I planned a descent into the valley via Furber Steps at first light so I can avoid tourists and the general public. I was not sure at the time whether I wanted to walk back up or catch the Scenic Railway. My adventure began at 03:35 on a Sunday morning (15 April), when my Pied Butcherbird alarm awoke me after barely three and a half hours sleep. When I get excited about a project, nothing can stop me from thinking, daydreaming of what lies ahead. Hastily preparing breakfast and snacks and water for my big walk that day, I also briefly gave my photo equipment the final checks to ensure I have all the lenses and flashes I need. Despite choosing not to take my 500mm super telephoto lens, my camera back pack with all the gear, food and some four liters of water weighed around 20kg. Was I really looking forward to walking around ten kilometres with all this equipment? You bet! I was a little frustrated when I was informed that my train to Katoomba was running 15 or so minutes late. Not much I could do, but daydream some more.

Once onboard, it was obvious who uses trains at such “ungodly” hour of a weekend dawn. Late night revellers were sprawled across the carriages (not too many thankfully) catching some sleep on the ride home. It was quite pleasant and peaceful a trip to Katoomba. It was nearly 06:00 and the first signs of daylight have already started to creep across the cloudy skies and I could make out the fog in the Jamison Valley. I was somewhat surprised at the mild chill in the air, despite being 11 degrees Celsius, but it was not a problem knowing that the walk from the station to Scenic World will keep me warm. The first birds I saw and heard were a small group of Crimson Rosellas with their quaint tinkling calls as they flew north over the pass above the station. Walking down Parke Street the wonderful melodies of Pied Currawongs and Australian Magpie warmed my soul and they are songs I adore and can listen to all day. Passing through beside a small reserve, I fondly remembered the encounter (by hearing only) of a Lewin’s Rail a couple of years back while Graham Turner and I were searching the area for Highlands Copperhead Snakes to no avail. Satin Bowerbirds, Australian King Parrots, Brown Thornbills were all busy calling, and I heard the calls of an Eastern Whipbird. 

As I was approaching Scenic World, I noted some crake-like birds foraging in the grassy picnic area near the entrance and a quick look through my ancient binoculars revealed four stunning Buff-banded Rails. They were quick to depart when I tried a sneaky approach. But, the biggest surprise then was the calls of a Rose Robin. Thinking I may have been hearing things due to lack of sleep, I played the call on my smart phone and very quickly a male flew in right above me checking me out. I am not all that keen to use calls, despite what a lot of people may think of bird photographers in general (and what about bird watchers/twitchers using calls?), and certainly this time of the year is when I would be less shy to do so when species are not breeding. During breeding season it’s a no-no for me. After a brief confusion thinking Furber Steps were next to Scenic World Kiosk, I consulted my bushwalking guide and it said Katoomba Falls Kiosk, a few hundred metres back to the east. Once on track, I began my descent.

Funny that at 07:00 there were hardly any people in the street and not a soul on my descent. Yes, it is true. Your legs do feel like jelly at times so I took it easy getting down. At one spot I was excited and started to jog down the steps and as I approached a corner a female Superb Lyrebird was spooked by me and she quickly ascended the embankment. Well, I thought at least this would be a sighting, even if I fail to see another. When I walked through the Scenic Boardwalk gate I was blown away by the serenity and tranquility of the rainforest that greeted me. I am sure you know what I mean when I say that I could smell Sooty Owls and Powerful Owls in there. In fact, I will be heading out there someday to do some well-deserved spotlighting, because I feel the area has huge night time potential. The dawn chorus was well underway and it was still quite dim in the rainforest.

I could hear many birds singing their territorial songs and sonatas, including Eastern Yellow Robin, Golden Whistler, Grey Shrike-thrush, White-browed and Yellow-throated Scrubwren, Eastern Whipbird, Lewin’s and White-naped Honeyeater, White-throated Treecreeper and Grey Fantail. Interesting that at this early point I was not able to pick up lyrebirds. Also, one thing that had crossed my mind is that it is possible that some calls were mimicked by lyrebirds, but I was not able to hear their mechanical whirring sounds that appear to be in between other species’ calls that they mimic.

What a beautiful walk it was with not another soul around to distract me from my enjoyment. As I walked a loop around the boardwalks along the Yellow Robin Link then followed by the Lilli-Pilli Link. It is near this intersecting point where I first started to hear the lyrebirds. At first, the mechanical whirring calls from a distance, then the mimicry. I sat on the boardwalk quietly and waited patiently. One beautiful male came towards me with no fear and was scratching so close I could almost touch him as I lay down flat. I even had to change to a macro lens as 300mm was way too long. The time was getting nearer to 09:00 when the first train and cable car would arrive so I prepared an exit to avoid any hint of crowds. It was a good tactic as I was seeing the people land just as I walked towards the landings. However, nothing could be more satisfying than knowing this beautiful morning was finished with four male lyrebirds scratching, feeding and calling near me in one spot en route to my exit point.

Climbing back up was not as bad as I had envisaged. A walk to Echo Point was a beautiful way to end the adventure, however, I had to walk very fast to catch a train back to Penrith. The walk from Echo Point to the station took me 21 minutes only. It was very hard with my pack, but a worthwhile bit of exercise. Rest assured, on this Thursday morning (19 April) as I write this, my leg muscles have just started to recover from the walk. What a wonderful experience to have! It was the highlight of my week off work this week and only topped by a great photographic encounter with Bassian Thrush at Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens the following day.

Stay safe, and happy birding!

Ákos

A lot of people shun using converters complaining they degrade image quality. But there is one very important thing that converters CAN do. That is, magnify the image by significant amounts. Sure converters may mean a little loss of image quality, but at the end of the day, being the keen wildlife photographer that I am, I choose to use them and especially at times I get to be very close to a subject to be able to extract some tight detail or crop. I rather use a converter than crop an image. Period.

The most important thing about converters is that you should always buy the BEST that you can afford, preferably the same brand as the glass with which you’re shooting. I choose Canon glass, so my L series telephoto lenses are best suited to Canon’s L series converters, the 1.4x and 2x converters (both MkII versions).

The below images clearly demonstrate WHAT can be done from the SAME standpoint with no converter, a 1.4x then 2x converters. I was in exactly the same position while shooting one night and wanted to show the magnification changes. I will put the equivalent field of view in brackets (Eg 1,000mm on a 1D body is 1,300mm FOV).  All three images are full frame straight out of camera with minimal post processing in ACR and Photoshop.

Canon EOS 1DMkIIn EF500mm f/4L IS USM lens. 500mm (FOV = 800mm)

Canon EOS 1DMkIIn EF500mm f/4L IS USM lens and 1.4x converter. 700mm (FOV = 910mm)

Canon EOS 1DMkIIn EF500mm f/4L IS USM lens and 2x converter. 1,000mm (FOV = 1,300mm)

The female, watching me one morning. She has been quite approachable allowing me to get to within 30m of her perch tree.

I was never so impressed by a bird as when I first saw them glide across Castlereagh Rd, near the quarries one morning at around 05:45 as I was driving up with my three dogs to take them for their morning walk in the area. The pair of adult wedgies just floated about 15m above the road surface sweeping from one side to another, finally swooping up to the east side of a small lake where they roosted side-by-side in a tall eucalypt. This branch is still one of their preferred perches that they use and one, I think the female, was there again this morning, observing the line of traffic going to work and I suspect she was too busy looking for a careless rabbit over the opposite side in the huge fields.

Wedge-tailed Eagle with Australian Raven escort.

This time it's an Australian Magpie pursuing the mighty eagle.

My most amazing encounter occured around mid-September 2011, when driving home from Richmond after a morning’s photography, I noted both adults flying low, being chased by an Australian Raven and an Australian Magpie. I quickly pulled over and got my 500mm lens out of its case (normally I have the camera/lens ready to shoot at moment’s notice, but not this day) and I was literally scrambling to put a 2x converter on as well to get me 1,000mm focal length. I was shooting frantically as the eagles circled low, then gained altitude as the two passerines were in close pursuit relentlessly attacking. I have even managed an acceptable image with the raven pulling at a primary feather of the eagle’s wing. That is really bold. The eagle was carrying a rabbit. As both eagles slowly ascended, they got higher and higher, soon reaching heights too high for the two passerines who gave up the chase. Then the eagles headed towards the SW, I guess to their nest to feed their young. I am still hoping that sometime in the next year or two I will find where they nest so I can study them from closer proximity.

Enjoy these few images of my favourite bird of prey. The Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aquila audax).

The most common teleconverter sizes are:

– 1.4x – enlarges your lens’ focal length by 40%, so a 300mm lens becomes 300 x 1.4 = 420mm (loss of 1 stop of light)
– 2.0x – enlarges your lens’ focal length by 100%, so a 300mm lens becomes 300 x 2.0 = 600mm (loss of 2 stops of light)

The best thing is also that if you use a camera with a crop sensor, then the actual field of view will also change. It will be the total focal length of the lens multiplied by the crop factor. So if you use a 300mm f/2.8 lens coupled with a 2x teleconverter, you will have a 600mm f/5.6 lens (since adding the 2x teleconverter will equal the loss of two stops of light). On an APS-C sensor (1.6x crop factor) the lens will have a field of view equal to 600 x 1.6 = 960mm. However, you would need to consider your shutter speeds you choose to shoot at this apparent long focal length, because due to this crop factor of 1.6 the 1/FL rule of shutter speed selection will require you to use a shutter speed at least 1/960th of a second, with 1/1000th being the closest to this number.

1DMkIIn, 500mm f/4L IS USM, stacked 1.4x and 2.0x, ISO800, f/16, 1/80th, tripod and Wimberley MkII head used.

I find it rather strange, and perhaps funny, that the number of people I hear complain about or dislike using a 2x converter is far more than those who advocate their use. Why would that be? I suspect there are a number of reasons, but one may be that they lack good quality equipment or they just don’t go out and shoot often enough to get used to the limitations within which they could get great results using these pieces of glass that increase the lens’ magnification. Or perhaps they don’t have good long lens shooting technique to achieve good results. Let me clear one thing up. Of course one will see some image degradation when slapping a 2x converter between a lens and a camera. This degradation will be even more when the lens, converter (or both) are of inferior quality. I mean, not your Canon L-grade converters; do note that Canon don’t make any converter other than the L-designated, luxury, models. I suspect that Nikon are in the same boat as well. My good friend Stephen Davey has bought the new Nikon 2.0x converter about a year ago and his test shots with it, using his D3 and 600mm f/4 lens were just mind-blowing. It all comes down to technique and lens to subject distance. You simply, cannot use stacked (or any) converters and shoot a subject from 100m or more away expecting world class results. However, if you get close, then even stacking your converters will yield exceptionally good quality images. Needless to say that you still need to have good long-lens technique and a little bit of luck. But both go hand-in-hand with photographing wildlife. You need to know what you are doing, how and know your subjects, know their behaviour and learn to read them like a book.

The below image here was made yesterday morning with a very cooperative bird in Castlereagh, who was only too busy advertising his territory. My mate from Brisbane, and I, were taking hundreds of photos of this same individual Golden-headed Cisticola a week ago. I knew where he would pop-up to call, so I just had to stand just within 5m of this branch and he would come. That he did many times over an hour. I was so excited to see this image on the computer. I love it when my plan gets executed just how I like it. Note, the light was quite bad this morning and I was using fill flash to brighten the bird against a stormy sky, yet it looks (to me at least) like natural light.

1DMkIIn, 500mm f/4L IS USM, stacked 1.4x and 2.0x converters, ISO1000, f/19, 1/100th, tripod and Wimberley MkII head.

Whatever you do, wherever you are, don’t be afraid to shoot, experiment and learn. The more you shoot, the better your images become. I am eternally grateful to my wonderful wife and for the many subjects who (sometimes) cooperate with me. The best thing about getting this image (and the others before) that no call playback was used at all.

Stay safe and happy shooting.

Eastern Barn Owl, 1DMkIIn, 500/4L, ISO400, f/8, 1/60th, flash, hand held, full frame

Many of my outings were in the Cattai area, some on private property, lucky I am privileged to know some land holders in different locations. Once they see a few images from those areas, they are more than happy to allow me access with a simple courtesy phone call.

Hope you enjoy these humble images.

Common Brushtail Possum, 1DMkIIn, 500/4L + 2x, ISO400, f/10, 1/60th, flash and tripod used

Yellow-bellied Glider, 1DMkIIn, 500/4L + 1.4x, ISO400, f/8, 1/100th, flash and tripod

The culprit with the big mouth! Almost ready for an outburst.

Now you're talking about attitude.

Then we came to the second perch that was a small branch atop a little bush and the male was busy there as well. In fact, he and his mate were building a nest below this bush. As Chris walked in close to trim one leaf from a branch he almost headbutted a Silvereye nest in the bush. That’s really cool as I’ve not yet seen a Silvereye nesting. We had a great session, I believe it was Chris’ best ever with cisticolas so I was pleased that the birds showed as promised. Some even more awesome opportunities arose after coffee near a small reedy pond where another male cisticola perched on top of a bush, and right in front of Chris. How good was that? There was the small resident flock of Chestnut-breasted Mannakins too, and the three or four Rainbow Bee-eaters that surely must have a nest hole over the drop-off.

I just love old, wooden fence posts.

Then I took Chris to see where Henry and his mate (kestrel) are nesting. As I got out of the car, I was just blown away to see both resident Wedge-tailed Eagles sitting on the same perch where I could approach the female really close about six or so weeks back. Having talked about this to other birders/photographers for ages it was just a total fluke that they were there, thus prove that I know what I am talking about. We got a few images, though not much worth keeping I think. By now the light was getting atrocious, so we took it easy watching Henry and his mate fly in and out of the tree where they are nesting. After about an hour of little activity, we drove to the weir on the Nepean River. Again, the light was just crap by now, but I wanted to show Chris my fave BIF spot, and in typical fashion one cormorant flew past in about 20 minutes of us standing on the water’s edge. It was not that great at this time to be honest, but it can be a magical bird in flight location. About 30m up were a pair of Dollarbirds swirling through the skies, so I suggested we walk back up onto the top, to the overgrown field to try for a BIF of these. Yeah right! At least that’s what you may be thinking. Well, in bird photography you can only prepare so much and then still need a dose of good luck to make it all come together.

This feisty little dude has a LOT to say!

Another male with hand held 500/2x combo. That's a 1000mm of focal lenght, almost full frame.

The field on top was perfect Brown Snake country with the knee-high grasses and weeds so I was treading as carefully as I could. We made it to around 30-40 meters from the tree in which these Dollarbirds were perching in between sorties, while I fielded a call from my wife Donata who asked what time to expect me for lunch. I said another hour as we are at the weir, checking things out and the Dollarbirds are “biting”. As we set-up our tripods and the super telephoto lenses I was only dreaming of a shot in flight. Nothing could prepare me for what came next. One bird took off and flew straight at Chris and me. I could not pick it up in the viewfinder until the last moment when it dropped really, really low and flew about 10m high or so, maybe even lower. I managed to get one really good shot of this head-on encounter, which you can see below.

Henry's mate banking close.

The amazing Dollarbird flight.

Enjoy this quick read and hope you will pop back soon for more great stuff that live in my neck o’ the woods.

NB. No calls or hides were used with the cisticolas. The Kestrel was cropped in half from a horizontal image and the Dollarbird is full frame, with some top/bottom trim only with a slight bit of canvas added on the right as the primaries were just too close to the frame edge.

Fairy Martin, Penrith Baseball Fields, October 2008. 30D with 300mm f/4L IS lens and 1.4x converter. Car used as hide.

I have now been hearing more and more reports of migrants, which is a fabulous thing. YAY! Also, about a month ago I noted the resident White-winged Chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos) at the horse property in Cranebrook have built a new mud nest, some 50m from last year’s tree, almost next to the riding arena. Yesterday, while my wife was getting ready to ride, I heard the screaming of young from this nest. As I set up my super telephoto lens with the 2x converter to get as tight a shot as possible, I realized that three young birds were begging for food every time an adult bird returned with food items. This was fabulous indeed. Judging by the advanced stage of this nest at the end of our southern winter, which is mild by European standards at least, I can predict with growing confidence another bumper nesting season for the region due to good rainfall in winter and the availability of prey. I look forward to seeing more of the choughs and hope they will nest again. I guess most likely late November, early December at the latest to keep pumping out the babies.

The new kids on the farm. Canon 1D MkIIn, 500mm f/4L IS lens with 2x, tripod.

Last season, this group successfully nested twice out of three attempts raising two from the first and two from the second nesting sessions. Please enjoy these newcomers of the world as you see them.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/give-a-hoot-and-find-a-treedwelling-neighbour-20110703-1gxcv.html

Now to the new camera. Well, it’s not quite new, but in fact, once I opened the box in which it arrived I was blown away. Literally. Just over a week ago I was searching through E-bay Australia’s used DSLR listings for Canon cameras, when this one caught my eye. It was a Canon 1D MkIIn, a professional body from 2005 that was raising the bar very high for its build quality as well as functional ability and mighty prowess.
The guy selling it claimed the camera had definitely less than 3,000 shutter actuations, which for a body that’s tested to 200,000 cycles of the shutter, is just plain nothing. Zero, zilch, nada. So it was barely warmed up. I took a glance and sighed not knowing whether I would be in a position to purchase it, but after some discussions with my wonderful wife, she suggested I go buy it if it is perfect for my needs. Does a duck like water? I pressed the Buy Now option pretty fast, for a camera of its calibre and low use at a price of $1,400 was a bargain not to be passed up. In fact, I knocked a 7D on its head for the reason that the 1D series was overall a slightly more desirable option for me than a 7D, which, while it is an awesome camera, is still not quite in the 1D league.
So I received this beast on Monday, July 4. It is absolutely perfect. Not a scratch, not even the silver pain. The camera only took 1,600 frames, which is peanuts. Needless to say I am over the moon. I can’t wait to try it out this coming weekend. All I can say is that having been a Canon user for the past ten years, the controls are a breeze to manage, while the menu system is slightly more complex to handle, is not at all difficult and best of all the camera is like a brick. It’s big, heavy, sturdy and made to put up with real conditions. The 8.5 frames per second will be handy sometimes and the high ISO performance, as well as autofocus capability leaves most other Canon bodies way behind in the game, even though it’s old. So what if it’s a Digic II and not Digic IV processor? People could create wonderful images with all manners of older DSLRs as well as film cameras, so I firmly believe one does not always have to have the latest and greatest in technology. A nice lens is far more important than a camera. This camera is an absolute master piece. I will never go back to any other line in the range. I believe from the first impression of this beast that I shall be happy with the 1D series for the rest of my life.

One slight hiccup I noticed after shooting during the second day that the drop-in filter was a circular polarizer and not the clear glass filter that should normally be in the lens. This made my job harder to attain good shutter speeds and I was not pleased at all. I contacted the seller, who is a very honest man and asked if he had the part. He did and sent it via Express post to me. I have received it within two days, so I was so relieved that finally, finally I could get the super speeds these lenses are capable of achieving with such focal lengths and large (small f-stop numbers) apertures. The lens is quite heavy at first, but I will have no problems hand holding as well, if I need to. In the majority of shooting situations I can happily be assured that my new Feisol carbon fiber tripod (Model CT-3372) and Wimberley Mark II Gimbal Head will give me the most efficient and professional quality support I would ever need. I bought my Feisol tripods from Kerry Thalmman at Really Big Cameras here: http://reallybigcameras.com Kerry was awesome to deal with. Prompt communication and extremely fast international express post service that reached me in three (3) business days. THANKS KERRY!!!

A couple of extra pieces I have added were a Kirk LP-53 replacement foot for the telephoto lens. This eliminates the need to screw an Arca-Swiss plate onto the bottom of the Camera lens foot by combining a foot with a plate that’s all machined into a one piece part. An excellent idea if you ask me. Here is what the product looks like:

Another tool is the flash bracket, another wonderful Wimberley made product, the F-1 bracket, that I screw onto the very front of the lens foot once it’s secured into the Wimberley mounting plate. This allows me to place the flash above the lens and away from it too, so I reduce the red-eye or flashed eye often seen when using a hot shoe flash directly on the camera. I purchased an extra arm to extend the flash up by around 15cm as well. The flash is connected to the camera with a Canon or Pearstone off camera cord. I have two, in case one breaks.

Here is a photo of the outfit with me proudly holding it at Wollemi National Park.. My mad keen birder friend Sue Thomson took this photo of me. Thanks Sue.

Canon 500mm f/4L IS USM lens mounted on Feisol tripod and Wimberley MkII gimbal head.

I was very surprised at how well the entire rig is balanced on the Wimberley head and how easy it is to use. Once gaining this extra length allowed me to start capturing images never before thought of, for me at least. 300mm and the 1.4x converter is not that good for reach unfortunately, but it got me by wonderfully for three and a half years. I am sad to say that in bird photography size actually matters as the bigger, longer your lens, the easier it will be to stay out of the danger zone perceived by many birds. Shorter combinations of lenses often work well especially if used with the aid of a hide, be it a car or material, and calls etc, but the big guns make your job much more achievable.

Please enjoy these images I was able to start capturing from the first day of winter 2011. One thing I did note in particular is how well this lens takes teleconverters, even when stacked! Check out the portrait of the Magpie-lark and the image of the Eastern Osprey below. Both have blown me away when viewing at 100% on the original RAW file.

Magpie-lark photographed with the Canon EOS 30D, 500mm f/4L IS USM and stacked 2x and 1.4x converters for a total focal length of 1,400mm FL (FOV ~ 2,250mm), ISO 800, f/16, 1/60th, tripod, full Wimberley gimbal head, and full frame image. Shot in Manual Mode, with flash as main light: Canon 430EX @ -1/3 with beamer

Male Rose Robin photographed with the Canon EOS 30D, 500mm f/4L IS USM, 1.4x converter, ISO800, f/6.3, 1/80th, 0EC, 430EX @ +1/3 with beamer, tripod/Wimberley.

Australian Darter (female) photographed with the Canon EOS 30D, 500mm f/4L IS, 1.4x, ISO800, Evaluative Metering, f/5.6, 1/200th, tripod with full Wimberley, 0EC

Silvereye feeding on privet berries. Photographed with the Canon EOS 30D, 500mm f/4L IS, 1.4x, ISO400, Eval Metering, f/5.6, 1/800th, tripod with full Wimberley, 0EC

Eastern Osprey, photographed with the Canon EOS 30D, 500mm f/4L IS, stacked 2x + 1.4x teleconverters, manual focus, ISO800, f/14, 1/800th, +1EC with a tripod and Wimberley all locked down tight.