Black Honeyeater, wildflowers and dragons

Went for a little drive around Alice springs and finally started seeing some wildflowers. I have been expecting them most of the year due to the rains, and although they aren't the variety of colour that can be seen in Central Australia, it was still nice to see some.

It was also a warmish afternoon so the Bearded Dragons were out as well.

The most exciting sighting though was a pair of Black Honeyeaters. The female was far more seclusive, only popping up to the branch nearby for a second and then she was off. The male however, was very friendly, piping his heart out and posing for the camera.

Black Honeyeater

Wildflowers

Bearded Dragon

Red-backed Kingfisher, Bearded Dragon using RAW file format

I've been reading a lot about how it is a better idea to shoot in "RAW" format and today I thought I'd give it a go and see what happened.

Lesson 1 - the memory card fills up faster!
Lesson 2 - you can actually do a lot more with photos in the post-production in this format
Lesson 3 - a crap photo is still a crap photo regardless of the format

A Red-backed Kingfisher decided to assist me with my experiment. It sat on a nearby branch while I sat in the car. After clicking away in my normal fashion, I soon experienced Lesson #1 above. I couldn't believe the 16 GB memory card had filled so quickly.

Once I'd finished, I returned home to empty the card and check out what could be done using the Canon Digital Photo Professional software. The results actually stunned me a bit.

The first photo below is the end result, the second photo is the original without any Post Production:

Red-backed Kingfisher

Although I haven't cropped them exactly the same, I was impressed how well the bird "sharpened" and how the background softened. I'm sure a few readers probably already do this with their photos and are saying "well.... der!" but I have preferred to keep my photos fairly true to what I have taken in the past.

Next is the end result of a Bearded Dragon. I really like the end result:

Bearded Dragon

The third lesson wasn't learnt today, but especially when shooting in the RAW format, it is better to be selective for each shot rather than burst 10 crappy photos at a time

The weather is warming up, birds are nesting and maybe rains are coming

In the past few days I have noticed the reptiles have started to re-appear after the colder winter months. The Bearded Dragon (above and below) is one of the more obvious species as they have been appearing on the top of posts, tops of trees and on the roads.

Another species I have seen a few times now is the Centralian Blue-tongue. This can be very colourful even though the one below isn't showing all the colours and it was taken late in the afternoon.

The birds seem to be actively building nests which makes me wonder if we are perhaps not getting rain in the Centre soon. Some, like the Black-shouldered Kite have made sure they are ready by hatching chicks early. You can just see the heads in the third photo of the chicks in the nest.

The smaller birds are the ones who are most actively building nests. The Thornbills below were actively foraging for nesting material, and there are lots of nests in trees and shrubs around Alice Springs and even more out of town.

Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Inland Thornbill

Bird-watching in Central Australia - Woodswallows, Wedgies, Cuckoos, Cockies, Wildlife and other photos

Black-faced Woodswallow (he's behind you!)

Whistling Kite

Wedge-tailed Eagles

(waiting in line)

Bearded Dragon

Black-breasted Buzzard

Brown Falcon chased by Yellow-throated Miner

Brown Songlark

Dingo

(behaving like my domestic dog - jumping at grass hoppers)

Hopper

Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoos

(the chase)

Pallid Cuckoo

Red-backed Kingfisher

Red-tailed Black Cockatoos

Southern Boobook

Wedgies, Waders and a few others

It has been a bit quiet bird-wise recently, but today was back to some old favourites.

I came across a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles feeding on road kill and managed to stop the car early enough for them not to fly off immediately. One of the photos I took reminded me of a similar photo of a Little Eagle I took back in May this year. Similar flight positions:

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Little Eagle (from May 2013)

Next I had some fun with the waders at the Alice Springs Water Treatment Plant. There were a few that had me stumped, and the first one in the photos is one of them. I think this is a Ruff, but if anyone can confirm or advise what it is if I am wrong I would really appreciate the assistance.

Ruff (possibly)

Another I'm not 100% convinced but best guess - Sanderling

Common Greenshank

Red-capped Plover

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Red-necked Avocet "Salute!"

Red-necked Avocet in flight

Australasian Pipit

Australian Pratincole

Black-fronted Dotterel

Black-tailed Native Hen

Masked Lapwing

And finally, I have put the photos in reverse order to show how easy it is to miss things. What can you see in the first photo?

If you saw this Bearded Dragon, well done, go to the top of the class! I cheated a bit because it was sitting along the right hand side and up to the top of the bush above when I drove past, so when I reversed, I knew where to look, otherwise, as is probably often the case, I would have driven right past without knowing it was there. Great camouflage!