Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan 27/01/2017-28-01-2017
Welcome back to my weekly blog on my photography from the week. Last week we had a public holiday here on the Thursday and like most of my company I took the opportunity to take the Friday as annual leave making for a four-day weekend here. So, I managed an extra day of photography this weekend.
First up a wrap up of the blog post visits from last week, with a tie for the most views last week coming from Australia and the United States of America. Then France, Israel and Italy all on equal number of views. This week only 5 countries viewing the blog this week.
So on with the review of this week’s shots, again mostly taken in the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan.
First up a hand held shot of a Scotch Thistle (Onopordum acanthium) Thi sone was taken as a series of images hand help and focus stacked from 12 different images. Though these are closed as weed they still make for an interesting subject up close.
Next up I revised the undercroft of the Plant bank to see what else I could do with that, I've seen some of the images some people have made from here so still working at getting the best out of this space. The Garden is a moss garden with the roof of the undercroft lined with mirrors.
Walking thought the undercroft and up pas the plant bank to the small stand of gum trees on the left, is where I find a tree that has been shown the last few weeks here with many hollows, this week one hollow say quite a bit of activity while I was there this week. Started off with a pair of Red-rumped parrots (Psephotus haematonotus) in possession of the hollow.
This next shot shows them on the look out with both turned skywards to see whats coming.
Only to be displaced by a pair of Rainbow Lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus)
The red-rumps didn't take to kindly to that and had a go at re-taking possession as shown in the next few shots with a few feathers flying.
The dispute was settled when a Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla) flew down and took over the Hollow, it was up above watch the hole time and probably didn't like all the commotion going on down below.
From there I walked along the path in the direction of the stolen generation memorial and stopped by the gum tree along the road to check out the hollows there to find a pair of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos (Cacatua galleria) sitting on top of one of the hollows.
With summer in full swing here now and plenty of hot days the gum trees are starting to shed their bark now so in the coming week there will be plenty of stringing gum trees about with all assorts of interesting shapes, textures and patterns to shoot.
Walking along the woodland path there are plenty of small birdlife if you stop and wait, this shots of a little Brown Thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla) This ones been banded by the Bird banding group in the gardens, as you can see the ring on its leg. These are all wild birds in the gardens but they are ringed and studied within the gardens.
Nest up one of the many Rabbits within the gardens, these like most areas are pests and even if they look cute are not great for the gardens.
This week there was plenty of bird life about and this next shots of a Grey Butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus) This one doesn't look like it brushed its feathers for the shot today.
On a log in the small dam opposite the plant bank was this White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) Not so happy with this shot the focus is slightly off on the eye of the bird where as the back of the bird is OK so looks like I needed a slightly more closed down aperture on this shot.
After that I drove up to the main gardens the connections gardens and tried out a panorama of the gardens.
Plus a few shots around the water garden.
The water garden usually has a few Eastern Water Dragons (Intellagama lesueurii) in residences today one was happy to pose.
This next shot taken at the full 600mm showing all the detail of the head.
While walking in the connections gardens, I heard a High pitched bird call and soon found the bird attached to the voice, this ones a male Mistletoe Bird (Dicaeum hirundinaceum) Not the cleanest of shots, this one wasn't in the mood for posing today. Maybe next time.
I started to make my way back to the car for the day when I saw this pair of Little Pied Cormorants (Microcarbo melanoleucos).
While across the lake another White-faced Heron was coming in to land.
The next day I returned and found the Red rumps at a different hollow in the same tree as earlier on.
Also in the woodland was a pair of Pacific Baza (Aviceda subcristata) These were both pretty high up in the tops of the trees. They were in different trees and everyone and then would call to each other.
Walking again through the woodland area I found this Grey fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa) showing off.
While a Red-browed Finch (Neochmia temporalis) watched on to see what all the fuss was about.
Walking a little further I came across this young not fully coloured up Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius) take some shade in the canopy.
So a good collection of birds about this weekend, no wonder this small Lace monitor (Varanus varius) was doing the rounds to see what it could find.
I didn't manger to find any mushrooms about tin the gardens this week, but there was this little group of bright yellow Mushrooms (Leucocoprinus birnbaumii) growing in one of my pots of Kangaroo paws SO I took a few shots of these of this weeks mushroom shot.
So thats it for this weeks rap up of shots for the week a bonus week with an extra day of shots so a few more shots than normal here this week. Next week will be back to normal.
Thanks for dropping by my blog this week.
Glenn.
Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan 21/01/2017
Welcome back to my weekly blog. This week like the last few I'll start off with a quick wrap up of where in the world my Blog was viewed this week.
Coming in at Number one this week is Norway with the most visits, followed by the USA then Australia. Next up on equal footing is the United Kingdom and Italy, the rest are all with one view each been Spain, Malaysia, Philippines, Pakistan, Slovenia, Ukraine and South Africa. So, 12 different countries this week.
Back to the weekly Blog, this week’s blog will be a walk-through of the shots taken last weekend in the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan.
I started off around the Plank Bank in the Gardens and right opposite the plant bank is a small dam. This shot, complete with reflection is of a young Dusky Moorhen (Gallinuka tenebrsa) on the branch leaning into the dam.
Bird shot wise this week wasn't so good wiht most deciding this week to hid behind a leave, stick or grass so a lot of the shot this week were like the one below with a leaf in the wasps well as the other greenery. This ones of a Bell Miner (Manorina melanophrys) But this shot like so many this week not a clean shot.
This ones of an Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides) This one was breaking off the bark of the bank looking for the insects that had followed out under the bark. You can see the spray of dust int eh shot to the left as it works at the bark looking for a quick feed.
The Superb Fairy-wrens were about as usual around the stolen generation memorial. This time I got a clean shot but a little two far away, It really wasn't a goo bird shot weekend this week.
From there I walked along the water supply canal and then to the other side of it once it goes underground. There is an open woodland area on the other side of the canal and walking around the large gum tree shown below I could hear a noise of someone gnawing away at the wood. So walking around the tree, and being careful not to get under the limbs of this one, as the next shot shows quite a few of the large branches have already given way on this one.
I found this Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla) working on enlarging the hollow, Its partner was on the next branch up watching on to make sure it was all going to plan.
From there I started to head back to the car, but thought I might try my hand at a shot of the plank back. This shot is actually two shots merged together in HDR (High Dynamic range) format as the variation in brightness for the open concrete in the sun to the shadows was to much for the camera so its two shots one exposed for ht concrete in the sun the other for the shadows under the building. This was hand held for the two shots, then merged together in light room wither HDR tool, as a quick job it came out OK, have to come back and give this another go later on with the tripod next time. but as a quick go it came out OK.
From there I Drove up to the Wollemi walk area, which is now partially closed off for some works. This is one of the areas in the gardens were these is nearly always mushrooms to be found and this week I was in luck, only the two and one of these was no longer in the ground, but this was the shot of the week for me. Happy with how this one turned out. Lit with two off camera speedlites, one wiht a brown gel to give the warm light to the shot. focus stacked for 12images this time to give the sharpness to the mushrooms.
This last shot for the day is of a young Eastern Spinebill (Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris) working its way through the Kangaroo paws. Again this one was pretty good at making shot it was always partially covered by the Kangaroo paws and after about half an hour this was the best I managed.
So not a great week for bird shots this week, but happy with the mushroom shot for the week. We'll see how we go next week.
So thats it for this weeks blog.
Thanks for dropping by my blog this week.
Glenn.
Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan 7/01/2017
Welcome back to my weekly blog, this week’s post is a walk thought of the shots taken last Saturday in the heat in the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan.
But first a look at where the Blog was looked at last week. A tie for first place this week the Australia and the USA, them the UK, then came Japan and Canada, and then India, Serbia, France and German. So nine countries this week.
Bit warm out this way last weekend with 40 Deg temperatures. So not too much happening this week. But I still managed to get a few shots I'm happy with.
With the Temperatures so high out there this weekend a lot of the birds were just sitting panting trying to keep as cool as they could so the first three shots are birds doing just that. You can see they have their wings lifted off their bodies to try and keep cool as well.
First up a Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus).
Next up a Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys) this one was down low and almost on the ground trying to keep put of the heat.
Next a Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) again trying to keep itself cool.
This next series of shots took a while to get as the bird was in to minds on leaving the safety of the high tree or not. It eventually left and flew off further into the gardens. But it took a good 20 minutes or so of waiting before I got this series of shots. An Australian White Ibis (Threkiornis moluccan) as it left its branch.
I then went back to the car and drove off to the next part of the gardens. But not before noticing what the temperature gauge in the car said the outside temperature was. Though as I started to drive off it dropped down to about 40 so think the 45 was a little high, but still quite warm out there. As evident from the behaviour of the birds in the gardens this week.
I drove down to the Banksia gardens to see if I could spot the Frogmouths again, but no luck this week, but it was a little cooler there. So I drove back to the connections gardens, as I was walking up towards the visitors centre there I spotted this Square-tailed Kite (Lophoictinia isura) Circling overhead it wasn’t long before an Australian Raven was trying to chase it off, I got a few shots of this but none were of a decent quality so a couple of missed shots there, But this one stayed circling for about half an hour, so here’s a few shots of various over passes, this one was fling nice and low over the gardens and nice and slow as well so some decent shots of this one. Checking up my bird listing for the gardens this one’s a new bird for me in the gardens, and also a new bird for their listing as well as its not on the official listing from the gardens of the know bird species to have visited the gardens.
So that's it for this weeks walk in the heat in the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan. HOpe you enjoyed this weeks shots, I'll be back next week with more.
Thanks for dropping by my blog.
Glenn
Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan 7/01/2017
This week’s blog post is a walkthrough of the shots taken last weekend in the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan.
Before we get into the shots for the week, a look at where my blog was been viewed over the last two weeks shows Australia is on top this time, with the USA second, then the United Kingdom and Brazil, with a five way tie for fifth place with Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand with another four countries with one viewer each being Colombia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Poland, So a goods catering of countries the last few weeks. Thanks of reading.
Not so many shots this week to go thought, compared to the last few weeks.
First up a Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus) there was a small group of these in their normal location around the stolen generation memorial area in the woodland. If you wait long enough they start to come back to the area. So just a matter of waiting and not moving around and they come back looking for the insects there hunting.
The wrens were a bit skittish and I soon found out why. Again I meet one of the people from my first work shop in the gardens and they pointed out that they had seen a lace monitor (Varanus varius) in the nearby gum tree. This one was going up and down the various branches looking to see what it could find.
This next shot I've had a play with Topaz again in the background so you can see the textured effect of what looks like a canvas that the image is printed on.
Walking around the gardens I heard a few Common Myna's Call out and there was a large lace monitor being hurried on by them. They have a nest in the nearby tree so don’t appreciate one of these on the prowl.
This week with a few slightly cooler days and a good day of rain before the weekend I found a few more mushrooms this week, these ones were growing on a stick and not in the ground so made an interesting subject for the week. So the next series of shots are of the same three mushrooms. with different angles and lighting positions.
These next two shots are taken with my phone showing the actual lighting conditions and setups I used to get the above shots. As you can see from the actual lighting conditions you can really create a different feel to the above shots with the speedlites.
So thats it for this weeks shots, finally found a few mushrooms to shoot again the last few weeks, not sure I'll be so lucking the coming weekend with several days over the 40 deg C. mark this way. not the best conditions for mushrooms, but we'll see whats about.
Thanks for dropping by my Blog, I'll be back next week with more.
Glenn.
Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan 24/12/2016 and 2/01/2017
This week’s blog post is a look back at the shots taken in the Australian Botanical Gardens over the last few weeks over Christmas. I didn't get to go out with the cameras as much as I would have liked to over the break as back on the bathroom renovation works again, tiling the second Bathroom floor, so only got out twice during the time off.
First up I started a walk from the plant bank along the board walk, in the small ponds at the start of the woodland area is some bulrushes and I noticed some movement in there. So looking closely I found this red-bellied black snake (Pseudechis porphyriacus) in the water swimming around after a while it came out and into the grass around the pond.
A few Superb Fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus) were about in the area but not to much else of not for the day around the stole Generation memorial area
A few Superb Fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus) were about in the area but not too much else of not for the day around the stole Generation memorial area. I did meet a couple on their last day in Australia from Scotland (Philip and Sheila) who said they had seen some Tawny Frogmouths in the Banksia Garden, Not having got a shot of one of these yet in the gardens I decided that was my next stop. So after not finding anything else here I drove down to the Banksia Garden area. I got a good description of where to look so went straight there. First think I found was a few Australian King Parrots (Alisterus Scapularis) abut so I managed to get this shot of a female from a distance.
Then exactly where I was told the Frogmouths were I found them, three of them. You can certainly see how they camouflage themselves to look like tree branches. I managed the first show with the eyes open, but the rest are partially closed. Still happy with these shots.
On the last day of my holidays I went back into the gardens to see what I could find after a few cooler days and some light rain I was hoping for some mushrooms this time round. Been a while now since I had found any in the gardens. First up another new bird to cross of my list a Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris) high up in the canopy, I’d spotted it last time but didn’t get a good shot, this week a little better but still not the best quality, I’ll have to keep an eye out for these in the coming visits to see if I can get a better shot. Hopefully they will come a little lower to the ground.
This shot captured it in full song.
This next shots taken in the dam opposite the plant bank and is of a young Dusty Moorhen on the hunt for reeds at the bottom of the dam.
While walking along beside the cannel there I spotted this young Fan-tailed Cuckoo (Cacomantis flabelliformis), I didn't see what the host bird to this one was after waiting a while, would have made for a good shot if its still being looked after. Another thing to look out for next trip.
The woodland areas and most of the gardens are full of these next ones the Willie Wagtails (Rhipdura leucophrys) Theres not to many places in the Gardens you don't find these filtering about. collection insects as they go.
A small family of Variegated Fairy-wrens (Malurus lamberti) are often found around the area where the stolen generation memorial is located in the woodlands.
This ones not the cleanest shot but shows the broad shoulder patches across the the back as it flys up to the next branch, been better getting a cleaner shot with out the sticks in the way, maybe next time round.
In amongst the Variegated wrens are a few Superb Fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus) Missing the brown patch of the Variegated wrens, thou still quite colourful and just as timid.
After all the hot weather of late a few cooler days and some rain as well seemed to have bought out a few mushrooms, well two anyway. So I made the most of these two doing three setups with different lighting and angles to get these three shots of these ones.
So thats it for this weeks blog a round up of the shots for the last two weeks with only two days of shooting, but still some good shots this time round, good to get back into the mushroom shots again after so long with out.
Thanks for dropping by my blog this week, I'll be back next week with the usual blog post. Till then take care. Back again next week.
Glenn.