This blog post is out of order with the one immediately preceding it as I wanted to record my sightings on Red Hill Nature Reserve as quickly as possible and then post them to Canberra Nature Map to help out with noting the wildlife on the hill.
You may notice the colour tones of this post are a little different to past posts. I use the very powerful Adobe Lightroom for my post-processing. I have learnt how to use it by watching YouTube videos. Some of the advice has been fantastic but other advice, I have learnt from experience, is not suitable for me. In the past, based on advice from a YouTube video, I always used Camera Landscape as my basic profile in Lightroom. I have now decided that is not the best profile, so I have switched Camera Faithful, which I think works better. I am sticking with the camera profiles as the consensus seems to be Canon cameras have a larger colour palette than Adobe so it is better to use that as the base profile rather that the adobe options.
Moving to the actual day, I always enjoy visiting Callum Brae Nature Reserve although on this day I felt the birdlife was already in hiding because of the heat. By 9 AM the mercury was already over 26º Celsius. The weather did not bother me as I had a wonderful time photographing a pair of beautiful Rainbow Lorikeets. I then got a little distracted by insects while I was following a dry creek towards some dams where I hope to find birds. I spent too long with the insects so I had to cut my plans short. That seems to happen a lot with me, but I have fun no matter what happens to my original plan. I hope you enjoy the photographs.
By way of comparison this is one of Callum Brae’s dams on 18 November 2018
This is the same dam on 2 January 2019, more vegetation but no increase in water level
This Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus) was moving through some trees.
An Olive-backed Oriole
It is always a lovely morning when I see Rainbow Lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus), hence why they are the photograph at the top of the post. I first saw one lorikeet in the shadows on a branch of a eucalyptus. Fortunately for me the bird came out into the light so I could obtain a better shot. The bird seemed to be interested in where a branch had broken off. The damage to the tree did not look that deep so it was unlikely to be a nesting hollow. I then realised there was a second lorikeet in the tree. Further up there may have been a nesting hollow as both birds seemed to be at the entrance to a possible hole in the tree.
A Rainbow Lorikeet on top of the stump
I adore Rainbow Lorikeets, only they give you this type of photo, beauty but with a sense of fun
The pair together
I was able to snap a few shots as a Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes) took off. The photo is still a bit blurred but I think it is getting better, but still room for improvement.
Still slightly blurred, but a Crested Pigeon in flight
I came across this Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) near one of the dams and its feathers looked decidedly damp, so it was possibly just washing itself but my approach disturbed it.
The Laughing Kookburra with damp looking feathers on the back of its neck
I spent a bit of time chasing a pair of Dollarbirds (Eurystomus orientalis) as I was almost back to the car. They were calling while flying from tree to tree without showing much interest in any single tree.
One of the Dollarbirds
There were a number of Common Grass Blue (Zizina labradus) butterflies as I walked along the dry water course.
Common Grass Blue with wings folded up, with a part of its wings missing
A blurry photograph with wings flat showing the damage to both wings
There were also a number of Meadow Argus (Junonia villida) butterflies.
Meadow Argus
Towards the entrance there was a Villa Bee Fly which had no concern about landing among meat ants.
Villa Bee Fly