Australasian Shoveler

Australasian Shoveler (Anas rhynchotis) is supposed to be  a rare duck species in Australia according to my trusty bird guidebook. The Australasian Shoveler has massive bill, that is probably how it got named. The male duck has a characteristic white crescent on the face. These ducks are very wary of human beings, usually spending the day floating far out in the open water. They have a large safety radius, probably around 20-25 meters, which is outside the reach of my 400mm lens to get a frame filling shot.

Male Australasian Shoveler

The photo above is a male Australasian Shoveler.  This image is slightly crop, but I was very happy with myself able to get this close to take this picture. I basically sneak up to it, using the bush to cover my movements. All these years of Ninja training came in handy.

A pair of Australasian Shoveler, male and female

This photo showed both male and female Australasian Shoveler (Anas rhynchotis). This image is heavily cropped. This pair of Shoveler was just too wary to come anywhere near me.

My Australian Birds List

Eastern Great Egret

Eastern Great Egret (Ardea modesta)

Eastern Great Egret (Ardea modesta). Took this picture a few weeks ago in Sydney Olympic Park. White birds are difficult to photograph just like bride in white gown. This is because the camera’s metering system try to make everything looks “mid tone/grayish”. The white plumage of the Eastern Great Egret would turn out “grayish” if the camera is allowed to meter it without any manual override. To overcome this problem, you would need to over-exposed the photo. This is easiest to achieve by turning the exposure compensation to +0.5 or +1.

猜一成语

Guess a Chinese idiom based on the picture above. The answer and explanation can be found at the end of this blog post.

Photography Equipments

Canon EOS 350D

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens

My Australian Birds List

猜成语答案: 鹤立鸡群 (hè lì jī qún)

Literally translated as a crane standing among the chickens; which means to stand head and shoulders above others, or outstanding.  Note: The birds in the picture are not crane nor chicken.

Silhouette of White-Faced Heron

Today, I managed to go birding for the first time in many months. I know very well that only the early birder get good birds photos, since birds are usually most active in the early morning and morning sunlight is ideal for photographing them. However, I still only managed to leave the house just before 8am and managed to get lost while traveling to my birding spot.

It must be around 9 before I arrived at Sydney Olympic Park wetland. The sun was high, the light was  getting harsh. I took a walk down to the hides, but the water birds are just out of reach of my 400mm lens. How nice if I have the Canon 600mm lens, dreamer.

The bush land is otherwise quiet, I had a few attempts to get closer to the water birds, but was far from successful.  Birds and animals in general have a safety zone, once you approach into their safety zone, the likelihood is that they will fly off. Each species has different tolerant level, some will tolerate you getting closer than others. Obviously, the technique of approaching them is also very important.

It looks like I was going to come home empty handed today. Then I saw this White-Faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae), on the “wrong” side of the footpath in the shade of the mangrove. Wrong side, because the sun was shinning behind the heron, therefore the side that I will get to photograph will be in the shadow.

Silhouette! Silhouette of the White-Faced Heron and the mangrove would make an interesting photo.

Silhouette of White-Faced Heron

To get the silhouette effect, I need to shoot into the source of light, ie the bird is between me and the sun. I usually shoot all my birds photos on AV mode (Aperture Priority), which has a semi-automatic exposure  control. Therefore there is a need to trick the camera to under-exposed the photo, so that the silhouette is black rather then just gray. It is easiest to achieve this by turning down the exposure compensation to negative 2. This video show you how to do it on a Canon. Exposure compensation video.

All is not lost, for the late birder today.

 

My Australian Birds List

Photography Equipments

Canon EOS 350D

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens