Grey Striped Fly Sarcophaga aurifrons

Click on picture for a full detail of the fly

Grey Striped Fly

Grey Striped Fly (Sarcophaga aurifrons) found in Australia. This fly was photographed near Parramatta NSW. Very tolerant to human beings. I was able to get within 15cm from it. Photo taken in the field. No bug was harm.

The fly was identified with help of the websites below.

http://www.ozanimals.com/wildlife/Insect/Flies.html

http://bugshots.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/grey-striped-fly-sarcophaga-aurifrons/

Photographic equipments

1. Canon 350D

2. Canon EF 100mm F2.8L IS Macro lens

3. Canon 580EX II speedlight

Juvenile Noisy Miner

Juvenile Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala)

Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala) .

This flightless Juvenile Noisy Miner was found on the ground in a parkland somewhere near Brisbane, Australia. It must have fallen off the tree. The other noisy miners around it was raising alarm and creating a commotion, obviously they were upset that they had no way to bring this young one back into the safety of the nest.

I do not have a particular liking for this species, especially after witnessing how a gang of Noisy miners nearly killed a dove. However, I felt obligated to bring this young one to safety. I knew that if it is left alone, a dog or cat would have taken it as dinner in no time.

While standing over it, I took a few photos using my phone camera. Birding with a phone camera… this was the first for me, and the picture turn out pretty good.

A boy came over with his grandpa, he offered to take this bird home and care for it. This was a lucky bird…

My Australian Birds List

Photography Equipments-

Nokia E72

Sidymella longipes

?Sidymella longipes

I think this is Sidymella longipes, a spider belonging to the Crab spider family. It could well be a Sidymella trapezia, but according to my reading, the Sidymella trapezia is smaller and have a more proportional leg length. If any arachnologist out there could give me a pointer, I am very happy to edit this post and get the ID right.

Venturing into macro photography. It is a different ball game compared to bird photography and event photography that I am more used to.  I still have the Canon 350D body, still waiting for the 5D mk3 to be released. The macro-lens used in this shot is the Canon EF 100mm F2.8L IS, beautiful lens that give you 1:1 magnification. Would be nice to have 5x magnification, but this would mean I need to learn how to use the extension tubes (or get a new lens).

It would be nice to have the Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX, but that would set me back another 1000AUD. Modified my 580 EX II a little, I thought the effect is not bad. Could not have done this without a flash.

Depth-of-field is challenging. Could hardly get one of the eyes in focus, and this spider got about eight eyes!

 

Inspired by the peacock spider dance. Maybe one day I will find one in my backyard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GgAbyYDFeg

 

Common Bluetail

Male Common Bluetail

Common Bluetail, Ischnura heterosticta, is a common Damselfly in Australia. Male are blue in colour, while female are green or light brown.

Common Bluetail

These photos were taken with an old entry level dSLR, Canon 350D with the 100mm F2.8L macro lens. Handheld, no flash. In order to get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the movement, I have to shoot wide open (F2.8). Therefore, i struggled to get enough depth of field even just to get the eyes in focus.

To overcome this problem, probably need to invest on the twin head flash unit. Also a full frame body with good ISO performance would be really useful. Canon 5Dmk3 for Xmas?

 

White-browed Scrubwren

White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis)

White-browed Scrubwren, Parramatta Lake, NSW Australia.

2 hours of trekking, hundreds of shots, 1 good photo. Very much worth it. It has been a while since I last gone for a bush walk. Even longer since I have last got a proper bird photo. But once that little scrubwren (average size 12 gram) landed in front of me, instinctively the triggers went off, and luckily I got a good photo to show.

In life, only your skills and knowledge would not desert you… the rest comes and goes.

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Addendum 29/12/2011

In life, it is difficult to live in isolation, no man is an island. Even though we are interdependent,   there will always be time where you need to fend for yourself.   During difficult times, it is usually the time that you are most isolated. And this is the time, you know who are your true friends. And this is the time, you have to fall back to your skills and knowledge to dig yourself out of the hole.

My friend, I know you standby me. But some battle I have to win it myself!

千千為敵　　一夫勝之　　未若自勝
為戰中上　　自勝最賢　　故曰人雄

 

My Australian Birds List

Photography Equipments

Canon EOS 350D

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