20200613-MMPI0064
Saturday 13th June 2020 saw me take the short journey to Oxley Creek Common in the the suburb of Rocklea, about 10Km from the city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The day dawned with a beautiful sunrise and light fog over the grassy fields. Early on I was truggling to get any birds in the viewfinder during the nice golden hour light which was disappointing. Later I found families of Superb Fairywren and Red-backed Fairywren and got a few nice shots. The highlight of my morning was lying down on the ground for a few minutes with some Brown Quail that were taking a dust bath. Getting down on the ground got me to eye level with these lovely birds, and the fact they let me get within a few metres shows how calm the families of Brown Quail are at the Common. They have obviously become blaise to the constant passing human and canine traffic along the track they live beside, I haven't seen these birds this calm at any other place I visit and here there are at least three large flocks of them all very comfortable to let you get near and watch them. On the way out I found the resident female Olive-backed Oriole, a Fan-tailed Cuckoo that has stayed over winter (no photos of that one this time) and a Striated Pardalote that flew up from the ground, making me think they may be nesting near the entrance to the track. A nice morning out, fantastic weather and I enjoyed chatted with a couple of people starting out on their bird photography journey.
Read More
