Brian.Hart
Member
Hi Azzy,
Beautiful photos! Keep 'em coming!
Cheers,
Brian
Beautiful photos! Keep 'em coming!
Cheers,
Brian
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Of snakes and kestrels (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Azzy
- Start date
halftwo
Wird Batcher
Azzy
Well-known member
Thanks guys 
There's plenty more where they came from
Yesterday, there was a brief ray of sunshine in the afternoon so I convinced myself to get out the house and very lazily drove around to the creek in the center of town to shoot the ducks and resident dusky moorhens. I'd only taken a couple of photos of ducks in sunlight when a splash in front of me caught me attention. I thought perhaps I'd spooked a darter. I conveniently forgot the change the settings on my camera for the shadow that the section of water was in and followed the trail of bubbles until a healthy looking native water rat Hydromys chrysogaster, popped his head above water. I snapped one photo, the sound of the lens spooked it again and he was gone. Lost track of it after that so I only ended up with one poorly exposed photo. Still, then sun on other parts provided for some decent shots of the pacific blacks (or at least hybrids, it's can be so hard to tell). For those who are curious, water rats are just under twice the size of black or brown rats, so a decent size
I then took some shots of a pair of galahs up a red gum, the female is on the right. Some of the shots were better lit, but most of them were showing the females rude bits Came across 3 bunches of sawfly larva in a young eucalypt. Some sort of Perga sp. I hung around a bit, hoping to see the water rat again for some better photo ops, but no such luck, I'll have to try again another day
...continued next post.
There's plenty more where they came from Yesterday, there was a brief ray of sunshine in the afternoon so I convinced myself to get out the house and very lazily drove around to the creek in the center of town to shoot the ducks and resident dusky moorhens. I'd only taken a couple of photos of ducks in sunlight when a splash in front of me caught me attention. I thought perhaps I'd spooked a darter. I conveniently forgot the change the settings on my camera for the shadow that the section of water was in and followed the trail of bubbles until a healthy looking native water rat Hydromys chrysogaster, popped his head above water. I snapped one photo, the sound of the lens spooked it again and he was gone. Lost track of it after that so I only ended up with one poorly exposed photo. Still, then sun on other parts provided for some decent shots of the pacific blacks (or at least hybrids, it's can be so hard to tell). For those who are curious, water rats are just under twice the size of black or brown rats, so a decent size
I then took some shots of a pair of galahs up a red gum, the female is on the right. Some of the shots were better lit, but most of them were showing the females rude bits
Came across 3 bunches of sawfly larva in a young eucalypt. Some sort of Perga sp. I hung around a bit, hoping to see the water rat again for some better photo ops, but no such luck, I'll have to try again another day ...continued next post.
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Azzy
Well-known member
Driving back from the creek I decided to drive by the park at the bottom of our street thinking that if the masked lapwings were there, I might take some photos. Straight away I saw one of them, sitting in the sun all fluffed up, I assumed warming itself. It looked like a pretty good photo op. So I stopped the car and walking along the road verge next to the park, intending to circle around behind it. But before I even got remotely close, the second one took to the air, circling and calling in warning. I thought this behaviour completely unnecessary as I've walked by them plenty of times before without such problems. Still, I kept walking hoping to circle around behind the second one, though I hardly got much further before it suddenly hopped up and ran quickly in a direction that would cut across my path. Needless to say, I was confused.
It was only as the first bird that had taken to the air circled close to the ground that I noticed movement on the ground, a tiny lapwing chick! I quickly ducked behind the nearest (and practically only tree) hoping to stop the panic and ease the parents minds a little. The first one stopped circling but kept bobbing it's head up and down in threating posture while calling (pic 1). I then noticed that there wasn't just one chick, but 3! I could hardly believe my eyes. The second parent returned to where it had first been resting and the 3 little chicks tottered over to it and snuggled up underneath her feathers, well concealed. Which is the strange posture I had first noticed when driving by. I'm no good at aging chicks, but they could hardly be more than a week old. In a small suburban park, next to a playground, with dogs and cats abundant, somehow these lapwings had made a home.
Driving home from work today, I had a moment of panic when I noticed the grass had been cut in the park and the lapwing wasn't in it's spot. However they had just moved about 100m further up, with one parent still obviously sitting on chicks (hopefully still 3). I'm going to keep on eye on them, but I'm not going to get so close as before, they don't need the stress.
Still, I kept walking hoping to circle around behind the second one, though I hardly got much further before it suddenly hopped up and ran quickly in a direction that would cut across my path. Needless to say, I was confused.It was only as the first bird that had taken to the air circled close to the ground that I noticed movement on the ground, a tiny lapwing chick! I quickly ducked behind the nearest (and practically only tree) hoping to stop the panic and ease the parents minds a little. The first one stopped circling but kept bobbing it's head up and down in threating posture while calling (pic 1). I then noticed that there wasn't just one chick, but 3! I could hardly believe my eyes. The second parent returned to where it had first been resting and the 3 little chicks tottered over to it and snuggled up underneath her feathers, well concealed. Which is the strange posture I had first noticed when driving by. I'm no good at aging chicks, but they could hardly be more than a week old. In a small suburban park, next to a playground, with dogs and cats abundant, somehow these lapwings had made a home.
Driving home from work today, I had a moment of panic when I noticed the grass had been cut in the park and the lapwing wasn't in it's spot. However they had just moved about 100m further up, with one parent still obviously sitting on chicks (hopefully still 3). I'm going to keep on eye on them, but I'm not going to get so close as before, they don't need the stress.
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Azzy
Well-known member
So I'm somewhat concerned about the plovers. The council mowed the lawns, which they still seemed to be fine after, but yesterday afternoon and then around lunch time today when driving past, I haven't seen any of the chicks or adults. I doubt they'd really move to a different area, the chicks probably wouldn't take the walk too easily. So I'm worried that something got to the chicks, a cat or fox maybe, or perhaps some kids. It just seems to me that if they lost their chicks, they wouldn't have a reason to be in the park anymore, which is why I'm not seeing them. Hopefully they'll turn up though. When the weather clears up and I'm not at work, I'll take a walk down there and have a look around.
