Gave myself a day off earlier this week and trundled off with packed lunch to one of my favourite quiet little bush spots. Our family calls it the Friendly Wren spot, because if you sit still in one place for long enough, you might just have birds landing on your boots, literally!
Sitting enjoying some up close and personal performances by the regular cast, when look who pops up her pretty little head! A different spot than my last Whistler sighting, and a female this time (I think).....
Interesting to read in my field guide since, that lone Olive Whistlers often like to hang around with Scruwrens & Robins - both of those were there. In particular, this little lady was sticking close to three Dusky Robins. She was foraging through the leaf litter, they were doing their typical Robin perch & lurch, and taking full advantage of what she was uncovering. A tradeoff perhaps, company for food? Also found it interesting to read that the Tasmanian subspecies (apatetes) is the only race of Olive Whistler where the male is different to the female.
Absolutely stunning, very impressed indeed. Well done!
You certainly know how to photograph these small birds. Fantastic eye contact in every one of them. Please take more days off!!
Samford Valley Qld.
Wow Anniej .... they are just superb in every way....clarity , composition , colour and subject matter. How wonderful to spend time off and sitting with her and her friends for a while .
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Fantastic bird photography Annie.
All wonderfull photos, but i really love #3 & #4.
Just gorgeous Annie and a great description. I hate you ☺☺
Thankyou Reflex, just in the right spot at the right time. I must say, as much as I love my little bush birds, I am also craving some larger birds at the moment too, so envy the gorgeous Raptors being spied and digitally captured by you guys lately. I keep missing the big birds by a tad. I will definitely be giving myself some more time off, it's long overdue, and it was such a wonderful day. I plan to have my macro sitting beside me next time too, and hope the Wrens do what they did the other day - which was land on my boots! I wasn't joking about that bit, haha.
Thanks birdie, you're too kind . Got some other shots which are kind of cute that I may post later of the "crew", so will try to get to that.
Thanks WD. #4 was my favourite too. She'd just emerged from the undergrowth, where the Dusky's had also strangely disappeared to for a minute or so, and appeared looking so pleased with herself. I'm sure by shot #4 she was deliberately posing, standing up tall and proud .
West Coast Tasmania
There are some great butterflies in your first photo, Annie. Nice.
Thanks Rick. Hmmm, let me think....your brilliant variety of shots....nah, hate you more
Is there really?? Can you point them out Woko. I must admit to being a bit embarrassed as I haven't noticed them
West Coast Tasmania
Such gorgeous photos, Annie.
Love the ones where she has some grub...
Thankyou windshear. I must say, I also got a shot or two with some Dusky Robins & Wrens chowing down on what looks like the same type of grub. A friend informed me they are most likely Darkling Beetle larvae, but after reading a little about them, I am not so sure about that. I am in the process of ID'ing my extremely small library of insects etc, and am finding it 100 times harder than ID'ing birds! I don't suppose it matters, just my own curiosity at work, either way it looks juicy and nutritious.
West Coast Tasmania
I reckon there are two toward the left edge of the photo a little above the midpoint, Annie. They're blue in colour & I'm wondering if they're Common Grass Blues or something similar.
I did some pixel peeping Woko & alas, there are just some pointy old leaves along the edge there - but they look exactly like the wings of a moth or butterfly. I thought it may be still a little too cool here for any butterflies, but was excited for a while though as this is the same area where I had a quick sighting of Macleays Swallowtails last year, so if the little ones were starting to come out, maybe....but no. I only got to visit there once last Spring/Summer due to family committments, but plan to regularly go there this year...not just for the birds , seems to be a little dynamite area for insects and fungii too.
West Coast Tasmania
Well, well. I've heard of butterflies camouflaging themselves as leaves but not leaves camouflaging themselves as butterflies. Thank goodness for pixel peeping, Annie!
Annie would you mind posting what equipment and settings you used for these photographs please?
Samford Valley Qld.
Sure Reflex. I use a Nikon D800 and 80-400 Nikkor lens. These were all handheld & shot in Aperture mode (lazy L-plater me ), all at f/7.1, auto ISO but I manually dial in ISO limit of 2000 max.
1. ss 1/100, ISO 2000
2. ss 1/400, ISO 2000
3. ss 1/320, ISO 2000
4. ss 1/320, ISO 2000
West Coast Tasmania
Thanks Annie.
I don't know about the lazy L-plater business because you consistently post very clear photographs and I suspect you are pretty ruthless as to what's a keeper and what's not. Why do you use Aperture priority? Is that to achieve the maximum detail and sharpness (choose a smaller aperture like f11 or smaller)?
I have been using Shutter priority to avoid camera shake and to freeze movement but I'm not getting the sharpness that you get ( unless I use a tripod which I seem to be doing more and more these days) or you are only showing us the really good ones.I notice your shutter speeds are slower than I expected but your ISO is high.
I'm still trying to understand all the different options. I might have a go with Aperture priority this week-end.
Edit..I have just read this http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d800.htm
Samford Valley Qld.
I chose Aperture for these shots as light was low and I thought I may be fairly close if the Whistler came out where I thought she might, I wanted to control how much of her was in focus. With the low light, f7.1 gave me the slowest shutter speed I thought I could confidently shoot at without too many duds from camera shake, and enough of her in focus for what I wanted. If I'd chosen Shutter priority, the camera would have opened the lens right up to 5.6 & chosen the highest ISO and highest speed itself and at the distance I was I possibly only would have had her head in focus. So just a personal preference I guess, sacrificed some speed for an extended depth of field. I didn't choose manual because the sun kept disappearing behind clouds, and because I didn't want to be fiddling with changes if she popped her head out only briefly as light conditions were changing, I'm just not fast enough with all of that yet.
Yes, of course I am only showing the good ones, doesn't everybody? Unless there is something incredibly interesting or educational about a bad one, it generally gets binned to save my poor computers brain space. I took just over 70 shots of her in the last set (which includes the last three above) and binned 25 (I could probably part with some more), some were just identical and some were blurry as she moved. My keeper rate is increasing for sure compared with 18 months ago when I started all this madness, but this was also an exceptionally lucky day for me too I think.
West Coast Tasmania
I'm digesting all this good information.
I had a play around with aperture priority yesterday. I need to do a course or something.
Samford Valley Qld.
great clarity ! love them
thanks
mike
Great photos and thanks for the info on your equipment. I'm looking at upgrading my camera so I looked up the price of the camera you use and I think I would have to sell my first born to be able to afford it. Looks a nice camera though. Any other recomendations of good quality but not too expensice cameras.
It can be an expensive interest but you don't need to start off with a Nikon D800!
Samford Valley Qld.
Thanks Devster. So that explains why my house has been quieter lately , I wondered where my first born had gone. Reflex is spot on, you don't necessarily need more expensive gear when you start out, or at all. I have to say though, budgets aside, it all depends on how keen you are as to what path with gear you choose to go down at a later date, I've sacrificed many other material things that perhaps the Smiths have, as this is my only hobby, and I'm sure there are others who have done the same. I wouldn't dream of spending $20 or $30K on a car, but that is "average" for some...I guess it all comes down to personal preferences and priorities. I've noticed you've started another thread, so I'll pop my 2c worth in there too.
West Coast Tasmania
Thanks Annie you're right it does come down to priorities and how many hobbies you have. I like fishing as well & have a boat, kayaks, fishing rods & heaps of gear which also sucks the wallet dry.
I'm looking to sell a car though to get some better camera gear (not a $20k or $30k car lol), but I mentioned that on another thread so I'll talk to you on there.
Thanks to you also Reflex.
No worries at all Devster! See, now I am completely jealous, a Kayak is high on my list (you're never to old to try new things, right?) Oh, plus a Drybag to take the camera gear in the Kayak. On second thoughts, when it eventually happens, perhaps quite a few trips out in the Kayak without any gear, drybag or not, as I expect to spend a lot of time learning Kayaking the hard way
West Coast Tasmania