The Mallee!

This is a bumper edition with some shots of a fabulous bird species and a link to an awesome interview, to make up for the first time in ten years that I’ve been unable to update lirralirra on a Friday.

I’m just home from my first trip to the Mallee in three years. It was great to be back there as I had missed it with a deep longing, a yearning for the red sands and the beautiful birds and people.

One of the noisiest birds of the trip was the Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater. They are fascinating looking birds with a bizarre range of calls that include imitating a frog, which had me pretty puzzled until I watched one as it made the sound.

They are named for the band of spiny white feathers on their cheeks that goes from below the bill to below the ear. Their heads are scalloped brown, they have a soft, warm orange throat and chest. Their underparts are heavily streaked with brown and their long tails are tipped with white. Probably most startling of all is their blue eye which is surrounded with bare pink skin along with their pink bills tipped with black.

These images have a range of different backgrounds with the shot above showing some distant sky. I thought the blue in the background might enhance the blue of the Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater’s eye.

They are a very active species and, apart from the sentinel who watches out from a treetop, they were always on the move. I like getting dynamic shots as they were peering around or getting ready to take flight. Young Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters have yellow cheek spines which you may be able to see a little of in the shot above.

This trip was scheduled for a few years ago with my camera club, Knox Photographic Society, so although I spent my three days birding further north than Lake Tyrrell I did venture out for some predawn visits to the lake. There was something about these two trees that captured my attention as the sky began to lighten. I think it’s the way they seem to interact. Some years ago a dancing friend choreographed a dance routine with her group that honoured dead trees in the landscape and these two reminded me of that concept.

Watching as the sun rose over the lake was worth the cold toes and fingers that barely coped in two degrees Celsius. I am definitely no landscape photographer but was pleased to capture a shot to remind me of the beauty of the morning.

Huge thank yous to Thomas Doerig for caring about ethical birding/bird photography and for inviting me to be part of his Birding Today podcast series. He is such a warm and engaging interviewer that I thoroughly enjoyed the recording session and the opportunity to explain why I work the way I do, why I think it’s better for me and for the birds, and why I think it results in better photographs. Please dip in to the interview for a few moments and see what you think.

Happy birding, Kim

NB My thanks to Craig Boase from Wild Portraits for suggesting to Thomas that he might like to speak with me – Wild Portraits or search on Instagram

And my thanks to Louise and Michael from Explore the Mallee for the opportunity to spend another wonderful day at their Patchewollock conservation property – Explore the Mallee

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