In the Spring of 2010 (late Sept-early Oct) My son, Matthew and I spent 10 days in the Alice Springs area. As many birders would be aware, the "Red Centre" had in 2010, one of the highest rainfall in many years, and we took the opportunity to bird and photograph in the general area of Alice Springs. While I'm in the throes of deciding the blog's future, I thought I'd take the opportunity to post shots of some of the birds we saw. Because of the rain, the desert had vast swathes of plants and shrubs, many of them in flower, which in turn had attr
acted large numbers of birds, many of them breeding. A fantastic trip.Part one shows Babblers and Robins.
Lovely photos of those birds you saw around Alice Springs. I took my first trip out to SW Queensland in August and with all the rains they had had it was a magical place.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your previous post - I hope you can find a way to keep posting about the birds down your way without running the risk of insensitive people messing with both the birds and the local environment. I have appreciated reading your post. I am not very knowledgeable about 'bush' birds having only become interested in birding in the last few years so I do appreciate your bird photos and descriptions and have learnt a lot from them. Thank you!
As always Mick, you're good for my ego! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThe 'photography question' has rather taken over my life lately, and combined with poor birding weather, I've become a member of the 'grumpy old men brigade'. My family tells me I've been a fully paid up member for years!
My birding/photography philosophy is simple. I go birding and carry a camera. On a few trips I come across situations with birds that give photo.opps, some may lead to reasonable results, most don't and I only get record shots. I don't spend ages waiting for birds to 'perform', I've learnt to quickly sum up the odds and move on. I do occasionally sit in a favourable situation and wait for the birds to come to me. I believe I make minimal impact on the birds and I have learnt to heed signs of distress and move on. I blog about a small fraction of my outings. I've been a birder for well over 50 years and I've been involved in professional photography (and video more recently) for a similar period. ( I waited until I retired to photograph birds).
So you may guess at my anxiety, when I see or hear of people intensively 'targeting' those areas or individual birds that I've blogged about. There is anecdotal evidence, and from mine and others' observations, the welfare of the birds is not high on their list of priorities.
Lovely shots. I've photographed the birds in central Australia a few times and have yet to be disappointed.
ReplyDeleteReally great blog, with splendid photos.
ReplyDeleteI'm based in Melbourne and have added your site to my blog list.
Looking forward to keeping track.
Stewart M
Hi Stewart,
ReplyDeleteHope I can live up to your comments! It's a struggle at times.
Hi Alan, I have discovered your blog and enjoyed reading your reports and seeing your beautiful photographs. I will be visiting Tasmania next January and now I am looking forward to my trip even more. Meanwhile, I am doing my birding in damp and dismal England. Roll on Spring! I shall bookmark your Blog and follow it with interest. Best wishes, Lorraine
ReplyDelete