Pelecanus conspicillatus | Kevin & Ruth Sheather

I added a bird photography subject to my blog, didn’t I? And I haven’t followed through, have I? So I guess it is time to do something about it.

Last Saturday I drove towards Brisbane Airport to see what was about at the Kedron Brook Wetlands. This area lies between the Gateway Arterial Road and Brisbane Airport, near the bay side suburb of Nudgee. The most accessible area is near the highway. You can easily walk around the area (about a 4 kilometre walk) using a combination of well graded gravel paths and part of the concrete bikeway that runs all the way to Nudgee Beach. But watch out for speeding cyclists. It can be busy, especially at weekends.

Here are my captures for the day

The photo at the top of the page is a panorama of sleeping Pelicans. They were out in the middle of the waterhole, perched in an area where there were Pelicans roosted last time that I was there. The other birds residents that morning were Black-winged Stilts. They were feeding individually rather than in a group, some in deep water, some in shallow water and one going for a walk in the long grass.

Black-winged Stilts, also known as Pied Stilts, are a common coastal birds but are also found some distance inland in swampy areas and on rivers and creeks. They do not as a rule inhabit dry areas. Although regarded as a water bird, their feet are only partially webbed. They wade rather than swim, not surprising considering the length of their legs.

A short distance away, just north on the Nudgee Shell Service centre, I found a Little Black Cormorant sitting on a perch that is frequently used by one of its kind. The pond also held a number of Dusky Moorhens, including one having a scratch.

Australian Pelicans at The Entrance, NSW.
*Pelecanus conspicillatus*

I have been thinking about adding bird photographs to our blog pages for a while. I have been interested in bird photography for many years but did not own the lenses necessary to do anything about it.

Australasian Grebe *Tachybaptus* *novaehollandiae*

My camera is a Canon 700D which I purchased in about 2015. It came with two kit lenses, a 18 – 55 mm primary and a 55 – 250 mm short telephoto lens. But changing lenses all the time is a pain in the neck so I mainly used the primary lens and cropped photos to bring distant subjects a bit closer. I mostly used the camera in one of the automatic modes as most photos were to support my travel blog text.

About a year ago I was able to obtain at a reasonable price a Sigma 18 – 250 mm telephoto lens. This was a great improvement but still placed me too far away from subject birds to achieve satisfactory results.

Then, on the principle of you can’t take it with you I went looking for something better and found a Sigma 150 – 600 mm telephoto. Used with my crop sensor camera I have an effective 900 mm reach. Much better.

I also started to really study the capabilities of my camera and began to shoot in manual mode. I purchased a high capacity data card for the camera and began shooting in RAW at maximum megapixels (18) and converting RAW data into JPEG in Canon Digital Photo Professional 4.

During processing I identify the bird by using apps and field guide books. A handy aid to identification is the “Google Lens” phone app. Available from your phone’s app store, it allows you to scan a bird photo on the computer screen and gives you a selection of photographs to use in identification.

I also use Cornell University’s “Merlin” app and the “Australian Birds” app. There are other that you can try for yourself. I also have a copy of the Michael Morcombe Field Guide to Australian Birds.

Sightings are recorded on an Excel spreadsheet where I record bird and variety and location and date sighted. My computer files are kept by location.

Future Posts

For the future I intend to post my better shots from each outing, together with some information on location and the featured birds. Unless I change my mind, of course.

But for now, here are some of the photos that I have accumulated to date.