Thanks guys, in amongst my excitment of seeing the Swift Parrots, I forgot to put a couple of of photos of some Tawny Frogmouths I saw at Braeside Park.
156. Tawny Frogmouth
Then last Saturday at Parkrun in Pakenham we saw a family of Gang-gangs Cockatoos fly into the trees along the creek, which was neat, even though I didn't have my phone or camera on me. (I have heard that people had seen them there, but hadn't any luck until now.) Took my camera down this afternoon/evening and had about 5 fly in.
Thanks everyone, and Sue hopefully we are out of lockdown soon.... I did have a nice visitor on our first day of lockdown, a pair of Australian King Parrots visited our backyard, we do usually see them along the street in the trees, but not sitting on our swing. So heres a replacement shot of the AKP.
On Thursday we went for an afternoon walk at the Cardinia Aqueduct, not a whole lot out, but we saw a pair of Peregrine Falcons which was neat. I haven't seen them there since late last year.
158. Peregrine Falcon
On Saturday with restrictions easing.. it was nice to be able to get to Cranbourne Gardens, unfortunately didn't see any of the Glossy Cockatoos that some people saw over lockdown, but did see a lone Hardhead.
159. Hardhead.
160. Eastern Rosella
We see these quite often out the front of our house, but to get a decent photo of one well thats a different story. :)
It's great you can get out and about a bit more. I love the Peregrine falcons, I've only ever seen them in flight and way up high, would love to see them perched on a branch like that. I think you are the first to get them this comp too?
Very nice Abby. I have only seen the PF once at a water tower not on a nice perch like this one. I love the colours of the Rosella. Another bird we don't really see up this way.
Oooh, great to see a Peregrine! I found some on the sea cliffs here a couple of years ago, but the last time I saw them was a year ago - on a construction crane at the local supermarket! I've been looking unsuccessfully for the m a few times.
Tommy - (I park at the Thewlis Carpark) I usually see them at the 4th corner from the carpark (going across the road, not on the loop), and sometimes they are on the dead trees on the inside of that corner, usually there is alot of yellow robins there too.
Last week I took the opportunity of being able to go into the city, and I took my son to the Melbourne Zoo. Got a replacement photo of a Nankeen Night Heron, was very close while we were eating our lunch.
Today we went for a trip down to the Nobbies on Philip Island, managed to see one Little Penguin under the boardwalk, hopefully you will agree that there is enough for an ID. Also got a replacement shot of Cape Barren Goose.
That's a pretty cool close up of the Nankeen Night-Heron, was it after your food?? And yep, can defiitely tell that's a Little Penguin there under the boardwalk, very cute :-)
Some nice portraits of the Nankeen and Cape Baron. The only other option for you Little Penguin, is another Penguin species, but given the location, I would say it has to be a Little. Well done. I went looking for Little Penguins last week, but I was there before they got out of bed, and again before the came in from feeding - was on a tight schedule, so couldn't hang around at either time.
I think it was keeping an eye out for any unattended food Karen.
Got a lifer during the school holidays, even though unfortunately I didn't get any great photos of them. Saw a bunch of Diamond Firetails just out of Maldon, Victoria, we had stopped to looked a few SC Cockatoos in a shrub (had my parents from NZ with us) and noticed the Diamond Firetails in the grass!
162. Diamond Firetail
Replacement shot of a Yellow-Rumped Thornbill (68.), at the Woodlands HP out by the airport.
And finally got a shot of a Eastern Rosella visiting our backyard. (160.)
Great news getting a lifer in these crazy days. Dug in and keeping safe here in Sydney but have now completed my vaccinations as has my husband. Please keep safe in Victoria, so sorry your state is caught up again.
Great to see you back, Abby. I hope you can get out more soon. We are freer here in Sydney but the weather is awful!
I shoot In RAW rather than JPEG and use DXO Photolab and Adobe Photoshop Elements but a lot of people like Adobe Lightroom. Photoshop does have a facility to guide or do a lot for you.
DXO offers some great noise reduction and sharpening tools but the processed files can be large. I choose to produce TIFF and a small JPEG file or produce the JPEG in Photoshop. I used Photoshop and did a course when editor of a little magazine but a friend suggested DXO for the benefits I mentioned and it is less cumbersome with Raw files. It has some powerful tools and offers online teaching.
Whatever you choose, try to do a course or be guided in the order of processing and remember that nothing beats getting a good shot in the first place. I am sure others will come back with different ideas. Just enjoy yourself.
Sue's advice is spot on. If you want to try something easy, free and high quality, you could also try FastStone. It is so easy and I get results very quickly that are just fine for online/web use, to the point that I don't bother using my paid Lightroom subscription like I should. It is super easy to view all your shots and delete the poor ones. Then for the keepers, crop, edit out any of Dev's sticks, adjust levels, then adjust lighting (high & low separately), contrast, saturation, sharpen it up a bit (all in RAW) and then save JPG and resize a smaller JPG to post up here. That's pretty much my workflow for all the pics I post here, and takes about 5 mins a picture for the keepers.
One day soon I'll go through the effort of getting fully up to speed on Lightroom, as it is very powerful, but to date I haven't really felt the need .
I noticed that I'm the only one who hasn't put up a photo of a Laughing Kookaburra. Do love hearing these guys. Usually see one at the carpark for the Cardinia Aqueduct Trail.
Nice one, Abby... so easy to overlook the locals. Looks like you'll be out of lockdown soon. So pleased to see you back & posting... looking forward to more.
Went for a couple of walks today, one very local spot Eastone Reserve didn't see anything new there but got a replacement shot of a Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (44), and a nice coloured domestic duck(104)
Also went for a quick a quick stroll at Creekwood Wetland, to see if I could get another sighting of the Sacred Kingfisher there, but unfortunately I didn't. But did get a ok shot of a Reed-Warbler. Which I don't think is on my list yet..
I have added the Reed-warbler for you Abby as it is a new one for you this year. Love that Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo! You appear to have posted these new birds twice so you could edit and delete post #136 if you wish.
Had a great weekend. Saturday we went for a walk along River Gum Creek Reserve, Hampton Park and saw my first Scaly-breasted Lorikeets.
165. Scaly-breasted Lorikeets
Today we ventured to Braeside Park, ducks galore there. So great to be able to go further! Glad that from this Friday coming we will be able to go anywhere in Victoria.
166. Pink-eared Duck
167. Freckled Duck
I have added a couple of better shots of an Australasian Grebe #37 and a Pied Currawong #152, also a very unconcerned Red Fox.
Good news that you are getting out there and can soon venture even further. Also wonderful to get a lifer and what a nice bird it is. Looking forward to more soon.
Glad you were able to get out Abby. Love the ducks. Is that a Grey Teal in between the freckled ducks? Well done photographing the fox, such sneaky little blighters
Have been doing a few bird walks recently. Got a couple to add to the list, one LIFER! And a couple of better shots, I have recently got a new lens a 200-500. So thinking now that I have to go to every place that I've ever visited with the new lens.
Anyway before the new lens arrived, I was in Koo Wee Rup, at a little wetlands there and saw a Little Grassbird flicking around, it looked like it was getting stuff for a nest.
Its definetly not the best shot ever taken, but hopefully its ok for an ID.
168. Little Grassbird
Also went for a wander at the Cardinia Aqueduct Trail with Danika, what a marvelous afternoon that was. Wishing that I had my new lens, but anyways. :) Got a better shot of a Brown-Headed Honeyeater. (110)
Then went back when I got my new lens and got a better shot of a Sacred Kingfisher (15)
Finally on Saturday we (hubby, son and I) went for a wander at Wonthaggi Heathlands to see if we could find the Southern Emu-wren. Amazingly we did see a couple. WOW is all I can say about these little birds.
169 Southern Emu-wren
I have also just added a couple of photos from my backyard this afternoon. A young Galah (31) and a Rainbow Lorikeet (122)
Wonderful set of birds, Abby. That new lens is producing some great results... the Emu-wren is a cracker! Are they not an amazing little bird? The blue throat suggests a male.
good news that you are getting out again and meeting up with Danika.
Spectacular, some great photos of some great birds. Enjoy your new lens, it is putting out some quality shots, of course the photographer has a fair bit to do with the quality as well.
Only 3 of those would be lifers for me, all 3 are possible, but unlikely this year. Thanks for sharing
Wow, Swift Parrots, well done. I'm still looking. Love you flight shots of Swifty & Shelducks.
Congrats on the Swift Parrots :-)
Thanks guys, in amongst my excitment of seeing the Swift Parrots, I forgot to put a couple of of photos of some Tawny Frogmouths I saw at Braeside Park.
156. Tawny Frogmouth
Then last Saturday at Parkrun in Pakenham we saw a family of Gang-gangs Cockatoos fly into the trees along the creek, which was neat, even though I didn't have my phone or camera on me. (I have heard that people had seen them there, but hadn't any luck until now.) Took my camera down this afternoon/evening and had about 5 fly in.
157. Gang-gang Cockatoo
Oh I just love the Gang Gangs. A bird I so deperately want to see some day. Your family of Tawnys is great too!
Love those Gang Gangs. Stay strong & safe, Abby
Also like your Gang Gang, and Tawnies are just so cute.
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
Thanks everyone, and Sue hopefully we are out of lockdown soon.... I did have a nice visitor on our first day of lockdown, a pair of Australian King Parrots visited our backyard, we do usually see them along the street in the trees, but not sitting on our swing. So heres a replacement shot of the AKP.
What a lovely visitor and some nice Little Corellas to boot!
How special to have them in your yard! Not so much the Corellas as they can be a bit destructive
The King parrot is on my wish list, as are some 600+ other Australian birds! That's a nice photo, well done.
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
Oh lucky you with the gang-gangs, I'm like Dev, never seen one and would love to. Nice shots :-)
Gang-gangs in Pakenham! I never would have guessed. Nice one :)
Thanks guys.
On Thursday we went for an afternoon walk at the Cardinia Aqueduct, not a whole lot out, but we saw a pair of Peregrine Falcons which was neat. I haven't seen them there since late last year.
158. Peregrine Falcon
On Saturday with restrictions easing.. it was nice to be able to get to Cranbourne Gardens, unfortunately didn't see any of the Glossy Cockatoos that some people saw over lockdown, but did see a lone Hardhead.
159. Hardhead.
160. Eastern Rosella
We see these quite often out the front of our house, but to get a decent photo of one well thats a different story. :)
It's great you can get out and about a bit more. I love the Peregrine falcons, I've only ever seen them in flight and way up high, would love to see them perched on a branch like that. I think you are the first to get them this comp too?
Very nice Abby. I have only seen the PF once at a water tower not on a nice perch like this one. I love the colours of the Rosella. Another bird we don't really see up this way.
Glad your restrictions have eased. Yet to see a Peregrine, they are a nice looking bird.
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
Well done on the Peregrine Falcon, Abby. Pleased restrictions have eased and that you can get out and about more now.
Oooh, great to see a Peregrine! I found some on the sea cliffs here a couple of years ago, but the last time I saw them was a year ago - on a construction crane at the local supermarket! I've been looking unsuccessfully for the m a few times.
I'm jealous! Whenever I head down the Aqueduct trail all the bigger birds go into hiding. Maybe I need to time it better :)
Tommy - (I park at the Thewlis Carpark) I usually see them at the 4th corner from the carpark (going across the road, not on the loop), and sometimes they are on the dead trees on the inside of that corner, usually there is alot of yellow robins there too.
Last week I took the opportunity of being able to go into the city, and I took my son to the Melbourne Zoo. Got a replacement photo of a Nankeen Night Heron, was very close while we were eating our lunch.
Today we went for a trip down to the Nobbies on Philip Island, managed to see one Little Penguin under the boardwalk, hopefully you will agree that there is enough for an ID. Also got a replacement shot of Cape Barren Goose.
161. Little Penguin
Hope everyone is keeping safe and staying sane.
That's a pretty cool close up of the Nankeen Night-Heron, was it after your food?? And yep, can defiitely tell that's a Little Penguin there under the boardwalk, very cute :-)
Thats very cool. Love the Night-Heron shots
Some nice portraits of the Nankeen and Cape Baron. The only other option for you Little Penguin, is another Penguin species, but given the location, I would say it has to be a Little. Well done. I went looking for Little Penguins last week, but I was there before they got out of bed, and again before the came in from feeding - was on a tight schedule, so couldn't hang around at either time.
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
Great shots, Abby but love the shy Little Penguin.
I think it was keeping an eye out for any unattended food Karen.
Got a lifer during the school holidays, even though unfortunately I didn't get any great photos of them. Saw a bunch of Diamond Firetails just out of Maldon, Victoria, we had stopped to looked a few SC Cockatoos in a shrub (had my parents from NZ with us) and noticed the Diamond Firetails in the grass!
162. Diamond Firetail
Replacement shot of a Yellow-Rumped Thornbill (68.), at the Woodlands HP out by the airport.
And finally got a shot of a Eastern Rosella visiting our backyard. (160.)
Hope everyone is keeping safe and staying sane.
Great news getting a lifer in these crazy days. Dug in and keeping safe here in Sydney but have now completed my vaccinations as has my husband. Please keep safe in Victoria, so sorry your state is caught up again.
Quick question, what program would you suggest for photo editing? Just got a new laptop. Thanks in advance. :)
Great to see you back, Abby. I hope you can get out more soon. We are freer here in Sydney but the weather is awful!
I shoot In RAW rather than JPEG and use DXO Photolab and Adobe Photoshop Elements but a lot of people like Adobe Lightroom. Photoshop does have a facility to guide or do a lot for you.
DXO offers some great noise reduction and sharpening tools but the processed files can be large. I choose to produce TIFF and a small JPEG file or produce the JPEG in Photoshop. I used Photoshop and did a course when editor of a little magazine but a friend suggested DXO for the benefits I mentioned and it is less cumbersome with Raw files. It has some powerful tools and offers online teaching.
Whatever you choose, try to do a course or be guided in the order of processing and remember that nothing beats getting a good shot in the first place. I am sure others will come back with different ideas. Just enjoy yourself.
Sue's advice is spot on. If you want to try something easy, free and high quality, you could also try FastStone. It is so easy and I get results very quickly that are just fine for online/web use, to the point that I don't bother using my paid Lightroom subscription like I should. It is super easy to view all your shots and delete the poor ones. Then for the keepers, crop, edit out any of Dev's sticks, adjust levels, then adjust lighting (high & low separately), contrast, saturation, sharpen it up a bit (all in RAW) and then save JPG and resize a smaller JPG to post up here. That's pretty much my workflow for all the pics I post here, and takes about 5 mins a picture for the keepers.
One day soon I'll go through the effort of getting fully up to speed on Lightroom, as it is very powerful, but to date I haven't really felt the need .
Thanks for the help guys.
I noticed that I'm the only one who hasn't put up a photo of a Laughing Kookaburra. Do love hearing these guys. Usually see one at the carpark for the Cardinia Aqueduct Trail.
163. Laughing Kookaburra
Nice one, Abby... so easy to overlook the locals. Looks like you'll be out of lockdown soon. So pleased to see you back & posting... looking forward to more.
Nice shot, looks like it's scoping for a feed. They are characters, and with the right light can have some lovely colouring.
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
Went for a couple of walks today, one very local spot Eastone Reserve didn't see anything new there but got a replacement shot of a Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (44), and a nice coloured domestic duck(104)
Also went for a quick a quick stroll at Creekwood Wetland, to see if I could get another sighting of the Sacred Kingfisher there, but unfortunately I didn't. But did get a ok shot of a Reed-Warbler. Which I don't think is on my list yet..
164. Australian Reed-Warbler
Dunno what happened there Sue :S
I have added the Reed-warbler for you Abby as it is a new one for you this year. Love that Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo! You appear to have posted these new birds twice so you could edit and delete post #136 if you wish.
Had a great weekend. Saturday we went for a walk along River Gum Creek Reserve, Hampton Park and saw my first Scaly-breasted Lorikeets.
165. Scaly-breasted Lorikeets
Today we ventured to Braeside Park, ducks galore there. So great to be able to go further! Glad that from this Friday coming we will be able to go anywhere in Victoria.
166. Pink-eared Duck
167. Freckled Duck
I have added a couple of better shots of an Australasian Grebe #37 and a Pied Currawong #152, also a very unconcerned Red Fox.
Good news that you are getting out there and can soon venture even further. Also wonderful to get a lifer and what a nice bird it is. Looking forward to more soon.
Fantastic to get a lifer, and new parrots are always very special :-) Great catch with the fox too!
So pleased you will be able to get out of lockdown completely very soon - enjoy your new freedom!
Love seeing everyone's photos, and you have some great photos there Abby. I also like the fox, and glad we don't have them I Tassie.
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
Glad you were able to get out Abby. Love the ducks. Is that a Grey Teal in between the freckled ducks? Well done photographing the fox, such sneaky little blighters
Have been doing a few bird walks recently. Got a couple to add to the list, one LIFER! And a couple of better shots, I have recently got a new lens a 200-500. So thinking now that I have to go to every place that I've ever visited with the new lens.
Anyway before the new lens arrived, I was in Koo Wee Rup, at a little wetlands there and saw a Little Grassbird flicking around, it looked like it was getting stuff for a nest.
Its definetly not the best shot ever taken, but hopefully its ok for an ID.
168. Little Grassbird
Also went for a wander at the Cardinia Aqueduct Trail with Danika, what a marvelous afternoon that was. Wishing that I had my new lens, but anyways. :) Got a better shot of a Brown-Headed Honeyeater. (110)
Then went back when I got my new lens and got a better shot of a Sacred Kingfisher (15)
Finally on Saturday we (hubby, son and I) went for a wander at Wonthaggi Heathlands to see if we could find the Southern Emu-wren. Amazingly we did see a couple. WOW is all I can say about these little birds.
169 Southern Emu-wren
I have also just added a couple of photos from my backyard this afternoon. A young Galah (31) and a Rainbow Lorikeet (122)
Wonderful set of birds, Abby. That new lens is producing some great results... the Emu-wren is a cracker! Are they not an amazing little bird? The blue throat suggests a male.
good news that you are getting out again and meeting up with Danika.
Spectacular, some great photos of some great birds. Enjoy your new lens, it is putting out some quality shots, of course the photographer has a fair bit to do with the quality as well.
Only 3 of those would be lifers for me, all 3 are possible, but unlikely this year. Thanks for sharing
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
Thanks Sue and Dale.
This week I went out to Plenty Gorge Park, which is on the other side of Melbourne for me. Love exploring new places.
Saw over 50 birds there, which was amazing. Got a new one for this years list.
170. Olive-backed Oriole
Have included a couple of replacement shots of a Dusky Woodswallow, Red-rumped Parrot and a Pied Currawong as well as some non-bird photos.
Looks like that new lens is going to get a good workout Abby. Producing some nice shots too! Keep them coming
Some more great photos, with Dev, your new lens looks likeit's working a treat. Nice to see some other species at times too - thank you.
Dale Huonville, Tasmania
Wonderful, Abby... liking the results with the new lens.
Stunning pics Abby, love the Southern Emu-Wren, and it's always good to see some non-bird natives while out and about too I think :-)
Some lovely photos - especially the emu-wren, great shot! Have fun with the new lens :-)
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