I started the day off by watching the sun rise over the Pacific Ocean in Royal National Park, an experience that I had never really considered coming from the US, but it was a simple, yet beautiful sunrise. Afterwards I headed up and started exploring the park, stopping to photograph a few different times. It felt great to finally set up my camera and start using it. I was able to photograph a number of different species, including my first three endemic species. That makes me about 1% of the way there. Something tells me they won't all come this easily.
This image is of a New Holland Honeyeater and was the first endemic I was able to photograph for this project. The first species overall was a Masked Lapwing which is a really nifty bird in its own right and maybe I will post him tomorrow if I don't get out with my camera tomorrow. Anyway, for now we are going to focus on this honeyeater. It is quite fitting that a honeyeater was the first endemic I photographed since they are part of the Meliphagidae family which is found in this part of the world. It is a huge family of songbirds and Australia has nearly 70 species on its checklist, most of which are endemic. So overall, I am thrilled with the image and quite happy that I got a rather symbolic species as my first endemic.
I just wanted to add that by the time this is posted, I should have the photo galleries started. These will be updated as frequenlty as I can, but I don't forsee them being updated as frequently since they require sitting at a computer that is connected to the Internet for nice sections of time and I may just not have that luxury after this week. I have added a Places gallery with a few photographs I took in Sydney this evening. Please remember that I am primarily a bird photographer and not a travel photographer. These are mostly just snapshots rather than full blown images I have very carefully created, though there are a few I am very pleased with. Hope you enjoy.
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