesting story/hoax about a woman living with kangaroos, cooked up as a publicity stunt for the area. A short drive towards the coast allowed us to explore the ruins of the old telegraph station and the remnants of a jetty once used for bringing in supplies. Blinding white sands made this a tricky location for photography in the middle of the day – thank goodness for polarising filters.

Sand plains near Eucla

Abandoned jetty at Eucla

The Nullarbor Nymph hole at Eucla

Where did it go? Hunting for the ball

Finally after nearly 1500 km we reached the eastern end of Western Australia at the WA/SA Border Village, a very boring but descriptive name. The sign makes you feel a long way from anywhere!

Very green when its plastic

Distance sign at the WA/SA border

Birds of Kruger

One of my favourite things about Kruger is the amazing variety of birds found in the bushveld; absolute heaven for a self-confessed bird nerd. The interesting perches chosen by the birds add to the photographic potential.

Yellow-billed oxpecker perched on Cape Buffalo

Long-tailed shrike precarious on thorn bush

Fork-tailed drongo sitting pretty among the acacia thorns

The use of the rolling hide (aka your car) is great for many birds as they are much less wary than they would be of someone on foot. The only hassle is when you come across birds like the spurfowl; often only visible when on the road, they are quite tricky to capture as they are too close and at an odd angle. Here I’ve tried a close-up portrait, with a background layer of the birds disappearing into the long grass.

Portrait of a Swainson’s spurfowl

Vultures circling far away

One disappointment bird-wise was only seeing vultures from a distance; for example, this large group circling, possibly over a kill, well away from the roads.The waterbirds were more cooperative; the Egyptian goose posed beautifully on one leg and the Hamerkop provided some interesting action while trying to land on a vanishing hippo – see one of my previous posts for more on that .

Egyptian goose with reflection

Hamerkop landing (or not)

My last two images were taken at places where you can get out of your vehicle. The barbet was playing hard to get, so this was the best I could manage. In contrast, the hornbills are fairly tame and quite easy to photograph at picnic sites.

Yellow-billed hornbill

Crested barbet

Birds and buffalo

A very pretty Mourning dove in camp at Satara

Satara is a lovely camp – we all wished for more nights there. What should have been a post-lunch siesta time was spent stalking birds, like this lovely Mourning dove, in front of the rondavels (the round thatched huts typical of Kruger). I wish I managed a better shot of the Green Wood-hoopoes; they were very busy foraging for bugs in gaps in the bark of a tree. The Red-billed buffalo weaver was much more relaxed.

Green wood hoopoe (or Red-billed) foraging for bugs

Green wood hoopoe foraging for insects

Red-billed buffalo weaver in Satara camp

During our late afternoon drive heading north from camp, we came across a huge herd of Cape buffalo. I changed to my wide-angle lens to try and capture a sense of the size of the herd. It probably would have worked better if I could have got out of the car and low down, with one buffalo in the immediate foreground – but I wasn’t going to try that. Buffalo may look a bit like cattle but they aren’t one of the Big Five for nothing! Even this one trying to scratch his head looks a bit dangerous, especially when you look at those horns closely.

Huge buffalo herd near Satara

Glossy starling showing off its shiny feathers

Cape buffalo having a scratch

We stayed out as late as we could – as ordinary tourists in Kruger you have to be back in camp when the gates close at sunset. Some vultures hanging about in a tree were intriguing but too far away to see if there was something exciting on the ground attracting their attention. I am glad I managed an African sunset shot – not bad for handheld at 250mm.

Misty morning in Kruger

We were all up bright and early on our first morning in the park – except it wasn’t really very bright at all, rather it was misty and quite gloomy for the first couple of hours. Undeterred we set off along a dirt road toward the N’wanetsi picnic site, and were rewarded with a few interesting sightings,such as a small group of sleepy Spotted hyena. Photography was a bit challenging in the light conditions, so I missed getting anything decent of the Ground hornbill group we came across. The spider webs in the mist were fun to capture, and by the time we saw the zebra it was a bit lighter.

Eerie bushveld in the morning mist

Backlit spider web in the bushveld

Plains zebra peeking over another’s back

A pair of Bateleur eagles made great subjects – such majestic birds (and so easy to identify, unlike many other raptors!). At N’wanetsi, we could get out and stretch our legs, and enjoy the view over a river and towards the Lebombo Mountains. I took the opportunity to stalk a few birds – I’m really happy with the bulbul on the aloe stalk as I could get a lovely soft background by virtue of being high up. Clean backgrounds were not always easy in the park as you are constrained by having to stay in your car most of the time. Of course, getting clean backgrounds behind a giraffe’s head is not so difficult as it is way above most of the vegetation.

Portrait of a Bateleur eagle

Dark-capped bulbul feeding on a Lebombo aloe (Aloe spicata) flower spike

Giraffe portrait in colour

The trip back to camp was not too fruitful – the lone wildebeest pretty much sums it up. I did capture one of the ubiquitous Lilac-breasted rollers, illustrating my struggles with busy backgrounds in the process.

Lilac-breasted roller perched in a thornbush

Lonely wildebeest in the bushveld

Birding in Montagu

Nana's cheeky robin-chat waiting for his snack. — Nana’s cheeky robin-chat waiting for his snack.

Firstly some apologies for my absence – we’ve been travelling for a few weeks. My original plan was to prepare some posts to publish on the go but things got away from me and it never happened. Maybe next time! And so back to July last year for a look at my favourite birding images from my stay in Montagu. The Cape robin-chat above is very tame and has my parents well trained to produce snacks of cheese on demand. If they are a bit tardy, he wanders into the house to hurry them up!

The gorgeous male Southern double-collared sunbird seen in the garden

Cape weaver on a wire feeder.

Female Cape weavers squabbling over the bread holder.

Birding in my parents’ garden is always rewarding, especially as they have a good supply of bird feeders. Another awesome spot in Montagu is the lei-water dam, used as a roost by egrets, herons and cormorants. It is right in town and has a great hide/platform which gives good access for photography. I could probably spend a whole day there — no-one else in the family can quite see the attraction as it is a bit smelly. My favourite image is the male Cape weaver in breeding plumage hanging from the bottom of his nest, which is built on the end of a thorny branch and suspended over water. Hope the lady weaver approves! We also found more industrious weavers in the nature garden on the other side of town – this time, a Southern masked weaver was busy with the beginnings of his nest. It was fascinating to watch him weave the grass strands in and out.

Incoming! Grey heron adding twigs to their nest at the lei-water dam.

Male Southern masked weaver beginning his nest.

Blackheaded herons at the lei-water dam

Male Cape weaver looking for female approval of his nest building skills.

Dryandra Woodland Village

I thought I’d finish off my Dryandra posts with a few images taken in and around the wonderful Lions Dryandra Village– we’ve stayed here a few times and always been very impressed. The cottages were originally built to house the woodcutters working in the area, so they are lovely old buildings with creaky wooden floors and outside ‘dunnies’. Each cottage has an outside and inside fireplace – a plus for us as my husband loves being able to build a real fire (safely). The caretakers (Lisa and John) are very helpful and a fund of useful information; they do appreciate visitors who respect nature and the tranquility. If the cottages are full there is a DPaW campground at Congelin.

Numbat cottage at Dryandra

Eucalypt sunset silhouette

Kangaroos in the paddock

The cottage verandas face west, wonderful for sunset viewing across the paddock populated by Western grey kangaroos, with eucalypt forest in the distance. You don’t really need to move very far to see all sorts of interesting birds, like the very obliging male Red-capped robin shown below. Possums often make a night-time appearance and if you’d like to see more of Western Australia’s nocturnal marsupials the Barna Mia santuary is open some nights. Just dress warmly if you are visiting in winter. An early morning walk near the village should result in some close-up kangaroo sightings. There are plenty of other walks, good for wild flowers in spring and if you are really lucky you might see an echidna or a numbat (I’ve glimpsed a numbat once – would love a photo opportunity!).

Red-capped robin

Mum kangaroo with her joey in pouch

A section of the Lol Gray trail

Dryandra birding

Dryandra and the surrounding area is always good value from a birding point of view, particularly considering the proximity to Perth (about 2 hours driving). From a photography point of view, I appreciate the fact that I can just wander off from the cottages and find plenty to see and photograph. On our last visit, the old arboretum was very productive, as the yellow eucalyptus flowers were attracting several different species of honeyeater. Although the Singing honeyeater is a common species in Perth, it was great to have them feeding at eye-level. I enjoyed seeing and capturing the smaller Brown-headed honeyeaters – they were quite a challenge as they flit about busily.

Brown-headed honeyeater hiding in the eucalypts

An entertaining spectacle was provided by a very fierce Willie Wagtail that seemed to have a kamikaze approach to life; diving and swooping at the much larger Grey Currawong. Currawongs probably do eat nestlings of other birds, so I guess the wagtail could be justified – the strange thing was that only one of the pair of currawongs seemed to attract the Willie wagtail’s ire. Meanwhile, a Ringneck parrot quietly went about feeding in the weeds in the adjacent paddock.

Grey currawong

Australian ringneck feeding

Some of the first bird images I took with my ‘big lens’ (the Sigma 150-500) were taken in Dryandra in July two years ago. I have learnt a lot about photography since then but am still fond of these pictures – partly due to the subjects being such beautiful birds. They were all feeding on another eucalypt species where the flowers had fallen onto the ground and attracted heaps of bees.

Restless flycatcher

Splendid fairy-wren – eclipse male

Yellow-plumed honeyeater

© Jennie Stock – Nature in Focus, 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any images or other material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Early morning on Rottnest

The first time I stayed over at Rottnest I was there to help with a bird banding project – banding almost always involves early starts. The first morning I rode past the beautiful scenery and shorebirds, wishing I had time to stop with my camera. The second morning I arranged a little bit of time off – I think it was worth it to get such lovely light. My plan is to find a way to spend a whole week over there just taking photos, as the birding and scenery is so wonderful.

Strolling on the beach – Ruddy turnstone

Banded stilts and reflections

Red-capped plover

Rock parrots on Rottnest

A little while ago I spent a weekend on Rottnest Island trying to get some decent images of these gorgeous little birds. There is a very small population of Rock Parrots (Neophema petrophila) left on the island, although there are more on the mainland. This first image gives a good idea of their small size, with the bird not much bigger than the tufts of grass.

So far, three of the Rottnest birds have been banded (or ringed). The plan is to monitor this group of birds and collect information to help determine the exact population size, whether they are breeding, which parts of the island they use and so on. The researchers wanted some images of banded birds to use for posters asking for sighting information from the public. We managed to find a group of four rock parrots, including the three banded birds, each of which has a metal band on its right leg and a coloured plastic band on the left leg. They were moderately cooperative, allowing me to get some images of them and their bands. They didn’t go so far as to fly into the nets that had been set up in the hope of catching the unbanded bird!

Banded rock parrot

Rock parrot pair

Rock parrot on fence

Anyone who visits Rottnest and is lucky enough to spot a banded Rock Parrot, please report date, time, location, number of birds and band colour to boldparkbirdbanding@hotmail.com For more information see http://www.rottnestisland.com/about/flora-fauna/birds

Rottnest Island

This cute little creature is a quokka, a small marsupial familiar to any visitor to Rottnest Island. ‘Rotto’, as it is affectionately known, is a small island off the coast of Perth, Western Australia. Reached by a ferry trip of about 1 hr or by private boat, Rottnest is popular for summer holidays and day trips. There are virtually no cars and most people get around on bicycles. I have found Rottnest to be a great place for photography; as is the case on many islands, the birds and other animals are much less skittish than usual. In fact, the quokkas often get too close!

The Rough and the Smooth

Backlit raven

Curious Golden whistler female

Silver gull portrait

Rottnest is home to a couple of very attractive feral species – introduced birds that have ‘gone wild’. I think there is now only one peacock left on the island – he did look rather lonely. I saw a group of pheasants as well; I’m fairly sure this one is a young male bird.

Lonely peacock

Male pheasant on Rottnest

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© Jennie Stock – Nature in Focus, 2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any images or other material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

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