| Portraits of Australian Animals | Tilcheff | bloG |

Superb Blue Wren Family (93)

2009-07-08T21:25:00.004+10:00

Another family. This time nothing 'unusual' happened. They just posed for quick photos and went on with their wren business.

above: female Superb Blue Wren, NSW

above: male Superb Blue Wren, NSW

above: young male (or eclipse male) Superb Blue Wren, NSW

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Black-winged Stilt XXX

2009-07-07T17:57:00.008+10:00

This interesting action took place in the middle of the swamp, quite far away from the photographer and only lasted a few seconds. I was observant enough to detect that something unusual was going on and the camera was good enough to take some 20-25 images and document the scene.

And the image below shows how the babies will look like if they survive past the egg stage.

Black-winged Stilt, NSW

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Three 'funny' shots

2009-07-03T16:01:00.005+10:00

Suggestions for captions are welcome!

above: blank caption

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Be sure not to miss :)

2009-07-03T15:56:00.002+10:00

A great story to read and some very nice Grey Fantail photos to see.
Birds in Tasmania: Magic moments... Grey Fantail.

Black-winged Stilt (97)

2009-07-03T11:13:00.001+10:00

Black-winged Stilt, NSW

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Best Blog Friend :)

2009-07-03T08:52:00.007+10:00

Who is my best blogging friend?
I have more than one!

The most rewarding thing about blogging was the support and encouragement of like-minded people.
The positive comments under some of the better photos, the interesting information and experiences that people share in a friendly way - this is what has motivated me to keep posting beyond the time of initial enthusiasm.

I feel extremely grateful and happy to have virtually met these people and wanted to do something more than just saying "Thank you" which I usually do in replies to comments (and it is a bit worn out).

The only virtual gift I could think of was a badge for their blogs, a 'thank you, you're my best blog friend' badge. So I drew a little picture and here it is:

So, dear Mick, Grace, Rosey, Gouldiae, Dave and Denis, this little owl is for you!

It comes accompanied with a big smile. I really enjoy reading your fantastic blogs, learning new things, seeing what you have seen and sharing virtual friendship.

You can pass the badge to other people, if you like. You can put it on the side bars of your blogs, if you like it, or just save it to your HDDs. It's up you. It comes with no rules, requirements or obligations.

Your blogs are great and you are my best blog friends!
Cheers!
Nickolay

below is the code, if you like to have the badge.
1. on white background

2. on black background

*this post is related to this one

Australian White Ibis (99)

2009-07-03T08:32:00.003+10:00

Australian White Ibis, NSW

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#400

2009-07-03T08:00:00.014+10:00

Another milestone. Four hundred posts.
Things have changed a bit since I started blogging. I don't know whether 400 is a lot. It doesn't seem to be. But the enthusiasm levels are definitely getting lower and lower. Not that I'm tired, I'm just less focused...

Facts
About a year ago I started receiving some general statistic data about this blog and also checking the ratings that Google web search and Google image search give to photos published here. The results are interesting.
Nearly every search for a bird that's been published and labeled here will display one of my images on the first page of results. A Google search about Australian Animals Blog or similar returns this blog as a first result. Many other searches get listed among the first ten.
This generates a lot of traffic. Thousands of clicks, visitors from all over the world.
Unfortunately, 99,99% of them are in a hurry to steal a picture and go away.

I've had some unpleasant cases of my photos being used on commercial websites or for purposes which I would have never approved. Most of them were taken down after serious warnings.
This made me change the copyright notice at the bottom of the page and make it much more restrictive.

None of the people who saved and used my photos on their sites, blogs or for offline needs has ever contacted me to let me know or say 'thanks'.
I have received only one email from one person, saying that he enjoyed the photos.

Support
In contrast to the general trend, there have been a few very supportive and encouraging blog-friends, who are more or less responsible for the current existence of this blog. If these good people and fantastic bloggers weren't around, showing their friendship and support, I would have given up about 6 months ago. I will have a dedicated post about this later.

Achievements
I have improved my photographic and web design skills. I have 'met' great people and shared some exciting moments with them.

Objectives
I will try to keep posting at least four times a month for the next 100 posts and see how things go.
I will try to take fewer photos as the current amounts are flooding me and I'm really struggling with file management, tagging and archiving.
I will try to keep improving my photographic skills further and push my gear beyond its limits as I won't be able to upgrade in a foreseeable future.
I will try to find a way of labeling all the species with their scientific Latin names, so that the blog can serve as a searchable web resource.

Disappointments
I have found out that Australia commits large scale wildlife slaughter and is extremely hypocritical in this respect. I don't see moral right to talk against whaling, if you can't ban a medieval anti-humane industry in your own country. Using Kangaroos to attract tourists, sell products and brands and at the same time killing millions of them in the same way they used to kill Koalas, Tasmanian Tigers and tens of other species is truly disgusting.
I will keep the link to the online petition at the top of this blog at least until the end of 2009.
Looking at the signatures one can easily notice that most of them come from overseas. Australians, in their majority, do not care. Of course, if they did care the situation would have been very different.

I have traveled a lot around the world. The amount of animals killed alongside Australian roads is incomparable to any other civilized country. There are too many people here who just love running over a possum, a wombat, an echidna or a roo.

There is an ugly face of contemporary Australia, very well made up and hidden from the world. I thought that things have changed a lot in the post WW2 era. I have been very wrong. Environmentalists, wildlife carers, normal good people paint a plausible and acceptable facade, unintentionally hiding the crimes against Life.
The world often sees melodramatic images of rescued baby koalas, wombats and wallabies. Twenty babies are saved from the pouches of their dead mothers, killed in road accidents, photographed and faxed to every newspaper on the planet. Thousands, who have their healthy mothers shot for meat and skin are beheaded or beaten to death. No one mentions it. Why disturb the good sleep of the voter.

I don't want to offend readers by generalizing and saying Australians. But if there were enough responsible and caring people in this country, things would have been different. Kangaroos do not belong to Australians, they are a part of Earth's Fauna, a very unique part.

Australia is marketed as a Wildlife Paradise. It actually is Wildlife Hell.

Count down
I will keep counting down the next one hundred posts, even though I haven't decided what will happen when we hit zero.

Black-winged Stilt

2009-06-30T17:13:00.004+10:00

Black-winged Stilt, parent and child, NSW

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Superb Blue Wren

2009-06-29T21:24:00.001+10:00

Male Superb Blue Wren, NSW

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Dusky Moorhen, White-faced Heron, Chestnut Teal

2009-06-23T10:47:00.004+10:00

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Pied Currawong

2009-06-16T13:55:00.001+10:00

Pied Currawong, Sydney

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Galah

2009-06-16T13:54:00.001+10:00

Galah, Sydney

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Laughing Kookaburra

2009-06-16T13:51:00.001+10:00

Laughing Kookaburra, Sydney

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Currawong Song

2009-06-15T11:06:00.001+10:00

As I have mentioned in a previous post there are many young Currawongs around. They are playful, they seek each other's company and they organize fantastic concerts nearly every afternoon. Some days it's far away from my window, but on several occasions it took place in the nearby tree. I wanted to share their beautiful song with the visitors of this blog, esp. the ones who live overseas.

I wish I had a microphone that suited outdoor recording better. This one is good for PC-to-PC calls, but doesn't handle well even the weakest breeze. It's not easy to find where to upload an mp3 file these days, so notorious they have become. The only way round I could think of was to use a Flash container. It took some time to build it, but I can use it in the future if I record more sounds. Multimedia is so much fun!

The length of the recording is about 70 seconds and the file size is ~700k. Rainbow Lorikeets can be heard in the bg too. Enjoy!

Pied Currawongs, Sydney

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Eastern Water Dragon

2009-05-28T09:35:00.004+10:00

Well... this is one of those images that just look good. The setting, the light and the actor – everything was right. I just had to carefully get closer, squat as quietly and as slowly as possible, compose and press the button. The rest was done by Canon.

Eastern Water Dragon, Lane Cove National Park, NSW

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Three predators

2009-05-27T20:17:00.004+10:00

Three different birds in one afternoon decided to demonstrate how they catch and eat their prey. All this only a couple of meters away from me and the camera. At times I thought that somehow I have become invisible.

above: Noisy Miner, Sydney

There are quite many images in the Heron series, but unfortunately he caught the fish facing away from the camera. I could have asked for a second take, I guess...

above: White-faced Heron, Sydney

By the time this Kookaburra caught her worm the sun was very low and the light was insufficient. I had to lower the shutter speed to get decent exposure and the moving parts got blurry. Still, I decided to publish the last image as it shows certain expression.

above: Laughing Kookaburra, Sydney

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Some of my new 'neighbours'

2009-05-25T17:05:00.006+10:00

These guys frequently check what I'm doing and if my camera is ready and responsive enough. I didn't want to disappoint them so I took some quick snaps from the window.

above: Rainbow Lorikeet at the window, Sydney

above: Juv. Pied Currawong, Sydney

above: Rainbow Lorikeet at the window, Sydney

above: Juv. Pied Currawong at the window, Sydney

above: Adult Pied Currawong, Sydney

So far at the new place I have seen/heard the Laughing Kookaburras (they wake everyone else up at 5:45 every morning), the Aussie Magpies, the Pied Currawongs, the Butcherbirds, the Aussie Ravens, the No(i)sy M-s, the Suphur-crested Cockies, the Rainbow Lorikeets, the Galahs, the King Parrot (I think), the Feral Pigeons, the Brushtail Possums, some tree frogs and lots and lots of insects.

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My Tasmanian icons

2009-05-12T08:06:00.004+10:00

My stay on Tasmania started and ended with the Masked Lapwings. They were the first birds to spot near the airport, minutes after landing. They are very common and extremely cute. Black-faced Cormorants were a very common sighting too. I've taken hundreds of cormo photos and still find them fascinating. Even though I'm thousands of kilometers away now, I will keep posting Tasmanian wildlife for a while as I go through the thousands of unsorted images. So stay tuned...

above: Masked Lapwing, Tasmania

above: Lovely Magnolia, Tasmania

above: Black-faced Cormorant, Tasmania

above: Vested Seal, Tasmania

above: Masked Lapwing, Tasmania

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A tear for Tasmania

2009-05-11T17:44:00.006+10:00

I've had two fantastic years on Tasmania – the most beautiful island of them all!
It has been time of contrasts: exciting wildlife adventures, huge professional disappointments, great friends, backstabbers, shared interests, thoughts and tastes, a lot of wasted energy and time, countless enjoyable conversations, great local beer, thousands of photos (even some nice among them!), hundreds of beautiful fresh and sunny mornings, freezing cold weather, poorly designed houses, idiotic separate cold and hot water taps, and, I'm sure, tons of unforgettable memories. I will always miss Tassie.

Hobart must be one of the most beautiful towns in the world. It combines cosy with spectacular, friendly with majestic. I tried to stitch some photos together, but unfortunately no image can convey the countless nuances of colors, the true senses of freedom, awe and pure pleasure, the scale of the vista, the freshness of the air and the calls of the birds.

click to open hi-res version : 5140x720px : 1.32 MB

A tear for Tasmania. Сбогом!

Parrots

2009-05-03T01:13:00.006+10:00

Musk Lorikeet, Tasmania

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Tasmania

Long-billed Corella, Tasmania

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Tasmania

Green Rosella, Tasmania

Galah, Tasmania

Long-billed Corella, Tasmania

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Variety

2009-05-01T18:57:00.006+10:00

above: juv. Pacific Gull, Tasmania

above: Grey Fantail, Tasmania

above: Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Tasmania

above: Purple Swamphen, Tasmania

above: Suberb Blue Wren, eclipse male

above: juv. Blackbird, Tasmania

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Vultures

2009-04-30T22:19:00.002+10:00

Of course, they are not! But they looked a bit like Vultures from the distance.

Great Cormorant, Tasmania

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Australian Shoveler

2009-04-30T22:13:00.004+10:00

This isn't a great photo, but as I very much doubt that I'll see another Australian Shoveler soon, I'm posting this to have his first appearance on the blog.

male Australian Shoveler, Tasmania

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Home Sweet Home

2009-04-30T20:47:00.000+10:00

Musk Lorikeets, Tasmania

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