An unexpected 6 ticks today, I was perusing the thornbills for a good hour but just too difficult to get a good photo, I will have to try again next time!
tick 1 - New Holland Honeyeater, I finally got a decent photo after one went out in the open, I was even more happy to get one because the NHH is my 'spark bird'. curious to know what others were?
tick 2 - Long Billed Corella, came across a group feeding, they let me come close because they were too interested in eating to bother about me
tick 3 - Silvereye, I didn't even think about seeing one, but the thornbills led me to a group of them! Sorry for the crappy shot guys, they are just as difficult as the thornbills ;) but at least I got one
tick 4 - Brown Thornbill, seriously the hardest bird I've tried to photograph, they are ridiculously tiny, never stop moving and blend in so well with the trees, but I found one eating some orange berries
tick 5 - Purple Swamphen, for me a really shy wader
Tick 6 - Grey Butcherbird, I've seen them and heard them so many times before, but never close enough or I did t have my camera on me, but one flew near where I was trying to photograph some young Crimson Rosellas. Sorry for the lighting and quality not the best, it was getting late and the sun was setting so not the best light ;)
These are lovely photos, the butcher bird makes an atmospherice photo. I too have been trying to photograph brown thornbills and other similiar tiny birds. They are so difficult!
elizabeth
You should be pretty happy with 6 'ticks' :)
Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera
Thanks for the nice comments
Ryu - trust me, I am! :)
Elizabeth - I feel your pain in trying to get the tiny birds, but it makes it soo worth it once you get a good pic! About the butcherbird, it was originally a silhouette, but I just lightened it a bit, hear is the original, what do you think is better?
Tegan - Melbourne Vic.
The lightened one I think.
As for the little brown birds- they had always facinated me from the start and after spending a whole Winter following around mixed feeding flocks, I have gotten pretty good at it. Practise and patience is the key. Elizabeth- make sure you are using spot focus on your camera so that you get the birds rather than the branches.
Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera
Nice shots Tegan and well done
Yes very frustrating but always rewarding when you finally do get that perfect shot of those little birds
Dont take life too seriously, it never ends well
Nice photos Tegan and nice sightings, are you doing the same ticking method as many other people on the forum are doing, ticking only after you have got a photo?
Thanks Ryu and Laza :)
Tim - thanks! And yes I am, I only count a tick with a identifiable photo, captive birds don't count. The reason I only tick if I have a photo is if I wrongly identify a bird, and then write it in my life list, then I would have wrong records and it gets kinda confusing if you know what I mean :)
Tegan - Melbourne Vic.
6 in one day is a very good day. I remember getting 12 in one day once by travelling three hundred kilometres round trip.
OK you have me intrigued about your 'spark bird' comment. I assume it is the species that sparked your interest? If so mine was a combination of sighting a Palm Cockatoo in Cape York and using a Canon 600D at the same time. Hooked! Life list of Australian birds photographed is now 310.
Samford Valley Qld.
Thanks Reflex, and yes that's what I meant by 'spark bird' haha I didn't know what else to call it, and wow that is an impressive life list! Only 518 to go haha. Mine is only 39, which seems really small now!
Tegan - Melbourne Vic.
Well done Tegan, a fantastic day out for you. I only have one of your six ticks but I did my 'spark bird' today.
Nice photos ... well done getting so many ticks! I really like your first corella shot, nice eye level photo.
The little birds are very tricky .... but keep trying and sooner or later you will find a more co-operative ones.
I am glad that I am not the only one who has trouble photographing those tiny birds that won't stay still! I like the lightened Butcher Bird photo too.
elizabeth
Thanks guys, WhistlingDuck - the Long Billed Corella was an easy tick for me, since they were in a nice open area and position, but it was kinda uncomfortable lying on my stomach in wet grass! I cannot tell you the amount of awkward/uncomfortable positions I've been in trying to get that perfect shot :D
Tegan - Melbourne Vic.
Nice to get 6 new ticks. It sure is exciting when you first start birding as everything is so new. You soon get to learn where to look for different species, learn their call and learn their patterns so you can prepare to get that perfect shot.
I find with the thornbills, wrens & whistlers if you position yourself close enough to them and then make psh psh psh sound they eventually come to you as they are very curious little birds. Sometimes watching their movements and predicting where thay are going to go helps as well. Thats how I got that finch shot last weekend.
I like your comment about your 'Spark Bird' Mine was the Eastern Yellow Robin which was my first decent photo.
Thanks for your post, don't worry you'll be up there in no time. Gotta start somewhere.
Hi Tegan, well done ! Are you talking about "Wilson Botanic Park" in Berwick Vic?
I go there a lot, just in my area.
M-L
Devster - thank you for the encouragement, I will try that and see if it works for me, I really want better photos of the Thornbills, Golden/Rufous Whistlers and the Eastern Yellow Robin, which you mentioned as your spark bird.
Araminta - thank you, and yes that's the place! This was only my second visit there, can you tell me what other birds can be found there? Others I know of that I didn't post is the big Mallard duck, Pacific Black Ducks, Eurasian Coot, Dusky Moorhen, Australasian Grebe, Common Bronzewing and Little Pied Cormorant.
Tegan - Melbourne Vic.
Channel-billed Cuckoos and Koels have been reported there. also Yellow Thornbill.