This weekend I headed out to the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan, To see what was about after all the rain we have had in Sydney this last week. The Gardens were actually closed for part of a day due to the flooding there, the first Lake flooded over the main road into the gardens, there was a few other places in the gardens were the roads were under water so the gardens were closed, the next day they were open so the water drained away pretty quick. The floods were Thursday so By Saturday the water had gone back to normal apart from some of the lakes being full. With all the wet weather the garden was alive with Mushrooms this week so plenty to choose from there.
 

The first shot is of an Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae) as it was leaving the feeder creek into the main lake, the creek had the water so still so great reflections and with the reeds on the opposite bank made great patterns in the water, the water was a little brown from the flooding so added to the golden colour for this shot. The first shot is the Male with its mate coming close behind, since the male had already passed the Female shot the water wasn't quite as smooth as this one. i like the way the reeds in the back ground lead into the Grebe at the front. Gives it that something I can't describe but adds to the image of this one. 
 

The Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis) were of cause still hunting around for their insects this one washed me fro a little while, decided I was harmless and then hunted around the ground on the path in front of me for a little while. The second shot you can see the leg ring where its been caught before here, the gardens run a catch band and release program so they can keep track of the various bird species. 

With all the rain for the last week the gardens were alive with Mushrooms everywhere some in the grass lands others in the woodland areas, these This one was taken in the woodland area, the two shots are the same setup just different positions of the speedlites, it doesn't take much to change the feel of the shot, I usually take quite a few shots with different powers of the lights and different angles. these two images give you an idea of the differences that can be achieved. 

Also along the way I saw  red bellied back snake laying there sun bathing, these are poisonous but if you leave them alone they leave you alone, this one was only a little one about 60 cm (2 foot) catching the sun rays after a week of rain. 

Another Mushroom shot again with different power settings of the flash to give different effects. 

Spiky Mikey is still around and each week I have a go at trying something different with him, a very unusual mushroom this one, but I still haven't got the shot I really want with this one, not sure how much longer it will be around for they don;t usually las more than two weeks here so we'll see, but each week I get a different variation on this one, all good practice. 

In the woodland aarea around the stolen generation memorial there was a family of Yellow‑faced Honeyeater (Lichenostomus chrysops) I've seen them before but this was th first time i get a few decent shots still not great but better than I had, shall have to try a bit harder for one of these. 

There was also a pair of Red‑rumped Parrots (Psephotus haematonotus) guarding their nesting hollow, seamed to be a bit of that going on this week, which is a bit late in the season for that now, with Winter almost upon us down here now. 

As I was getting to the car there was a  Long‑billed Corella (Cacatua tenuirostris) also in its nesting hollow. A few branches over is a pair of Sulphur‑crested Cockatoo but I did't get any shots of them this week, but there still about as well. 

The Last shot for the week is of a Brown Quail (Coturnix ypsilophora) I heard some rustling in the leave litter and spied this one, so I went to get a shot but it had moved and took a while to find it again, then when I did I heard it again first before I saw it, this one was a little odd as it walked straight towards me not afraid so it appeared it kept coming towards me closer and closer then flew past me to another garden bed where I got a few shots this is one of the shots I got as it kept coming towards me. Love the town pattern of its feathers on this one. 

Hope you enjoyed this weeks walk though of my photos for the week. 

Thanks for dropping by my blog. 

Glenn. 

Had a few wet days here the last week so the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan was alive with mushrooms yesterday. I started out early as there was a fog about and hoped to get landscape shot of the fog amongst the trees with some sun rays coming through, but the fog though still there wasn’t thick enough so only ended up with images that were washed out in appliance and not what I had in mind so the day didn’t start out the best. well not what I had in my mind anyway. I drove around the gardens the full both circuits and nothing really caught my eye of a decent shot of the fog, the lakes were clear of fog and so where the tree areas, from the tops of the hills you could see the fog thick in parts but when you drove through it, it was really thin so nothing to get excited about. I finished up with this shot of the blue tree through a few gum trees, But really not that excited about this shot either. but the only landscape shot of the week. 

Have to work on these as the local competition for shots in the gardens is coming up and I don’t really have a decent landscape shot this year to out in. 

There was also an old Kangaroo in the top grassland area looking a little worse for wear. but happy to watch the world go by. 

After driving the circuits I started back at the first lake and found this Clamorous Reed‑Warbler (Acrocephalus stentoreus) in the reeds by the lake. First time I’ve got a shot of one of these so another one of my list of the birds in the gardens, So thats now 94 of the 177 knowns species to visit the gardens I have now. Slowly working my way thought the list. 

While at the lake I go this Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) flying over the lake, not the best shot but not to bad, not quite fully in focus, so more practice needed again. But thats all part of the fun. 

From there I drove on a little further to the stolen generation memorial area again where I found a few mushrooms last week and theres always bird life here, so got this Eastern Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria australis) 

Then the Jacky Winter (Microeca fascinans)

From there I set about getting a few mushroom shots for the week as the ground still had mushrooms popping up. 

After I got these few I walked along the trail to see what else I could find when I flash of red caught my eye, there was a Rose Robin (Petroica rosea) moving around the understory, quite fast and not staying long in any place this was the best shot I managed of this one and not great, but another new one to my list so two new birds found this weekend. I’ll have to keep my eye out for this one as I still Haven’t a decent shot of this one yet. 

Walking a long a little further in the scrub where a few wrens both shots are of female wrens the first a Superb Fairy‑wren (Malurus cyaneus)

The second a Variegated Fairy-wren (Malurus lamberti)

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Walking back to the car up in the tree tops over the road there was a racket going on up in the trees with a flock of Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala) worrying a pair of Sulphur‑crested Cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) at their nesting hollow, the Cockatoos saw the miners off in the end. But there was quite some noise for a while .

From there I drove back to the lakes to see if anything was going on and there in the middle of the manicured lawns was a large mushroom so again I was distracted and go this shot.

I also took a shot of the set up so you can see how its all done, as you can see its in full light though at the time the sun had gone behind a cloud when this shot was actually taken, other times I was shading it with my hat to take the shots, a small soft box is to the right and a second speedilite is set up to the left and a little behind this one has a brown gel, (Piece of coloured plastic) over the flash to change the colour of the light to a brownish orange, this gives the slight backlighting effect to the left back and gives and edge to the mushroom and give the shot some atmosphere. (well I think it does). The due of the grass is actually forma small spray bottle as it was taken around 12:30pm by now, The bark and leaves you see around the second speedlite around the gell was to try and limit some of the light so it didn’t add to much lighting to the grass just the mushroom where I wanted it, Again the camera I used for this and all the mushroom shots is the Canon 60D using the flip out screen so I don;t have to get down so low to align the shot and get the focus. To focus these I zoom in with the ten times magnification and manually focus, one all set up I take several shots at different settings to get the lighting I like best also moving the lights around to different locations, till I get one I like. All the images are then proceed in lightroom as described in an earlier blog post, feel free to check it out. 16/8/2014 and 23/8/2014. 

From there I walked around the connections gardens trying to find a few more birds for the week, only found more mushrooms so here is two more mushroom shots from this week. 

Thanks for dropping by my blog. 

Glenn.   

This weeks walk thought the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan with my Cameras was a good one, loads of good shots this week so pretty happy with this weeks results so far. Though some times after a few days the images start to loose there magic. 

But this week loads of decent Bird shots and a few good mushrooms to be found as well, so all up a good day out. 

I started around 11:00 am today and started off around the stolen generation memorial. Looking for some birds in the area, however the first thing I found was three mushrooms, So I set to work on these while waiting for the birds to get use to me.

The first one I set up and took a few shots one of the first was well over done, but when I got back home and started to process it I was about to discard it when I released you can actually see the spores being released in the flash, the shot was well over exposed with to much power on the flash, but still Picking up the spores was a bonus, I adjusted the power and also added a brown gel to one of the flashes this week to see who that turned out, so the one in the soft box was normal the the one thats usually a low power fill I added the gel so see what would happen. Happy with the result. 

I the set up on the other two mushrooms in the area and the results are below.

From there I went to see what Birds I could find and this week I did pretty good on the bird front as well. 

The first was a Grey Fantail  (Rhipidura fuliginosa) these little guys are becoming a regular and just sit and pose for you to take these shots, then dart of hunting insects only to return for more posing So I managed a series of these this is the better one of the day. 

The next I found was a White‑plumed Honeyeater (Lichenostomus penicillatus) This one wasn’t in the mood for posing and was darting around I managed a few shots but none are 100% sharp so I’ll have to try this one again next time. This one isn’t to bad but still not as sharp as I’d like. More practice. 

When I turned around fro the honey eater there was this little Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris) watching me, so I turned the camera around and managed this shot of this tiny bird, on the Breakfast with the birds tour the other week the guide said these are the smallest of the Australian native birds, so a tiny little fella this one.

There was a few Superb Fairy‑wrens (Malurus cyaneus) bouncing around the scrub and I managed to get both female and male of these here. 

I then walked around the water cannel and walking along the edge I could here some of the birds calling out there alarm calls and there was a few Magpie larks Trying to chase something off, After a while looking I found the culprit a pair of Pacific Baza (Aviceda subcristata) sitting high in the gum trees, This shot was the best and the focus on the head isn’t the best, the shot was hand held, but still no excuse, I’ll need to get another one of these in  the coming weeks if I can find them again. Thou I did get a good shot a year ago. 

As I started to walk back to the car, I spotted a Red‑rumped Parrot  (Psephotus haematonotus) high up in a gum tree.

Then a pair of Rainbow Lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus) preening.

Followed by this Sulphur‑crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) also doing some feather maintenance.

I made it back to the car with a great collection of shots and then headed up to where I normal find mushrooms and found the same one that I found last week alone the Wollemi Pine Walk of discovery. I now named this one Spiky Mikey.  Again I used the same process as I did early one flash in the soft box the other gelled with the brown gel. Again happy with this shot. 

I then drove along the southern loop of the park and as i approached the banksia garden I heard the cry of some Yellow‑tailed Black‑Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus funereus) So I palled over and got out to investigate, a small family of these were feasting on the Banksias so these few shots show them munching away. 

A little further a long the Bell Miners (Manorina melanophrys) were calling out so I managed to get this shot of one, these are usually pretty quick and this was the first decent shot I’ve managed of these so far. 

From there I drove back tot he visitors centre car park and walked to the lakes to see what was going on there. By now I was running out of time as with daylight savings gone the gardens now close at 5:00pm and it was now 4:00pm so only an hour left, but I was happy with he shots of the day so far so all good.

On the way to the lake I found this small group of Long‑billed Corellas (Cacatua tenuirostris) and managed this shot of one on it own. 

Beside the Corellas was a pair of Australian Wood Duck  (Maned Duck) (Chenonetta jubata) this is the female.

I walked along the lakes edge and half way over the small dividing wall of the two lakes when the NSW ambulance helicopter flew over, so why not get a shot of that as well. 

There was a few Swallows darting around over the lake these are always so fast but the 7dmk2’s auto focus manage to track these OK so I got a few decent shots of thee , they are tiny so even with the 600mm sigma I need to crop into these to get anything worth seeing. these shots are both   heavily cropped.

A Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys) was skimming the lake as well and I managed a shot or two of him as well. 

Then I saw a Little Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax melanoleucos)hunting and thought it would be good to catch a shot of it if actually caught anything and after a few dives it came up with a yabbie so I managed a couple of shots as it consumed its dinner, again not 100% focused possible camera shake at 600mm hand held with the light going, but still no excuse More practice needed definitely. So these shots are the cormorant with its catch, I’ll leave a few lines here blank for those that don;t enjoy these sort of shots, there is only one other shot after that of a Pacific Black Duck (Anas superciliosa) and a Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae) swimming together. So if you don;t want to see the cormorant shots then you can leave the blog here as there won’t be anything else after that, If you want to see these shots just scroll down, but I know how some people don't like seeing these sort of images so I’ll leave some space here.

Thanks for dropping by my blog, hope you have enjoyed this weeks walk in the gardens.   

Glenn.

Don't forget to keep scrolling down if you want to see the Cormorant shot.