The Sunday dawned with the forecasted sub-zero temperature accompanied by a heavy frost. I had been thinking about the forecast the whole week, watching It firm as a morning below freezing while the weekend approached. I was wondering how I could use the conditions to my advantage to take some winter-like photographs. Eventually I decided that I would head to Callum Brae Nature Reserve again so that I could walk through the narrow connecting corridor to Jerrabomberra West Nature Reserve with its open, grassy fields. I was hoping that the grassland would provide some opportunities for frosty morning photography. During my trip I was happy that along the way I saw some beautiful little birds, including a Striated Pardalote that was in a nicely lit part of a tree. I hope that you enjoy the photographs below.
That Sunday it was about -3℃elsius when I left home. Arriving at Callum Brae Nature Reserve I could see a heavy frosty lying on much of the vegetation but the sky looked to be cloudless so I realised the day would warm quickly. With that thought in my mind I hurried to my ultimate destination, Jerrabomberra West Nature Reserve, so that I would arrive at the grassland while there was still a lot of frost everywhere.
Part of the management trail on the walk in
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Walking along the management trail heading to the east I came across a bend around a tree with some dead plants that were topped in frost. Flying among these dried, yellow stems were a small group of Superb Fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus). These small birds were flying in and around these dead looking plants but they must have found some food because they would occasionally peck at a stem. They did not move a far distance while I was watching them, although they did fly across the dirt track to the same plants on the opposite side. The male really stood out in his lovely blue plumage, although normally he would have lost that colour by now because it probably does not help him in the non-breeding season. During the breeding season, when he is trying to attract females, the blue is a stunning way to attract possible mates but that same visibility he develops for females probably also makes him more obvious to predators. However, I am not sure why but research shows that some older males maintain the blue plumage throughout the year, which may also be about conserving energy so that he does not need to produce this blue plumage again and again from his normal colour. Whatever the reason, I really liked the blue against the colour of the dried plants. The photograph of the male is at the top of this post while the female is pictured below and I think it is a good comparison to show how much the male sticks out in his blue.
Female Superb Fairy-wren among frost-covered plants
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
In the same area where I was photographing the fairy-wrens I could see how the frost was dusted on everything. Some red berries were on a plant in the middle of the area wth the fairy-wrens, making a stark contrast between the bright red of the small fruit and the dull yellow of the vegetation. I also liked how the frost was even more obvious on the red, even at a bit of a distance. Frost is just where those minuscule droplets of water that are in the air all the time have already started to cool and combine into a liquid state, called the dew point, then touch the cold surface of a leaf. branch, or anything. Because that surface is also cold it can cause those water droplets to freeze into ice or frost. In my mind, that white frost made everything look colder because it was a visible indicator of the plummeting temperature. However, it also slightly changed the appearance of an object, sometimes lining it with a white border.
Between Callum Brae and Jerrabomberra West Nature Reserves there was a long, narrow corridor with a dirt road down the middle and a barb-wire topped fences running along the sides. This corridor existed because Callum Brae was the name of the property that surrounded this area and from which the ACT government created the nature reserve. The 1920s era farm was still a working property so while this corridor kept visitors away from the private farm it also kept the farm animals out of the two reserves. While walking along this connection I happened to glance over at one fence post on the north-east side where I noticed the brilliant way that the sun’s light was shining through the small prisms of frost along the wire and fence post. In some parts it was like somebody had taken a white paint brush to outline the wire and fence post. I hope that the shot captures that, especially the light hitting the frost. This was the type of shot that I was after, I just needed to find it on something more natural.
Frost on some red berries
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 100, 278mm, f/8.0 and 1/200 SEC])
Frost on barb wire and a fence post
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 100, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/200 SEC])
In that same narrow corridor I noticed the trunk of a dead tree, that I assumed had been a eucalyptus when it was still alive. The trunk was covered in tiny, up-turned, sharp cones like a rash. The protrusions were very small and as dry as the dead wood of the tree. I believed that they were made by felt scale insects, that had gotten below the bark causing those growths. The female insects developed inside those sharp growths before laying eggs around the base of the outgrowth. She died after that but she had penetrated the bark wth this point allowing her newly hatched brood to move on in search of other trees.
Old remnants left behind from felted scale insects
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/125 SEC])
This was my first visit to Jerrabomberra West Nature Reserve, an open, grassy reserve that was trying to preserve the habitat of creatures that need expansive grass areas. Because I had already done some photography on my way in, I did not have as much time in this new area as I would have liked. Fortunately, I arrived while there was still plenty of frost around.
Aerial view from Jerrabomberra West Nature Reserve looking back towards Callum Brae Nature Reserve
DJI Mavic Air 2 [ISO 200, 4.5mm, f/2.8 and 1/500 SEC]
I was happy when I noticed that there was still a lot of frost on plants. Even a head of grass caught my attention. It was laying almost horizontal, with a coating of frost on its upper side. The rectangles of frost were jumbled over its upper surface like a dusting of icing sugar topping a baked delight.
Further on, I stopped at a small eucalyptus sapling to examine the frost covering its leaves and stems. I zeroed in on a bent leaf that had spikes of frost along its edge giving the impression it was protected by a sharp spikes pushing up in all directions.
Later, on the same sapling, when the sun started to warm things up. the inevitable happened to the frost. The thawing on the small spikes of frost made lines of water down the leaves, leading to crystal-like droplets dangling perilously from the edges of leaves. The droplets would slowly enlarge as these tiny stream of water moved to the edge where the sphere of water was forming. The droplet would grow, for a while acting like a distorted viewer on the world around it before it became too large, falling to its oblivion on the damp ground beneath.
Frost coating the top of a grass head
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/9.0 and 1/100 SEC])
Frost on a leaf
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/11 and 1/100 SEC]) two shot focus stack
When frost melts
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/10 and 1/100 SEC])
Upon my arrival there was still a lot of frost on the track that crossed the grassland. The dirt that occupied where the wheels had passed was layered with the icy, white frost, highlting where the dirt road cut through the plain.
I sent my drone up because I thought that the straight lines would make an obvious, unnatural contrast with the uncontrolled mat of meshed grass plants. Looking down, it was like a seam between two squares of yellowish-green shag pile carpet. There were also some crooked lines moving through the grass that may have indicated where an animal, like a kangaroo, had passed through recently.
Frost on the tracks crossing the grassland
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 100, 227mm, f/11 and 1/100 SEC])
The track seen from above
DJI Mavic Air 2 [ISO 200, 4.5mm, f/2.8 and 1/500 SEC]
Using the dirt track as a path to follow I flew my drone further into the reserve. A bit further along I could see where a number of dirt roads all met in an off-centred intersection. In the same area an old fence line still crossed at right angles to active powerlines carrying the capital’s electricity to demanding consumers wanting energy to run heaters on a cold morning. These unnatural straight marks on and above ground jumped out at me as so many lines on the landscape. They had cut through the grass but many months of good rain had brought the grassland back to life with tall, unkempt grass that contrasted so strongly with these human drawn lines.
Lines on the landscape in the former farm that is now a nature reserve
DJI Mavic Air 2 [ISO 200, 4.5mm, f/2.8 and 1/320 SEC]
Near where I was standing I could see a large, green water tank that the ACT Parks and Wildlife Service had probably installed to provide water to animals in time of no rains. There was plenty of water in it but the surrounding circular trough at the base of the tank was frozen. The structure was casting a shadow within which the frost was still holding out, but only as long as the the sun was blocked. Obviously, with the sun rising to start the day, the shadow was getting smaller, continuously exposing the bright, white frost to directly radiated warmth, gradually eating away at the cold carpet concealed behind the water tank. The low angle of the morning sun made the shadow disproportionally long compared to the stubby water tank casting it.
Water tank deployed to provide water to wild animals
DJI Mavic Air 2 [ISO 200, 4.5mm, f/2.8 and 1/500 SEC]
Putting away the drone I felt I had to walk back to the car at a good pace because I had once again let time run away while I was enjoying the photography. The warming morning caused me to strip off my beanie and gloves due to my brisk pace. However, I was not going too fast so as not to be distracted by the birds that I saw.
A number of small birds were moving through the leaves of a smallish tree. The birds were moving within the low crown of the tree, making the leaves move but otherwise invisible to me until a Speckled Warbler (Chthonicola sagittata) appeared on an exposed branch. The bird looked around like it was searching for for something. It called a few times while looking in a couple of directions. The black dashes along its stomach plumage may have indicated that it was a juvenile bird. [Edit: Many thanks to the comment from Mccomas for correcting me, this was indeed a Speckled Warbler, not a Striated Thornbill. I have corrected the paragraph and title under the picture.]
Speckled Warbler
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 100, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Further along a small flock of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters (Lichenostomus chrysops) flew from one tree, across the dirt road, to a dead tree, where they stayed briefly before flying further south into Callum Brae.
Yellow-faced Honeyeater
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 100, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Coming back towards the area where I had seen the fairy-wrens I could hear the lovely calls of Striated Pardalotes (Pardalotus striatus) in a large eucalyptus tree that I had seen them in regularly before. Some blurring bodies proved that they were around but they were moving along branches and through clumps at leaves much faster than I could track them. I even thought that I saw one emerge from a hollow. Finally, I was lucky enough when one of these beautifully coloured birds paused at the opening of a hollow. The sun lit up its colours beautifully and it cocked its head at the right time to catch some sun with its eye. I wised that I was closer to shoot a better picture of this lovely little bird that normally exists high in the canopy. I am unsure if the hollow had been a breeding one but there were several small holes in this tree that this hollow-nesting species may be able to use. Although the larger parrots get most attention as hollow-nesters, these small birds also make use of convenient sized small hollows.
Striated Pardalote
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 200, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
I am no fan of the cold and I know that there are less animals to photograph in Canberra when the chill of winter arrives. However, I was happy to brave some sub-zero temperatures because I wanted to get some shots of frost. I did not get all the shots that I wanted but I was happy with the shots that I did get. I was also glad that I could get some photographs of the small birds in the area. All in all, it was another lovely morning in one of Canberra’s wonderful nature reserves.
Thanks for reading this post and thanks also for looking at my photos. I hope you come back again to read more about some of the wonderful natural things that the Australian Capital Territory has on offer. All the best until the next post.