Molting Cicada. Adapt and survive.
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Photo equipment. Canon 5D3, 100mm Macro L, lighting Samsung S3 phone flash with tissue paper to soften light. Lighting specialist ie wife. Handheld, no tripod. Time spent, just over an hour.
PS. Please help me to ID this cicada. Found in suburban Sydney. Please leave a message if you can ID this. Thank you.
Galah, Eolophus roseicapilla, this pink and grey cockatoo is found in all states of Australia. This collection of 3 photos of this Australian Bird were taken by me over many years (2006-2013) using different camera gears.
The above picture was taken in 2006 of a male Galah feeding on the ground. Male and female can be differentiated from the colour of their eyes. The male Galah has deep brown eyes, while the female Galah has bright red eyes.
This photo was taken in 2008, some where near Canberra. This female Galah had sparkling bright red eyes in the good natural light. This Galah was foraging through the native plants, feeding on grass seeds and roots.
This last photo was taken recently at Lake Parramatta Reserve. The female Galah was emerging from the hollow of this eucalyptus tree. This is probably the breeding nest for this galah. They are known to line the their nest with Eucalyptus leaves.
Checkout my other cockatoo pages below:
Gang-gang Cockatoo (Callocephalon fimbriatum)
Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) [1], [2]
Canon EOS 5D Mark III/ Canon 350D
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens
Old Tamron 70-300 lens (for the first picture)
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita), large cockatoo found in Australia. Some keep this Australian Bird as pet, which I don’t quite agree. Got wings, must fly free.
Ever wonder what sulphur crested cockatoo’s diet is like? Today 5 sulphur crested cockatoos landed in my backyard and help themselves to the ripen mandarin oranges.
Initially, this bird took a mandarin orange and the other look on.
Before long, every cockatoo for itself. In the background you could see the other Sulphur Crested cockatoo was flying off with another mandarin fruit. These birds were expert in picking the fruit from the tree. Looks like they have done it before.
The mandarin tree in the background.
Beak first into the mandarin orange.
Took out a super juicy mandarin segment. Yummy…
After getting the first few shots, I had time to move into slightly better position for this picture. Trying to get an angle where the branch became less obstructive.
Yum..yum
I am off… This cockatoo flew off for a second serving.
Ended up enjoying his mandarin on the neighbor’s roof.
The left over.
Some gardeners consider Sulphur Crested Cockatoo as pest. They definitely, had quite an appetite for the mandarin orange. I decided to save a few for my own consumption, left few smaller ones for them. After all, these cockatoo need some food too.
BTW, the mandarins are 100% organic. Pesticide free. No artificial fertilizer, just chicken manure and liquid nitrogen waste from a homo sapiens.
Checkout this link on Psittacine beak and feather disease that can affect Sulphur Crested Cockatoo.
Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens
Nankeen Night Heron (Nycticorax caledonicus), as the name suggested is a nocturnal bird found in Australia and surrounding nations. These photos were taken near my local creek, up stream of Parramatta River (NSW Australia), in summer 2013.
Usually Nankeen Night Heron is only active at night and seldom seen in the day light, unless being flush out from the roosting place. However, this Nankeen Night Heron was seen foraging in our local creek almost daily between Jan-March 2013. Interestingly, you can always find him in the same spot too.
While the local Pacific Black duck did not seems to bother him, any human activity within 30m would vary him. Any closer to that, he would flight. The photo above was taken from behind some thick vegetation. Thankfully, with this nature hide, I could observe this Nankeen Night Heron going about his routine. Shooting through the foliage can be tricky.
Checkout the long slender white plumes from nape, which is well seen in the photo above. These plumes from the nape is seen in adult not only during breeding season, but through the year, unlike little egret or Royal Spoonbill.
Again, I wish I have a 600mm lens, so that I could fill the frame with this Nakeen Night Heron. Anyone got AUD $15000 to spare?
Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens
Brown Gerygone, Gerygone richmondi. This is a small brown bird found in the east coast of Australia.
This photo of the Brown Gerygone was taken in Parramatta Lake Reserve during winter 2013. This species is known to catch flying insect for dinner. If you look closely, the Gerygone in the photo had just caught an insect.
Little brown birds are difficult to identify. Special thanks to the experts at BirdForum for helping me with ID. The Brown Gerygone, had olive/brown crown with grayish face and white brow.
2 hours of bushwalk, 1 good enough photo, worth it!
Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens
Australian Shelduck, Tadorna tadornoides, is part of the Shelduck family. These photos were taken at Rottnest Island, Western Australia. The Australian Shelduck is found across Southern Australia, including Tasmania. It is locally common, but uncommon elsewhere in Australia.
The Australian Shelduck is a large, brightly coloured duck. Both sexes have different plumage. The male Australian Shelduck’s head and neck are black with a white neck ring. The female Australian Shelduck has a white ring around both eyes.
Female (left) and Male (right) Australian Shelduck.
This female Australian Shelduck was shifting through foamy lake water. I wonder if there was insects or small marine creatures trapped in the foam.
Foam on it’s beaks, as if she had just down a pint of Guinness.
PhD is taking the toll on me. It has taken awhile for me to put up this post, but this blog shall not be declare dead, yet.
Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens
Eastern Great Egret (Ardea modesta), this tall and graceful water bird was photographed on Parramatta river in January 2013. Note the breeding plumage, and the lores that are bright turquoise coloured during the breeding season. Compared this with the non-breeding plumage photos [1], [2] taken from sometime ago.
Eastern Great Egret showing breeding plumage. I was lucky once, to photograph this display after multiple failed attempts.
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Eastern great egret going about his daily feeding routine.
Canon EOS 5Dmk3
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Lens
My Australian Birds List
Garden Jumping Spider
Garden Jumping Spider (Opisthoncus parcedentatus) is a common spider found in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. Some people believe that this species is found all over Australia. The spider is roughly 12mm in size. Garden Jumping Spider is usually found on foliage and leaf.
Garden Jumping Spider (Opisthoncus parcedentatus)
The colourful markings on Opisthoncus parcedentatus apparently can be different in each individual of the same species. Looking through some photos of the species, this spider has similar markings compared to the others, hopefully I got the identification (ID) right. Please let me know if you think otherwise.
8 eyes...
8 Eyes, quite a few with catchlight. Catchlight is the little bright spots you see in the eyes. In portrait photography, catchligh is supposed to add a glint or spark to a subject’s eyes bringing the subject to life. I supposed in Macro photography the idea is still applicable.
Ready to jump
Since I do not owned a purposed build macro-flash, I had to modify my Canon Speedlite 580EX II for these photos. To overcome the problem of not being able to direct the flash light very efficiently, I bummed up the output of the flash. Using ETTL +2 setting for the shots above. What do you think about the lighting technique?
Garden Jumping Spider With dinner...This photo has been rotated 180 degree.
Caught this Garden Jumping Spider feasting under a leaf. This created a little problem as I was unable to bounce my flash accurately through the thick foliage. With some tweeting, the lighting turn out to be quite interesting.
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The modification to the Speedlite is simple, idea borrowed from from Bluemonkey’s set up. Initially used to overcome the high ceiling during Unibuds Bodhi Nite 2011. A white cardboard was use to reflect light onto the subject. 2 rubber band from Transplant Australia hold it in place.
2. http://www.brisbaneinsects.com
4. http://www.findaspider.org.au
https://exblog2012.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/sidymella-longipes/
1. Canon 350D
2. Canon EF 100mm F2.8L IS Macro lens
3. Canon 580EX II speedlight
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/
1. Canon 350D
2. Canon EF 100mm F2.8L IS Macro lens
3. Canon 580EX II speedlight
?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
exblog2012.wordpress.com 