Friday night….
Jan 23rd, 2009 by Duncan
7.50 PM and I’m not long back from Bellbird Corner, having put out sixty litres of spray on feral blackberries. Jock’s gone home with his family after they returned from their holiday, we had our last walk this morning and Murphy took pity on us! I attached the long zoom, and it turned out to be the right choice, starting with a juvenile Rufous Whistler, newly fledged by the look of it.
We dropped down on to the creek and there went the flash of an Azure Kingfisher heading for the river, a Grey Shrike Thrush was singing as only they can, and up on the track a dragonfly obligingly perched for me on a grass stalk. It was a female Unicorn Darner, Austroaeschna unicornis, right on cue as it was about this time a year or two ago that I first saw and photographed this species in the same location, and the zoom was the right tool for the job.
At the far end of the reserve another Rufous Whistler posed for me, a female this time, and she was good enough to give me a burst of song into the bargain.
I also got pictures of Pelicans soaring on a thermal, Tree Martins, and a huge flock of European Starlings, but I’ll save them for another day. I’ve been mentioning a lot about Jock, so I’ll finish with a picture of him waiting patiently for me, taken as we turned for home, I’m going to miss our morning walk. Click all pictures to enlarge, and F11 to full screen for full size verticals.
Nice job capturing a unicorn.
Jock looks a happy companion. He’ll surely also miss such richly varied walks.
Hi Duncan
Watch out for that spray stuff, won’t you?
Nice images.
Sounds like you’ll miss Jock. Hope he comes back soon, for another visit.
Denis
The Rufous Whistler singing is especially nice. Jock looks as if he is enjoying himself!
Thanks for the comments folks, I’ve no doubt Jock will be in to stay again next time the kids want to go away!
G’day DF,
Thankfully you’ve got Murphy off your back. Good whistler shots.
Jock looks like he’s saying, “Come on, keep up, there might be a rabbit around the corner”.
(Are you sick of this weather?)
Regards,
Gouldiae
Some rain is long overdue Gouldiae, I have enough trouble keeping the veges watered, I don’t know how you cope with the course.
How nice of that dragon fly to perch for you like that. Its wings look so delicate. Great post and pictures!
Thanks Diane, dragonflies are beautiful insects, not always cooperative though!
Looks like you had a super walk Duncan. The Unicorn is awesome and the Rufous Whistler sang sweetly for you I bet. If we had any rain here in California, I’d be happy to send you some , but alas… none here either
We’ve nearly forgotten what rain looks like Larry, the place is turning into a desert I think!