This weeks blog post is a walk thought of the shots from this weeks walk in the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan. The shots for this week in a lot of cases were just a little to distant so have been heavily cropped and as a result the image quality isn't the best this week. Some times a 600mm lens just isn't long enough. 

This first shot is of a Variegated Fairy-wren (Malurus lamberti) Lighting conditions was a bit dark so the I have upped the ISO and as the wren was a fair bit back from the path this one’s been heavily cropped so the image is starting to break up a bit particular around the tip of the wrens tail.  If it was a bit closer could have made a nice shot. So having a high ISO certainly limits the amount of cropping you can do. 

Same issue on this one a White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis) again well set back from the path so heavily cropped in again to frame the shot but the image is again breaking up. The image at full size isn't so bad but the detail of the bird is lost so its a bit of which is better the cleaner image which shows no detail or the cropped image which has the framing. Either way both these images aren't the best. One for the learning box. To know for next time. 

Here's the same shot still cropped but not as heavily. This shot is only at ISO 1250 so not excessively high ISO but shows you how cropping will deteriorate the image.

Next up I walked a long the path towards the plant bank on the opposite side of the road to the stolen generation memorial and just before the clearing leading to the plant back I found a small group of White-winged Chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos) these were foraging around the leaf litter on the ground. 

From there I drove up to the connections gardens and checking on the Pied Currawong (Strepera graculina) nest the Chicks are still in the nest so maybe another week or so to go, not as windy as last week but still a good breeze blowing so the nest was still moving about a fair bit so not so easy to get a clear shot, but managed these two. 

After last weeks shots of the Swallows being feed at the lake I took a walk down to the lakes to see what was going on there, on the way I came across these Kangaroo paws with the  sun on them. Not happy with this one the backgrounds fine but not enough depth of field to the flowers. 

Again the swallows were in the branches in the middle of the lake.  Again quite a bit away so when cropped in to show the sense of action the image start to break down again.  

This week I took a drive around to the Banksia Garden as well to see what was about there, A few Grevilleas in flower of different types from bright yellow to pinks and reds. 

This Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides) was also about cleaning up the ice someone left behind after their BBQ.

This little Wattlebird (Anthochaera chrysoptera)  wasn't at all shy so good got quite close of once this weekend for these shots you can see the difference in clarity in these two compared to the earlier ones. 

One last Grevillea for the week.

So thats it for this weeks shots, lesson learnt is get as low as an ISO as possible if you will be forced to crop into an image. 

Thats it for this weeks blog post, I'll be back next week wth more.

Thanks for dropping by my blog. 

Glenn

This weeks blog is a walk through of the shots taken on the weekend in the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan.

This week I headed out Saturday afternoon, again no mushrooms found this week. The weathers been warming up and pretty dry out this way the last few weeks, but the good news is rain is predicted for the next few days so hopefully something interesting next weekend. We'll see I guess.

This week I started off around the plant bank and walked along the cannel walk Found this Jacky Winter (Microeca fascinans) in the wattle trees along the walk. 

From there I headed back toward the stolen Generation memorial and came across this Bell Miner (Manorina melanophrys) around eye level which they are normally a lot higher up. I couldn't get a clean shot so plenty of sticks in the way of this one, plus not in the best of light so high contrast here as well. 

While taking these shots of the Bell Miner I heard some movement in the leaves and saw this lace monitor (Varanus varius)  making its way along the ground, these are usually spotted by the birds making noises around it and trying to chase them off, as they rob the nests of eggs, easily climbing trees to do so. 

This next shot is of a Juvenile male Variegated fairy-wren (Malurus lamberti) This one not fully coloured up yet, but starting to shoo of the colours he will soon be sporting. This shots pretty heavily cropped as even with a 600mm lens on a crop body pretty far away.

Also came across this Olive-Backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus) again not the best of shots but a good collection of birds about to pick from this weekend.  

Walking back towards the road I came across another Bell Miner, again not positioned in the best.

Also high up in the trees this pair of Red-rumped parrots. (Psephotus haematonotus) With the Male feeding the female in this shot. 

Next up at the small dam beside the road this White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) This one was taken with the sun behind the bird as I tried for a better angle it took off into the trees, so sometimes you have to take the first shot as you may not get another. 

In this case I did get another from its perch in the tree, certainly an interesting pose it gave for this shot. 

The dam was a popular spot as several other birds came down to drink this ones a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galleria).

Not to miss out an Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides) also came down, this one has the better reflection. 

Another example of a hollow in use as this Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius) was investigating this one. 

These next two are of the Pied Currawong form last week, the chicks in the nest are getting larger this week. 

This next shot shows just how cleaver these ones are. The bird had the remains of another smaller bird and would hook the remains in the fork of the bush here and would pull to break the pieces down small enough to feed the chicks then fly back down to pull some more, It kept this up for a while slowly shredding the piece to chick sized mouth fulls.   

From there I headed down to the lakes to see what has going on down there as I walked across the grass another Sulphur-crested Cockatoo was on duty patrolling the lawn.

On the lakes were a few Cormorants this first one a little Pied Cormorant (Microcarbo Melanoleucos) coming in to land.

Next up a Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris) motoring along on the lake.

Last up fro this week this series of shots of the Welcome Swallows (Hirundo neoxena) Feeding its young while still one the wing. There were four young not eh branch and all got turns at a feed. The parent would skim the lake collecting insects along the way then come back to feed the young then back over the lake again. So I managed a few shots of this activity this week. These would be the best of the weeks shots. 

So all up a good collections of birds this week in the Australian Botanical Gardens, some shots Ok this week others not so great so a mixed bag for the week, but happy with these last few. No mushrooms this week, maybe some next weekend if the rain shows up that was promised, so far still dry there so not holding my breath. 

Thanks for dropping my my blog this week. 

Glenn

This weeks blog post is a walk thought of the shots taken last weekend at the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan. 

A Bit of a mixture this week in shots. starting off with a Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leugophrys) in the grass opposite the plant bank. This one was collecting nesting materials and seamed to be heading to the sheoaks beside the small dam there, So I'll have to keep an eye out there for the future. 

Then walking along to walkway beside the cannel I eventually came to the clearing where this Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius) was sitting along with a small flock of them, this one is the only one that stayed its ground, the rest took of and this one didn't stay to long. 

Heading back to the car I spotted the Long Billed Corella (Cacatua tenuirostris) playing Peek-a-boo in its hollow. 

From there I drove up to the connections gardens where I spotted this Pied Currawong (Strepera graculina)  on its nest its mate came by and passed over some food to feed to junior, which you can just make out the orange been in this shot, the afternoon got a bit windy here so the nest was moving in and out of shot and in the dark environment of the understory not the best conditions for this shot. 

With not so many shots under my belt for the week and wind picking up I tried a detail shot of this tree fern frong. Hand held, using my normal mushroom set up, Canon 60D with 100 mm f2,8 L Macro lens. (No flash used this time) 

This Red Wattlebird (Anthochaera Carunculata) was doing a spot of feather maintenance. No doubt the off feather was out of place from the wind on the day. 

The Western Austrlian Paper daisies are starting to come to an end now, so think Last week end was the pick of the days for these, this year, the wet weather easlier on in the year when the garden bed was all but washed away took its toll this year on the display. 

The last few weeks I've taken a few shots of the white Waratah this week it was the more common reds turn to flower so this is shot of the red Waratah. This shot was taken with the Sigma 150 to 600mm sports lens a bit of over kill but thats the set up the tripod was set to so easies to get the shot with. In this case I did use the flash so was able to underexpose to get the black background and only light where I wanted with the speedlite. 

​This last shot for the week at the start of the car pard was the stem of a grass tree, so you can see that the spike is really a host of tiny flowers, no wonder last weeks lorikeet was interested in one of these. 

Well thats it for this weeks shots from the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan. 

Thanks for dropping by my blog, some exciting news coming up here in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. 

Glenn