My dear old Swanee

Swans aged eight months look close to fully grown and can hardly be considered swanlings.

Exit stage right..

The egret has continued to hang around, but under no circumstance may it occupy a prime position when the arrival of a cormorant is imminent. In the photo you can see the eta of the cormorant was...like now. Fare thee well egret!

Occasional guest

It's always awesome to see a Great Egret at the pond, especially when it provides more opportunities for my ongoing egret photography battle! I've read these are a bird you can photograph into the sun, and was able to try it out last weekend. The sunlight on the feathers makes up for the absence of detail, maybe. The battle continues.

Holy Cormorant!

Scarlet Robin pair

So after wandering around after birds on the mountain for a while on Saturday afternoon, I finally plonked myself down on the path and let them come and find me. It was a good strategy. I'm really happy with these photos of the male (bright) and female (subtle but fetching) Scarlet Robins.

 

..like how pretty is this country of ours..

..like maybe it's prettier without powerlines in yon distance, but it can still be pretty good around sunset, don't you agree?

I think the White-faced Heron, above and below, is the same bird, as I have seen one around often lately.

And how cool is three great waterbirds at the local wetlands on Saturday morning? Top-bird was not this heron, nor the much larger Great Egret, but the Little Pied Cormorant, who muscled in to the best branch real estate and stayed all day. 

Speckled Warbler

Here is another new to me and new to this blog species, the Speckled Warbler, which was part of a mixed flock on Mt Majura on the weekend. Again my photo is not great, just to prove the point. 

One week later: I'm happy that Speckled Warblers are not as shy as Reed Warblers. I'm imagining if I shot raw files the following pictures might be improved in editing. For now it's still all untouched jpeg.

Red-browed Finch

I am very fond of these birds, mostly because they were really common and friendly birds in places I've lived in northern NSW. Here in Canberra, I think they just pass through the area in autumn. I'm not really sure about that. So my picture is awful, but you, me and the gatepost can see it is a Red-browed Finch. 

The art of nature

Sometimes, ok often, I don't realise how clever nature really is till time is slowed down in a photograph. For sure, I have seen many an immature Crimson Rosella in the bush, in the past. But looking at this picture from the weekend, I started to realise how gum blossom disguise affords protection, while the bird is young and more vulnerable to danger.

Sitting exposed on a branch like this, the immature bird's camouflage is not quite as effective.

But it is nowhere as standout as its mature Crimson Rosella pal, presumably a parent bird.

 

Better luck with a Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Some years ago, a nice scientist from the Australian Museum in Sydney sent me a book of Indigenous names for native rodents, basically because I was interested. For animals such as the Hopping Mice (Notomys) almost 80 names are recorded from various linguistic groups or areas for different Hopping Mice. For other rodents just a few names are recorded. It's a great publication and finishes with a list of recommended names. For instance Dusky Hopping-mouse (Notomys fuscus) becomes Wilkinti and Short-tailed Hopping-mouse (Notomys amplus) becomes Yoontoo. To me, these names are much more beautiful and I have a strong feeling they are not based around comparative tail sizes; which ain't nice in anyone's language.

How I wish for such a set of names for our birds; so many of which are identified primarily by rump colour. It's a little old hat if you ask me. If you know of any movement to change the names please let me know.

Anyhow there are lots of these lovely ...Yellow-rumped Thornbills around right now and I was happier with this photo than my earlier attempt.

Reference

Braithwaite, R., Morton, S., Burbidge, A., & Calaby, J. (1995), Australian Names for Australian Rodents. An Australian Nature Conservation Agency Publicatioon in association with CSIRO: Canberra.