When the day started, Ithought it was going to be one of those frustrating days, however by sundown it had been a spectacular day. Last night the wind howled all night long and through most of today. As Isit here in my tent now there is still an occasional light breeze but nothing as strong as earlier. Wind almost always makes things very difficult photographically. If you are shooting landscapes or closeups, things blow around and blur. If you are shooting birds, they tend to hide in cover rather than sitting up on exposed perches. However, despite all of that, Istill managed to photograph a wealth of different species and expose the most frames in one day so far this trip.
Istarted out working my way around the campground as usual. I had a somewhat cooperative White-faced Heron in the bay and a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo above my tent. From there, I headed out to meet Nevil Lazarus, the local photographer I will be spending next week with, up at Mount Bass Fire Trail where there is some good heath habitat. We were able to see a nice male Southern Emu-wren but he wouldn't sit up nice for an image. Instead, I settled for an image of a Tawny-crowned Honeyeater which I had seen numerous times but never close enough to photograph.
In an attempt to get out of the wind a bit, we headed down to a part of the park that I had not explored yet. Lady Carrington Drive is a popular trail for hikers, runners, and bikers, so I had spent most of my time across the river in Wattle Forest. Turns out, Lady Carrington had its share of good birds as well. Almost immediately we stumbled across a Superb Lyrebird feeding along the side of the track. Amazingly, this normally shy bird couldn't have cared less about us and allowed some close images like the portrait above. I have been wanting to photograph this bird doing its courtship display but never had a chance though I did glimpse it once. Today, I was thrilled to at least capture some images of the bird. I was set up to photograph small birds so had to keep backing up to get this large bird in the frame. I finally did get the whole bird in the frame and that is posted in the photo galleries.
As we finished photogrpahing the Lyrbird, I spotted an Azure Kingfisher sitting just a bit down the river. We both were able to creep up close and get some images that I was thrilled with. I had photographed one on Sunday but had to use flash which didn't quite render the blues correctly. Today's bird was in decent sun so the colors were outstanding. From there we wandered down the track a bit farther, photographing a couple different honeyeaters as we went.
After a nice picnic lunch, Nevil headed back to work and I headed back to the campsite to get organized as tomorrow I switch from my rental car into my vehicle for the trip. However, the afternoon light was spectacular so I spent most of the afternoon photographing Rainbow Lorikeets, Laughing Kookaburras, and Magpie-larks.
Tommorrow morning is my last photo session in Royal as I move on in the morning. It has been a great way to spend the first real week of this project. I was able to meet some great folks who showed me around the place as well as photograph some of the common birds as well as a few goodies. Tomorrow is a day of organizing as I switch cars and do some laundry and get ready for the next phase. Saturday, Iwill be on a pelagic birding trip out of Wollongong and then Sunday Iam headed to the Capertee Valley to search for Regent Honeaters with Chris Ross. After that I will be joining Nevil for a four day trip to the Lake Cargelligo for some interesting birds. More to come on all of these trips as they happen!
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