Laughter in the air

Yesterday when walking with my dogs, one of them pounced on a baby lorikeet that had crash landed on the ground. (I rescued it and took it to a wildlife hospital where it is doing well - no injuries!) So I should not have been surprised when, on hearing the tell-tale sound of a Kookaburra throatily telling the other birds to leave him alone from his perch on a tree root that my faithful black retriever dashed to my rescue in the frantic hope that this time he would be allowed to keep his catch. However I had staggered out there with tripod, camera and long lens so was not exactly pleased with his helpfulness!
The Kookaburra was not an injured bird so it was able to fly up into a branch of the fire-wheel tree - Samson was hot on his heels so before I could even call the dog to leave it alone, the bird had flown! Kookaburras are actually a bird that will allow you to get quite close to them, usually. I followed my feathered quarry into a fenced area - being sure to close the gate with Samson on the other side! Unfortunately  now the bird was quite sure that I wanted to catch it and only very briefly did it sit in range of the camera. Luckily for me that one photograph turned out quite reasonable - except that it was a tad dark.

With the darkness corrected.
Since many people do take photographs with the main subject either silhouetted or a bit darker than liked, I will show you what I did to end up with this picture so that you too can fool everyone into thinking you take wonderful shots every time!
To begin with I used the quick selection tool in Photoshop Elements and dragged it over the branch and the bird.

You can see from the red arrows how I dragged the tool down and across the bird and the branch, Some of the background was selected too but I then held down the ALT key and with the same tool slowly and carefully dragged over those areas to de-select them.
Now I needed to brighten the bird and branch (You can now see that they do look a bit dull and need a "lift")
I then opened Levels (Ctrl + L) and moved the mid tones and the highlights sliders. The mid tones (centre slider) was moved the most.

The bird's eye looks way too dark so I zoomed in and I could see that there were catch lights there but quite faint. I took the Dodge tool and gave one smooth brush stroke over the lighter part of the eye just to brighten it a little. I didn't want to over do it or it would have looked as if the picture had been taken with a flash.
There was one more thing to do before I flattened the image and that was to add a little sharpening. I usually use Smart Sharpen and these are the settings that worked for this image (each image needs a different amount).

You can tell by the enlarged image in the sharpen window that the Kookaburra is still on a separate layer, this is why there is that grey mesh all around the bird. The background image does not show up in the sharpen window. From the closer shot you can see the bright bit in the eye that I had made a little brighter.
The image was then flattened and my hand written signature put on the bottom - and a simple "Stroke" that makes a bit of a border. Then it was saved with a new name.
I always keep my original photographs in a folder that is saved not only to my computer but also to an external hard drive. The originals are like my "negatives" I will be able to return to them in years to come and with my newly acquired skills make and even better job of readying them for printing. I do keep the corrected ones on the external drive too - but separate from the originals.
AJ

Sounds amazing

We occasionally get a visit from a kookaburra as it checks out the boundary to its territory. When it finds an intruder there is a little shouting for a while. I was able to record this snatch of the conversation.

The accompanying animation was created from seven photos (I copied the head and pasted on one picture) I have not discovered how to upload sound only to this blog so I have been forced to create a video. It does make the sound belong to something - so I guess making a video of the sound isn't such a bad thing!
The pity is that the picture is not correct for the sound - there were three kookaburras all sitting on this same branch and I spotted them from the house and managed to get the sound recorder out there but not the camera. When a Kookaburra calls, it points its beak upwards.
AJ

Remembering Morton Island

Although today has been taken up with the everyday activities of home life I have just been looking back through my photographs taken over the weekend and my fascination with wildlife shows through them. Among all the scenery and sunsets there are plenty of records of the birds that have become friendly - thanks to the regular feeding of the dolphins.
Morton Island - and in particular, Tangalooma, was the site of one of the largest whaling stations in Australia. The average number of whales killed in 12 months was 600 and most of these whales were taken from the waters just in front of the resort in which we were staying. An old newsreel video recording - the sort that used to be shown before the film when us "oldies" went to the cinemas "way back when", showed how the whales actually swam and showed off around the whaling boats  - just as they do for the tourist whale watch boats. The whalers would estimate the size of the whales and pick out one that was over the set limit and harpoon it with massive explosive harpoons until they killed it. The waters were red with the blood of these huge intelligent (but in those days quite stupid and unsuspecting) whales.

I took a photo of one of the harpoons - the explosive spear head has been put back on the end (less the explosive, of course!) and the plaque gives more of the gruesome story. The number of whales is climbing back up again - the wanton killing reduced their numbers almost to the point of extinction, I wonder if later, once the numbers are considered too great, that commercial hunting will recommence.
There are no larger marsupials on Morton Island and the possums and other small mammals are quite secretive and difficult to spot so I had to content myself with the local bird life!
Kookaburras hang around the resort because there is a regular feeding time for them. As long as feed is put out at the same time every day it is quite easy to coax our native birds to come close.

I never attended the Kookaburra feeding - but I enjoyed taking a few shots of these unique Ozzies in as natural a scene as possible.
Another bird that seems to love hanging around tropical resorts on island is the Curlew. These fairly large birds with long legs have a very strange call that sound a little like a baby crying. They sound very mournful at night - a little ghostly, in fact!

I tried really hard to get close to these birds but just as I thought I could take one step closer they would strut away a few more paces! They will permit you to come close - but not THAT close! At one stage I was sneaking up on seven birds at a time but once I crouched down to take my photo I would be left with just two! This one looks quite relaxed - but it was "growling" at me!
Thanks to the regular feeding of the dolphins every evening, there is a colony of cormorants that have taken residence on the small patch of beach next to the jetty (the viewing platform is along the side of the jetty). I suspect that there are fish scraps that are missed by the dolphins and these are harvested by the cormorants ("shags" is a common name given to these birds). feeding wild dolphins has become a tourist draw card in many parts of the world, Australia has some very strict regulations regarding the feeding of them (including "no touching") and yet, in spite of the restrictions, people just love the novelty of being able to hold out a titbit and have a dolphin swim right up to them and take it from their hands. In this photo, one of the resort staff is giving a snack to one of the dolphins - its a bit like saying, "here's one for now, the next you will have to earn".

The dolphin picture was taken at night with out the use of a flash, the jetty lights gave out a barely adequate illumination for taking photos - a slow shutter speed was mandatory - so the only shots that worked were the ones where the dolphin and the people were quite still.
Finally I am showing a shot of one of those black and white cormorants at work! This next picture was taken on Sunday morning. I walked onto the jetty (the same one that is used to view the dolphins) and watched the cormorants as they swam under the water and chased small fish. I didn't think that I would be able to capture this action but with digital you try anything!

The bird swims as efficiently as a fish! I was fascinated.
Now I will have to set too and put my photos together in a web album that can be shared with all my fellow travellers - and I will have to find something else to write in my blog!
AJ

Another free loader!

I know, I often write about the birds that come visiting my place! Here I go again! Well, I get a lot of pleasure from these beautiful wild creatures getting to be so trustful of our proximity. I never try to turn them into pets, I do not encourage the birds to come and sit on the feed dish as I hold it or try to get them to perch on my hands. I feel it is necessary for them to have a natural fear of humans so they can survive long enough to have grey feathers. (They don't get grey feathers!) We do have one bird that has become VERY trustful, Twisty Beak, the lorikeet with the deformed lower bill will now fly over and sit on Colin's hand as soon as he comes outside with some treat for him/her (we don't know what sex Twisty is) and will even stay on his hand when Colin walks inside the house to show off his feathered friend to any visitor that might be in our home.
But I did not set out to write about Twisty. We had a new visitor to our lorikeet and finch feeding dishes this weekend. It was a surprise to see such a large bird on the inside of the cage.

 f/5.6  1/100    ISO 200   55mm

My first picture was taken as I stepped through the door onto the veranda. I did not want to frighten our new visitor, he might not be able to make a quick get away and might hurt himself.
I stood still in the doorway for a few minutes to be sure the bird had settled down and was not going to panic. then moved  around the table to get a little closer.

  f/5.6  1/100    ISO 200   55mm

Kookaburras do not eat seeds so there was nothing inside this cage that would interest him at all. I have no idea why it would have gone in there - unless it was after the little finches that were there earlier enjoying the budgie seed. Kookaburras are meat eaters, they love insects, lizards, grubs and worms but they also like small birds and mammals. Another explanation could be that I had the slow cooker making beautiful meaty smells out on the veranda (keeps that smell outside). Well, it's possible!
I edged a little closer and took another shot of our visitor.

 f/5.6  1/100    ISO 200   55mm

There is something very special about this famous Aussie - his laughing call through the bush always makes me look up to see if I can catch sight of the bird. I was puzzled as to how this large fellow managed to get inside the cage that we had placed over the feeding platform (to keep the cockatoos from throwing the dishes to the ground).
We called our house guest to come and take a photo, she attempted to get as close as I had been and before she could raise the camera to her eye the kookaburra dipped his head and just dropped through the bars at the bottom of the cage - the bars the dishes sit on - and flew off. Under all those feathers must be one skinny bird!
To see the pictures larger, click on them and then click on the "back" arrow to return to this page.
It is wonderful to go to new places to see new things - but sometimes new thing come to you at home!
AJ

Sunless Sunday

The week end has been Abysmal - the rain so heavy that we found it impossible to pack up our camper trailer and the thought of putting up a tent in this weather has made us re-think our travel plans. Now we shall leave a couple of  days later - and even the weather in the interior will be better.
So this morning we were able to have our customary bacon and eggs breakfast (our once a week special breakfast!) accompanied by some of our home grown mini tomatoes stewed with a sprinkling of veggie stock powder.
When washing up our friend Twisty Beak came to the window and tapped on the window. Unable to resist him Colin went out with a small dish of diluted raw sugar. Rather than put it down on the table as we normally do, Colin held it and Twisty hopped onto his hand.
Always ready with one camera or other I dropped the tea towel and took a shot of the happy couple!

I wont add any shooting details for this picture because it was taken with the point and shoot, Samsung. This is purely automatic so the shutter and aperture are not really applicable to SLR use. You can see that the sky is pure white - the famous blue skies of the Gold Coast have left us for a while.
I have isolated part of the photo to show the strange beak that this little bird has had to cope with.

It looks as if a second beak has grown inside the loose first lower bill. This will be why Twisty has been able to eat - and survive. If you look back at the top photo (this second shot is a cropped selection of the first) you may see Twisty Beak's mate in the little tree behind Colin.
Referring back to the story and pictures of the kookaburra and the baby. I can understand the concern over the little one's hand being so close to the bird - it has such a nasty looking beak. To be honest I don't think I would have put the child quite that close! However, the kookaburra had been offered bits of biscuit earlier and we had see how placid it was - no snapping of the beak or lunging out at the proffered tit bit. Steven was confident that the bird would not snap but would have been more likely to take flight.
AJ

Laughter in the rain

The birds are looking for company, I think! We are having so much rain for this time of the year and I think that the birds are as tired of it as we are. Where is our beautiful sunshine?
Today a kookaburra flew in and perched on the railing of the veranda. We do not encourage these meat eating birds - they are more than capable of snatching a finch for a snack - so to have one visit is a rarety. We were all out enjoying a cuppa on the veranda while Steven (known to many as "Firie") held a friend's baby. I had been babysitting while bub's Mum was at a job interview but hot tea and wriggly tots is not a good combination so I handed my job to my son - and Steven is great with kids.
The kookaburra sat quietly on the rail so Steven stood up with Samarrah and took her over closer. He - and we - expected the bird to fly as he got closer but even when Samarrah reached out it didn't bat an eyelid!

f/6.3  1/60sec  ISO 400  30mm

Then Steven held his hand under the bird's chest to see if it would stand on his fingers.

f/6.3  1/60sec ISO400 75mm

The bird climbed on his fingers briefly and flew off - but returned to the veranda. The second time Steven held his fingers out the bird climbed on and stayed there.

f/6.3  1/60sec ISO 400  39mm

After taking a good look at his admirers our kookaburra friend flew off.
It is amazing that a wild bird should be so approachable. Not all kookaburras are this quiet. If it returns again we will probably shoo it away. I don't want to encourage it to hang around.
AJ