Looks like he was eyeing you off on the way down too.... to shot sir..:2tsup:
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Looks like he was eyeing you off on the way down too.... to shot sir..:2tsup:
I went to the Wollemi National Park, which is just north of Sydney, for a bush walk/photo session. Ultimately rather slim pickings - perhaps due to the hot day.
This is a Wonga pigeon. I understand these were regarded as the tastiest of pigeons in the early days and they still remain rather wary. I"ve never been close to one before but this one allowed a very close approach. It was at a campground so I guess it was habituated to people.
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While sitting, waiting, this golden whistler landed in a tree just above me. This shot is full frame, so it was very close. I dont much like steep shots where you are looking up at the subject, but its rare to be this close so I took it anyway. Normally the male golden whistler stays high in the trees, though the female spends most of her time skulking around the lower branches. That sort of behavioural sexual dimorphism is rare, as far as I know.
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And this shot of a shining bronze cuckoo is interesting because it shows it doing its spread-wing intraspecies communication thing. They use their wings to communicate with other cuckoos, though what they are saying I have no idea.
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cheers
Arron
Great shots Arron you've got a talent mate!.
Cheers
Trev.
Today I went out to a forest park on the NW side of Sydney. Three photos to share:
This one is a white throated gerygone. A little songster with a 'falling leaf' melody. It sings relentlessly when it arrives and prepares for nesting - which led to it being called the bush canary by old timers. Its a summer migrant to our area.
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And this is another summer migrant. Its a leaden flycatcher. Despite the blown whites I thought this photo was interesting because it shows the whiskers around the bill that characterise the flycatchers. They are meant to somehow help catch insects - though I've never understood how.
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and this is a Lewins honeyeater - one of the really common bush birds around Sydney. Inveterate bullies. This one is notably scruffy feather-wise so I guess its nesting or recently finished.
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Aside from these, it was a day of lost opportunities - lots of birds flying off just as I tried to get focus, and lots of photos of branches on which birds had sat moments before. I don't mind, it gives me a reason to go back.
Anyway, the really amazing thing was that as I was sitting quietly in the forest, sitting on a little stool with a camouflaged bag hide covering both me and camera and just my camera lens and eyes visible, a deer fawn wandered into view. It was followed by a doe. I got a couple of ID shots, then they came very close to me but remained obscured by a light cover of scrub. The doe knew something was amiss and kept testing the air and looking right at me, trying to make out what I was. After a few minutes they must have caught my scent and bolted. In the 20 years I've been going to this park and surrounding areas I've never heard or seen of deer in the area. I know there are lots of rusa deer in the Royal National Park, and whatever areas adjacent to there that they can reach by travelling along forest corridors, but never heard of them in the north west (this spot is between Sydney and Windsor).
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Rusas, I assume.
cheers
Arron