Tuesday, September 20, 2011

World Bird Wednesday - Rainforest Adventure


While visiting in Melbourne I spotted a couple of ducks in the
wetlands and thought 'yea, right, same old, same old . . .'


but to my surprise, when uploaded and looked up, they turned
out to be pair of Chestnut Teals, Anas castanca, a lifer for me!


We also headed up into the Great Dividing Range and it's
temperate rainforest, a magnetic attraction for us who hiked
these mountains extensively in our salad days.


Stopped at the Mt.Dom Dom saddle recreation area where himself
wanted to climb to the top as any good mountain goat would do
and yours truly, camera in hand, had other intentions.
First (unavoidable) catch, the ubiquitous magpie at my feet as
soon as I opened the hatch to get a mandarin.


Hearing lots of bird sounds in the Acacia re-growth scrub,
I headed to the thicket but the dense growth totally foiled me.


I tried the steep descent towards the creek where a lot of tweeting,
twittering and chirping was going on . . occasionally I spotted
a fleeting glimpse of tiny feathered things flitting across my path
but nothing at all that I could even try pointing my shooter at.


Pretty exhausted, I shlepped my trusty hand extension up the
hill again. Huffing and puffing like a steam engine I wormed
my way back up . . .


and just when I had accepted my empty handed fate, this
little Silvereye moved enough so I could see it and landed
close enough so I could land it too.


Where there is one, company soon appears. I have no idea
what this little one is but I was grateful for anything barely
within the range of my 135mm lens.


Pretty indistinct, yet definitely a bird not a kangaroo.


The flash of a wing caught by pure chance as it fluttered to
another twig.


Thank the Lord fasting for the photoshop cropping device,
Can you pick the little bird in this?? I could definitely not see
a bird that sat still and when it moved, I often could not find
it in my sights. Pretty useless being addicted to stalking when
you are blind as a bat and can't carry a decent sized lens with
you. Yet still, like a blind chicken, you sometimes find a barley
corn.


Hiding behind a branch and heavily cropped, my lucky
last shot before I stopped to give my eyes a rest.



Hope you all had fun birding this week and show us the results
by adding your posts to World Bird Wednesday!

22 comments:

  1. A wonderful post Arija, it looks like a beautiful place to hike around.
    I love your Magpie..it's so different to ours.

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  2. Such gorgeous captures, Arija, and a wonderful post indeed! You do have so much beauty in your world! Thank you for sharing it! Love the Magpie -- not one you see around here! Hope your week is going well!

    Sylvia

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  3. Such beautiful photographs - lovely blog!

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  4. laughing at your description of yourself! :)

    that duck is amazing!!!

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  5. Chestnut Teals are beautiful - and I still don't have a good photo of one, unfortunately. I can certainly relate to your walk through the bush and the frustration of hearing but not being able to see the birds - and then not being fast enough to get the photo! I keep hoping and trying.

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  6. Wonderful photos, I love the shots of the woods and the birds. The magpie is my favorite.

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  7. Lovely photos Arija. That Chestnut Teal is beautiful. I love ducks, don't you? I must say that I really like your Magpie though. Remember, one person's "common" bird is another's rarity!

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  8. That Chestnut teal is quite a spectacular bird.

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  9. Great day of birding! Don't you love it when you download your pictures and see something you didn't know was there?

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  10. Back in the "salad days!" I love that expression. Sounds like an exhausting terrian to move through but it sure looks beautiful. We have got to get you a 400mm lens. I will speak with Santa!
    Thanks for sharing Arija!

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  11. you got a lifer! Great, it is godo to take shots of them all. :) Congrats.

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  12. Hi Arija. thanks for your lovely comments on my blog. Funny discription of you:) the Cestnut Teals are beautiful!

    Veronica

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  13. Great hike, it's like having spring again!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

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  14. I very much enjoyed your wonderful post, Arija! You echo my complaint when trying to focus my camera on a bird - so often I can't find it and when I finally do, it's just flying away. And schlepping a heavy lens... What a pain! It's easy to get "overuse syndrome" in your arm or shoulder. I love your Chestnut Teal - beautiful bird.

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  15. What a great place for hiking! I love your post!

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  16. Wonderful shots and wonderful place to go for a walk!
    Thanks for sharing;o)

    ***
    Have a nice and happy day****

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  17. That looks like beautiful birding country, Congratulations on the lifer - it's a gorgeous duck!

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  18. Some lovely shots you got there, well you might have been feeling exhausted after all that, but at least you didn't seem to suffer from camera shake.

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  19. Well I truly enjoyed this post!
    Congrats on your lifer.:)

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  20. Wonderful photos of a lovely spot. Many times I wish I had a larger lens, but I have resigned myself to the fact that it would be more than I could handle. Those big lenses are for younger folks.

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  21. Arija, I love your sense of humor and your sense of adventure! This was fun to read as as was to see! glad you survived the whole ordeal. And Please don't go tumbling off a mountain just to photograph a bird!

    BTW, thanks for all you visit to my blog and all the kind comments you left!

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  22. What BEAUTIFUL scenery Arija! I've never seen a Magpie. What a gorgeous bird.
    B.

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