Winter is upon us.

The severity of the frosts these last few nights means that there are volumes of leaves falling to the ground each morning so I wont have this glory to view for much longer, the other maple is almost totally bare already.

The bird life now consists of plentiful Currawongs an odd flock of passing silver eyes and their associated hanger ons and I have noted a few more Red Wattle birds passing through than what have been here for a while. Oh and of course the Rosellas I have been photographing recently.

All the hanging water sources look like this each morning and its not much fun cleaning them out.

The crack in the bird bath finally became weaker and it will not hold water now, we have an alternate solution in the works and aim to repair the birdbath trying to protect its visual integrity as it has sentimental value to my Partner having been in his Bird loving Grandfathers garden.

Consideration

Colour comes from alternate sources in winter and textures seem to get more attention as they become more apparent with the garden stripped bare of its spring and summer finery.

I'm going to drop my posts here down to every second day for a while as the outdoor temperature has dropped considerably and I am not free roaming as much. When I am the wind often contributes to the fact have not too many images worthy of sharing and most of the birds have largely left for now.

Bulbs are breaking the ground everywhere and there are plentiful buds biding their time but for now I am trying to keep warm by the fire and have more of an indoor focus in my life :)

Persimmon Tree

Most of the leaves have fallen and the bare branches laden with fruit make a stunning display.

Crimson Rosellas

There were 5 in the yard at once which is a bit unusual. Three flew away when they saw me getting too close.

Of the two that stayed the one higher in the tree is the mature bird showing only Crimson and blue plumage.

he lover one is young, still showing a lot of green. The Adult was picking rose hips from an overhang behind.

Early Season Frosts

Wednesday ... some birds!

I think by Wednesday I was starting to get more familiar with the focus ability and procedure of the camera.

We came home from the shops to a flock of silver eye in the maple and a couple of fan tails with them by the back door, I rushed in to get the camera happy to have finally the chance at some little birds. 

So I found that little birds don't like the sound of this camera and they moved to more sheltered spots which led me to the Eastern Spinebill. Despite the busy location the camera could still hone in on the moving subject.

   and captured the flight beautifully despite the terrible view I had and angle it was taken from I have highlighted it here in colour as the photo is so busy.

The bird has its beak in a flower and is hovering in flight feeding.

Silver eyes were captured with a soft texture not typically apparent in my other photos.

Nice to see them feeding in the camellia rather than a fruit tree for once :)

Using a much heavier camera, such as this, to photograph swift busy little critters would definitely take some practice.

Tuesday - Bee's...

 . . . a Black Bird and a Camellia.

Some nice detail captured in the Bee pics from a further distance and that beautiful macro action removes distraction from the background. Quick enough to capture flight.

Nothing really special here most of these blooms face the fence, hence the odd colouring behind.

This black bird is reach out and touch it real! Very Crisp image with good depth. It was fossicking fallen Olives like they were moving, then running away with its treasure and swallowing them whole.

General Scenery

have never taken a photo of my Begonia flower that I have been happy enough to share until now. It hangs in a pot under the maple Tree.

My least favourite birds.

I was itching to try to photograph a bird with the canon 400D 

but the only birds around were the Currawongs. They look mean. They steal things and eat baby birds of sweeter nature ( and that are prettier to look at )

As the afternoon rolled on I spotted some Magpies foraging at a distance where our Garden guy had been working they were a long way away so I'm impressed to have gotten such a clear picture. I have a real soft spot for Maggies. My Nan used to feed a family when I was a toddler and I remember it well. I love their song.

Experimenting

I am really very lucky to have been loaned a DSLR camera by an exceptionally thoughtful, person to have a play with for a couple of days.

Its a canon 400D using a 75-300 lens.

So for the next few days I'll just share my observations and experiments with this camera.

These were taken on Monday, the first Day I had it, it was drizzly and grey. My first observation is using this camera has really absolutely minimised editing post taking the photos, the backgrounds in macro are already totally appropriate and the colours are so much more accurate to real life.

When I saw the camera could capture a rose and subdue the background like this ...

I started to experiment with placement of subject to get a more 'arty' photo.

 Then I just started to see things differently and look for opportunities like this.

I'll schedule a couple more posts with less words based on the photos I took on Monday. Then follow on with additional days. :)