Birds, Other Stuff

On my walk this morning …

It began as usual, early. The dog and I walked as far as we could go to our right after leaving home  – not far. I decided to take a photo in all four directions from that spot.  The directions are approximate.  (Nokia Lumia 530 windows phone)

looking east, gums and poplars

Looking East

 

looking North, houses, elm, road

Looking North

 

looking South, trees, paddocks

Looking South

 

And, turning West, I decided it wasn’t such a good idea since you mostly get the back of the hay shed, but …

looking West, the back of a hayshed, house, elm, stockyards

Looking West

 

Now, I know you know that there is an owl in this walk – presuming you see the Featured Image at the beginning of the post.  Three-quarters along the service road is a large oak tree and the birds were pretty active else I would never have noticed the pair of owls.

A crow was cawing, magpies warbling and the pair of lorikeets were chitter chatting raucously in a nearby flowering gum tree. And there they were – a pair of owls! To say I was astonished would be an understatement.

 

pair of owls

Australia’s largest owl – the Powerful Owl

Lucky for me they were still there when I finished walking Vika. I grabbed the Nikon D3000 and returned. Glad I don’t have to show you the grainy phone  pictures I took.

If you are not squeamish, do follow this link to a page with the full photos.

The owl on the right is holding something quite dead. That was okay until I noticed giblets hanging. Yuk. Okay, but could that be head dangling!  Yukky yuk. So, your choice!

 

Birdlife Australia says …

… Its main item of prey is possums of various species… They roost by day, perched in the dense shade of a tree, often with the previous night’s prey held in its talons; this is when Powerful Owls are seen most often…

 

Well, there you go, then. Not a strange sight at all. I would never have noticed them if other birds were not so active nearby. 

Powerful Owl, with Prey

Have a good day.    🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

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FastStone: Cockatoos with Frames and Bump Map effect
Birds, Sally D's Mobile Photography Challenge

Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge: Cockatoos

I know, I know – I’ve already posted today and I did Sally D’s challenge just the other day. I’m trying to stay on top of things (in other words I’m putting off my editing until later).

4th Monday Challenger’s Choice (Pick One: Abstraction, Animals, Architecture, Food Photography, Night Photography, Objects, Panorama, Portraiture, Still Life, Street Photography, and Travel).

5th Monday: Editing and Processing with Various Apps Using Themes from the Fourth Week.

 

cockieseffects

This is the original photo, I thought the sharp contrasts could prove interesting (Nokia Lumia 530, cropped in IrfanView)

I’ve played about with the effects one can get with IrfanView on the PC before. I don’t use phone apps, except for cropping and sending direct to the blog sometimes, or to Instagram now and then.

I decided to have a play with the FastStone Image Viewer (free) and am rapt with the results.

Continue reading

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Butterflies & Moths

Skipper Butterfly,and purple-tipped stamena

Using the Nikon D3000, on auto, but I set the lens on 55 mm.

 

skippernikon

Yellow banded Dart, on mint blossom, by my back door.

 

Isn’t the mint blossom gorgeous with all those little purple tips on the stamena.

skippernikon2

Yellow-Banded Dart (a skipper butterfly)

 

Have good day.   🙂

 

 

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