Creatures of the Night

Scarlet Robin

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:58:51 +0000

Had a great experience the other day when I was out taking some photographs at Eugennana.

Currently many of Tasmania's passerine birds are very active, selecting mates and nesting. They are normally very nervous and you have very little chance of getting close to them. If you can over come that hurdle they move like lightning and they can be impossible to frame up.

I saw a great male scarlet robin fly into a tree close by and moved in with the canon to take some shots. As I looked through the view finder it was obvious that he had a grub in his beak and was slapping it against the branch before swollowing his prize.

I fired off a few frames and took a few cautious steps closer, fired off a few more frames. The robin showed no sign of disturbance and allowed me to just keep getting closer and closer. He was so preoccupied with his massive meal I got within about 3 metres of him whilst he was at eye level.

This meant that for the first time I was able to fill the frame with a tiny bird attacking a massive grub which was fantastic. I am very happy with the shots!

Brush tail Possum and Angry Angry Wombats!

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 07:04:57 +0000

Whilst on a break the other day, it was beautiful afternoon light so I thought I would take out the canon to see if I could find anything to photograph.

Amazingly about 5 minutes down and slightly off the road there was a massive black brush tail possum sitting on a rock!

That in it self is not rare as they are a common species but this was full afternoon light so I ripped on the paj's (the paj is my 4WD for those that dont know!) handbrake, grabbed the canon (the canon DSLR with the 50-500mm lens and monopod that I currently use!) and set myself up to snap a few images.

After a few minutes the poor possum started to relax and decided that I wasn't the stupid predator that I looked and was looking great.

Suddenly the bushes exploded next to me with growling and shook violently scaring away my subject and scaring me half to death. Two male wombats in the middle of a territorial barny came screaming out of the bushes (remeber they are large, powerful and at this stage quite angry....they are also known to get a little aggressive with photo takers that get to close) and came straight at me.

I had little time to react and the two males ran past close enough to touch and continued off into the next copse of bushes. By this stage the possum was up the nearest tree and I thought time to call it a day.

Did I get the shot you ask??????? Well the possum shots were great but the action was a little close for the canon a that point so the wombats were just a blurry mess.

Though I would share that with you!!

Cheers, till next time

New Blog for Wildlife and Photography Adventures!

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 07:02:08 +0000

Gday,

Thought Id try something new to journal a few adventures that happen whilst working in Tasmania's wilderness and with its fauna.

Hope you enjoy!

Chris Coupland