Over the long weekend, I visited the Point Cook Coastal Park to see what was around. At the gate leading to the beach track was a male Flame Robin. Like other robins he perches on a low vantage point and then pounces onto his prey. He did not spend much time on the ground and was quickly back to his lookout, scanning for the next juicy insect…
Flame Robin, Point Cook Coastal Park
Back on the lookout….
Surfer, Point Addis, Great Ocean Road, Victoria
While looking for albatross and whales off Point Addis (near Bells Beach) along the Great Ocean Road, we watched the surfers riding waves close to the Pt Addis cliffs. This is the first time I have tried human action shots – the techniques for shooting small fast birds seems to work on slower moving targets as well…
We admired the riders, good skills, lightweight wetsuits and freezing water in Winter…
A few good rides by the blue board rider…
Surfer, Point Addis, Great Ocean Road, Victoria
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and a few wipeouts by the others…
Wipeout, Point Addis, Great Ocean Road, Victoria
Wipeout II
Posted in Victoria
Tagged Australia, Bells Beach, Great Ocean Road, Photography, Point Addis, Pt Addis, Surfing, Surfing Photography, Victoria, Wipeout
Waking along the Black Rock Beach looking for fossilised sharks teeth with a friend, we noticed this pair practicing their modelling shots…the accidental blurring and sun contrast made an interesting silhouette shot…
Modelling at Black Rock Beach, Victoria
Posted in Black & White, Victoria
Tagged Australia, Black and white, Black Rock, Modelling, Photography, Victoria
There are so many good murals in this series of Alleys and Laneways I thought I would break the post into two parts.
Street Art, P-Stain Alley, Melbourne CBD (a favourite)
P-Stain Alley, Melbourne CBD,
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Another Favourite – not sure what I see here…a great abstract
Didn’t want to name this one in the title – it is another informally named lane: Piss-stain Alley. It is a group of small alleys and lanes chock full of interesting pieces well away from the usual areas of street art on public display but still in the CBD.
Street Art, P-Stain Alley, Melbourne CBD,
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Trump Protest Art
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Exploring Blender Lane recently I met a couple of the local studio artists who gave me a bit of a history of the laneway. One of the little nuggets of information that they gave me (maybe true maybe not) was that the end of the laneway was the 2nd oldest stencil art street gallery in the world – the oldest was the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. Blender Lane is extensively layered with years of stencils with some very nice pieces that have to be picked out amongst the colour and chaos…
Stencil Street Art, Blender Lane, Melbourne CBD
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I have been following a number of artists and photographers on Instagram that I have met in the various Laneways and in one post I had noticed a reference to their favourite spot. It was to a Laneway that I had not heard of so after a bit of research, I found Blender Lane. It turns out it is actually an unnamed alley that the locals have named. It is short and has good quality art work along its sidesand at the end of it there is a covered car that is kept there by one of the local artists that has a studio nearby.
Gina the Hutt (protest art), Blender Lane, Melbourne CBD
Street Art, Blender Lane
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After a few weeks break I found that whole laneways had been resprayed. I quickly explored and photographed as many as I could before the work was over-sprayed or tagged. Some of the best was found in ACDC Lane off Flinders Lane.
Streetart, ACDC Lane, Melbourne CBD
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Entrance to the famous Cherry Bar
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Posted in Street Art, Victoria
Tagged ACDC Lane, Australia, graffiti, Melbourne CBD, Melbourne Laneways, Photography, Street Art, Street Photography, Urban Photography, Victoria
I have visited Greens Bush a few times recently. It is part of the Mornington Peninsula National Park. It is a good spot to visit between seasons as many bird species tend to migrate along the ridge lines heading North or South and I have a good chance of finding something interesting. On this occasion I was looking out for Owls and Nightjars. I think it would be a superb spot for Powerful Owls as the vegetation is right (deep shaded cool gullies) and there seems to be plenty of preferred prey (possums and I am sure some sugar-gliders). I saw many signs of Ring Tailed Possums including quite a few Dreys and even a tree that was packed with a colony with one hanging out…While walking along the track I flushed a Bassian Thrush. The Bassian has a similar habit as the Blackbird (but it a native and much more handsome). The Thrush skulks along paths and shoots off into the low scrub when scared. The one below kept just ahead of me and then flew to a low branch to watch me. I think it was a young bird as usually they are quite wary and fast to disappear.
Bassian Thrush, Greens Bush, Mornington Peninsula National Park, Victoria
Bassian Thrush – very well camouflaged on a bush track, hard to see until they flush
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Ring Tailed Possum colony in a tree…
St Kilda is an old sea-side holiday destination of Melbourne city. Tourists would travel all day by horse and buggy and coach to go to St Kilda and areas of Elwood for a holiday at the beach. It had many old residential mansions and private hotels that are now sub-divided into units. As an old area that was a thriving holiday resort and had a vibrant local business scene, it was lucky enough to create and retain a beautiful Botanic Garden that is still going strong today. It has a good range of mature trees and enough feeding opportunities to maintain a local and resident population of bird species. As usual one of my favourites is a small family of Tawny Frogmouths.
Rain Man, St Kilda Botanic Gardens
Red Flowering Gum, St Kilda Botanic Gardens
Tawny Forgmouths, in the native section of the gardens
Keeping an eye on the watchers…
Flowers around the Rose Garden Rotunda,
On the weekend I met up with my local “gang” of birders and we wandered up Elster Creek to the Golf Course lake and had a look around…besides finding a turtle (my first Eastern Long Necked), we also watched the feeding antics of the local Little Corellas feeding on the ripe seed cones of a tall skinny conifer. They use their feet like we would use our hands. I noticed that when the Noisy Miners (a local, aggressive Honeyeater) screeched out their alarm calls the Corellas stopped feeding and quickly looked skyward but did not seem overly concerned (did the alert suggest a certain generally non-threatening predator?)…I have seen a number of bird species do this…I am convinced there is a common bird language.
Little Corella enjoying a seed cone from a Conifer…
Watching us watch him…
Looking skyward when the alarm call goes out from a different bird species…
Eastern Long necked turtle, Elster Creek, Victoria
On the way down to the Mornington Peninsula with the Port Phillip Birders (Elwood/St Kilda Branches) to look for Black Faced Cormorants at Merricks Beach, and Albatross at Cape Schank, we stopped to watch the feeding antics of a family of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. They were working a dead wattle tree that seemed to be full of wood borer grubs.
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
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Finding a wood borer grub
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
A pair of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Male Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (with pink eye rings), female or juvenile behind
The hard core team from Port Phillip Birder at Greens Bush, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria
After an afternoon of wandering around Elster Creek and Elsternwick Lake with the local birding gang , I went home and was reviewing the images of the day when an sms came in from Gio (a local naturalist) that he had found a Southern Boobook Owl at the local school above their veggie patch. Postponing dinner, gearing up and heading out in a rush I found Gio, and soon after the Boobook high up in the Red Gum. I have seen a few owls and Tawny Frogmouths locally lately and will hopefully see many more. It is a good sign of a healthy environment.
Southern Boobook, Elster Creek, Elwood Victoria
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Our visit to the Botanical Gardens on the weekend was to search for the reported Powerful Owl. We found it at the southern end of the Fern Gully walk amongst the tall pines and conifers of the New Zealand section – high up and with a small window of cleared space that we could just photograph through without too many branches and twigs in the way. It was interesting to watch as various birders and garden visitors took turns owning the owl for the period of time they stood below and watched it. Once the birders who found it, before we entered the scene, left (very easy to find a rare bird when you see people with binocs looking up into a tree with interest), we were left there watching and taking photographs. Walkers-by were interested in what we were up to and asked…suddenly “our” bird was on display and we become the tour guides – educating visitors about the large Powerful Owl. While watching with my binocs and taking photos I spouted off my facts about the bird and then was surprised when I turned around and found a large bunch of people listening and watching…seems I am a natural show off – I thoroughly enjoyed it…I only had a few good facts:
Powerful Owl, Melbourne Botanic Gardens
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The owl’s attention was diverted when a small dog moved along the path towards us.
Back to sleep…
On the weekend a mate and I headed to the Royal Botanic Gardens of Melbourne. A Powerful Owl had been reported and we were keen to find it. While we wandered about we also walked through the Bell Miner Colony. The Bell Miner also called a Bellbird is a small honeyeater that lives in large social groups. They are very aggressive to other birds and will defend their food source which is “bell lerp”, a sugary secretion of a small insect that feeds on gum leaves. The bird has a very distinctive call, a bell chime or ping. The ping is a territorial call and extremely loud when ones chimes next to your ear. The red marking of the eye indicates a mature adult. The gardens are one of the few locations that the species can be easily seen. They are small, olive green and usually stay high in the trees. The birds at Botanic Gardens seem to be used to people and come down quite low and with a bit of time can be photographed (and recorded).
Play to hear the colony sound from the Gardens.
Bell Miner, Melbourne Botanic Gardens
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“ping”
Juvenile Bell Miner
Posted in Bird Behaviour, Birds, Victoria
Tagged Australia, Australian Birds, Bell Miner, Bird Photography, Melbourne Botanic Gardens, Nature Photography, Photography, Sound, Victoria
The Gap Year and Beyond 