Australian Magpie
I have several Australian Magpies that come to receive snacks each day – prime grade minced beef with Insectivore added – and this young one will now sit on my shoulder, wrist, head, or today, the 400mm lens of my camera as I was a bit slow in producing the goodies! Have not yet given her a name……..suggestions welcome.
Back again……
I cannot believe that it is more than three years since I posted here – how time flies! Since my last post I have sold my home, built a new one in the same town and moved….now more than two years ago. My time has been spent developing a garden from absolutely nothing, but I still stitch a variety of things and take photographs. I have some Australian Magpies that have become quite tame and friendly, so of course I have many, many photos of them. Here are a few of one of them who had been playing in the sprinkler to get things started again. I do hope some of my previous followers are still around and have not given up on me!
Little Blue Man
I have the most marvellous app on my phone and iPad – Michael Morecombe and David Stewart Guide to Australian Birds – it is not free, but is a great source of information, plus each entry includes recordings of the bird songs for each species. It is a very useful tool to use when photographing birds – see the bird, play their song, and the bird in question comes in close to investigate who is in their territory. Obviously one takes care how one uses it, so as not to cause any distress, but I have used it a couple of times recently. There is a pair of Superb Fairy Wrens that visit my back garden daily, the male is only just beginning to get his grown up plumage, so his feathers look a little like a tatty patchwork of colour, while his missus is just a pale brownish colour. These are shots taken over the last few days using a 70-200mm lens.
Fishing with Friends
These three, a Spoonbill, a Grey Heron and an Ibis can often be found together in my lake – an unusual and unlikely group of friends.
All taken from a distance with my 70-200 mm lens and early morning. With a higher ISO they were quite noisy, and colour was not impressive so I made them black and white for a change!
More Birds…
I’m sure you may be getting a bit tired of all the birds which have been featuring here, but sometimes I capture something that I just have to share. These were taken today using that big 300mm lens I have on loan. The soggy Splendid Wren was taken at a friend’s house where she has a bird bath just outside a window, and very close to the house. It was amazing to watch him splashing around and enjoying the water.
The Kookaburra was sitting in a Chestnut Tree in my back yard, carefully watching a garden bed that had been weeded yesterday – and the last shot shows what he was waiting for!
Fairies at the bottom of my garden
This handsome fellow and his missus have made a nest in the huge pile of garden debris that will have to be burnt before the fire season begins early in November – I do hope they will have moved out by then! He is a Superb Blue Wren, or Fairywren.
