Dandenong Ranges Nature Photography

Unexpected sighting

Kathie Thomas — Thu, 17 May 2012 22:59:33 +0000

I went to Lysterfield Wednesday afternoon, after seeing a client and before returning home. It had been a lovely afternoon, the power had been off all day at my place due to power works being done and I didn’t feel in the need to rush back. So I wandered around a bit enjoying the scenery and then got back into my car to drive home. Alongside the road leading to the park are horse agistment properties and one seems to always have large birds on the grounds, such as egrets, so I like to see what’s there as I pass by. But what I saw was a surprise. It’s on the fence beyond the horse who thought I had stopped to give him a pat.

Can you see what it was?
And I did give the horse a pat but below is a closeup, although rather grainy because I couldn’t get physically closer for a shot.

There were also two crows harassing the eagle but it seemed undisturbed and happy to stay put. I was hoping to see it in flight and waited for sometime but it just stayed put.

By the way, the Grassroots Community Market in Upwey is on tomorrow morning. If you’re able to get there please look for the green marquee with Dandenong Ranges Nature Photography on it and say hi.

Red-tailed black cockatoo

Kathie Thomas — Tue, 15 May 2012 22:03:03 +0000

I’d not seen one of these before. I was taking a young Canadian visitor around and showing him a bit of our beautiful countryside and bird and animal life. Healesville Sanctuary was one of the places we visited and we were told about the parrot cage. I don’t remember hearing about that before so off we went. There we saw several parrots and one in particular was very happy for attention and was a real poser as you’ll see below. I wonder if they use him in their bird shows? A female red-tailed black cockatoo was happy to perform for me too. They’re beautiful birds and very large, but unfortunately low in number in our country.

He wanted to show me his pretty tail.

This is his mate. She was a little coy.

Kangaroos in the park

Kathie Thomas — Mon, 14 May 2012 23:50:07 +0000

Especially for my American and Canadian friends, two roos that were close to my car as I came back from my walk on Thursday. Sometimes I can get almost close enough to touch them, but I don’t. They’re wild animals, could react in a way that would not be pleasant at all, and I don’t want to scare them or make them feel dependent on humans. But I do love to enjoy watching them.

Two views of the jetty

Kathie Thomas — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:19:37 +0000

Still at Lysterfield Park on that lovely day.

Lysterfield Lake, looking beautiful

Kathie Thomas — Sat, 12 May 2012 22:34:50 +0000

This is a panoramic view from my favourite jetty taken last Thursday which was a beautiful sunny day.

Huge leaf

Kathie Thomas — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:02:35 +0000

Saw this huge leaf on the ground at home the other day and wondered where on earth it had come from. Then as I wandered around the garden I noticed a tall tree at the side of our property that I’d not taken a lot of notice of in the past and realised the leaf must have come from there. It appears to be a maple of some sort – I’ll have to do some research to find out what type.

Because the tree is so tall and the leaves are high up, I hadn’t realised how big they actually are.

Back at my favourite park

Kathie Thomas — Thu, 10 May 2012 06:47:11 +0000

In the middle of what seemed like an early winter we suddenly have had 3 days of beautiful sunshine. I couldn’t go out on Tuesday because of client commitments (meetings) and the same yesterday but today I had all of today in my own office, after being at my weekly BNI meeting. So, I took the opportunity to go for an early afternoon walk and ended up being away for nearly two hours. Just as well I can work into the evening to get my work done.

Anyway, feels great to be walking around the park again. Did 5.7km and was anxious about the big slope one end so went the other end of the lake and walked to shortcut track and back again and then partly along the beach. Now I know I can walk that distance I can walk up the big slope at one end and come back via the other end, without having to come down the big slope. It’s a gradual descent coming the other way. Thought I’d show you that I attracted a bit of attention when out walking – because there was hardly anyone at the park the roos were out and not in hiding.

The beautiful dahlia

Kathie Thomas — Tue, 08 May 2012 22:08:57 +0000

As Autumn is drawing to a close and winter is nearly upon us, the garden is starting to look bare with leaves scattered all over the ground and the trees looking bare. This dahlia was in full bloom recently though and looking very beautiful.

May Blog Carnival

Kathie Thomas — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:54:34 +0000

We have quite a few entries for our May Blog Carnival and thank you everyone for submitting these entries. The theme this month is ‘Mothering’ as it is Mother’s Day this coming weekend in Australia and I believe in over 60 other countries too.

Welcome to the May 7, 2012 edition of nature photography.

Nature and Mothers

Flashpacker presents Curio Bay & Porpoise Bay, NZ | flashpackatforty posted at flashpackatforty, saying, “I was lucky enough to spot a mother penguin feeding her young chick, as well as including pictures of seals. New Zealand is a great destination for wildlife lovers, I photographed albatross, seals, penguins whilst visiting this year.”

Patti Lecron presents A French Education: LOVE IT posted at A French Education, saying, “A French metaphor for mothers.”

Teage O’Connor presents Full Moon posted at Wild Burlington, saying, “Took the photos while on a retreat with a couple of moms and their babies. The fullness of the moon mirrored the strong feminine energy of the women at the retreat.”

Jennifer presents Photography Timeline of Winter Turning into Spring | Freedom from Ashes posted at Freedom from Ashes, saying, “I submitted this for the carnival in April, but I never saw a carnival so I am submitting it again for the next carinval in May.”

Nature

Greg Phelps presents Give a photographer a promotion… posted at Lucrative Lumens a blog about professional photography business secrets, saying, “The specific examples of marketing techniques in this article apply to pro portrait photographers but the concept discussed could easily benefit other types of photographers or even people in other lines of business who want to raise their profile in the community.”

joshuajdc presents Starcraft, Me and the SEA.: New Zealand Scenery posted at Starcraft, Me and the SEA., saying, “Some photos from the rough New Zealand Coastline.”

Yolanda presents Wordless Wednesday: 3/28/12 posted at Yoli Dreams, saying, “These pictures were taken at the Epcot Flower and Garden Show”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of nature photography using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

The Lake at the Gardens

Kathie Thomas — Fri, 04 May 2012 22:56:19 +0000

There were a few photographers around the lake at the gardens and the view was lovely.