One of my other favourite pastimes is cross-country mountain biking. Knowing Canberra would be very quiet on the morning of Good Friday, I decided that time was a great opportunity to do the southern loop of the Canberra Centenary Trail. I was planning a ride of 50 km, although it end up being over 60 km. I wanted to take my camera in case I saw some things to photograph but I was reluctant to take my Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM, since it would be in my back pack being carried over some bumpy trails. So, I settled on my Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM, which is over 10 years old and was a kit lens I bought with my first Canon DSLR. I would have to accept a reduction in quality for not risking my good lens. It was a wonderful ride and I am glad I had a camera as there were things to photograph. The lens was not great but it did an OK job. I was probably more focussed on photographing landscapes but I was also looking out for birds and other wildlife. I hope you enjoy the photographs below.
Looking south-west under a grey sky to the Brindabella Range from the Cooleman Ridge Nature Reserve
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM [ISO 500, 27mm, f/11 and 1/20 SEC])
Looking north-west past a cairn to the Brindabella Range from the Cooleman Ridge Nature Reserve
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM [ISO 500, 55mm, f/11 and 1/40 SEC])
Looking upstream under a grey sky to Red Rock Gorge from Kambah Pool Reserve
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM [ISO 400, 33mm, f/14 and 1/25 SEC])
The old Tuggeranong stone wall
(Apple iPhone SE)
I had seen some birds while I was riding but with my smaller lens, plus my camera was in my biking backpack so not readily available, I was not in a position to get any photographs. As I was cycling across the bridge of over Lake Tuggeranong, about three hours into the ride, I saw a female Australasian Darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae) drying its wings. (The male has a darker head and neck.) I stopped my bike slowly before taking my camera out of the backpack without looking at the bird. Most birds will happily let a cyclist pass them close-by but when you stop, birds get nervous and tend to fly away. This darter stayed still, possibly as this lake is in the middle of a town centre so the bird was used to humans looking at it. I was able to photograph it from the bridge but I did not try to get closer. It continued to keep its wings out while pushing its head from side to side. It rotated its body slightly once but remained in the same location, continually pushing its head and neck out to either side. Darters actually swim underwater to pursue their prey. With their feet set way back on their body they make very good swimmers. They also consume introduced fish species like European Carp and Redfin Perch helping to control the numbers of those species.
A female Australasian Darter drying herself on the side of Lake Tuggeranong
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM [ISO 400, 55mm, f/7.1 and 1/320 SEC])
I came across this group of Galahs (Eolophus roseicapillus) in an urban park in Tuggeranong. The discoloured grass to the left in the photograph had a small puddle in it where the birds were drinking from. They were also eating at the roots of the grass. My presence immediately started them moving.
Galahs grazing in a Tuggeranong urban park
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM [ISO 400, 55mm, f/9.0 and 1/250 SEC])
In the same park as the galahs above there were three Australian Magpies (Cracticus tibicen). They were in the same area as the galahs, with some minor disagreements between the species. I was surprised by this juvenile magpie as it walked closer to me, moving nearer to me than it was to the adults. Maybe it had learned people would feed it. It reacted to the noise of my shutter but still came near to me. I was happy it did as it allowed me to get some good shots of it.
An intrepid juvenila Australian Magpie that was closer to me than its parents
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM [ISO 400, 55mm, f/9.0 and 1/200 SEC])
I came across this skeleton of a European Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) just off the trail past Kambah Pool Reserve. I was not paying attention to it, as there are always kangaroo skeletons and bones on the ground throughout Canberra, so I thought this was just another one. I started thinking about how the animal had died in what seemed a safe location, then I realised the teeth were not from a herbivore. I had to compare the photograph to images on the internet before I was confident it belonged to a fox. I am not sure how it died, I doubt a bike would have hit such a fast moving, alert creature. It may have been the victim of one of Australia’s poisonous creatures or maybe it tried to grab a joey but the adult kangaroos fatally intervened against the fox. May be it was old or sick, and just laid down to die one day. I have another photo I took from above, as I thought that was a good angle for the whole skeleton. I realised that top-down view was not the best angle to tell the story of this skeleton so I tried this front angle instead. I think this perspective adds more drama.
Even predators die, a European Red Fox skeleton
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM [ISO 400, 32mm, f/14 and 1/30 SEC])