Tag Archives: australian wildlife

Shooting Wildlife Images Alongside Beyond Here Readers

Yesterday I had a unique experience – I was shooting wildlife images alongside Beyond Here readers. That’s a first! Bob and Rae are from California, USA and had read my post Favorite Wildlife Photography Locations. Looking back on that post, I wrote it in the first 3 months of Beyond Here. That’s a long time ago now, way back in mid 2014. It must have been meant for Bob and Rae as I even spelled ‘favorite’ with the US spelling!

There is a large group of Flying Foxes at Yarra Bend Park meaning we could shoot a variety of images.

Background

Bob and Rae contacted me a few months ago. We shared ideas on good wildlife photography locations for their trip to Australia. I made some suggestions for Melbourne and around Victoria, keeping in mind that transport can be tricky when you are in a foreign country where the locals drive on the opposite side of the road!

Fast forward to this week. They arrived last Sunday and contacted me by email. By chance, I had a fairly light week planned and had time to join them at Yarra Bend Park to photograph the large group of grey headed flying foxes which roost there. How cool. Shooting wildlife images alongside Beyond Here readers from the US.

Yesterday’s Shoot

We spent a few hours exploring the park and shooting images of the flying foxes. Bob found it a unique experience as he is used to small bats, not large flying foxes. The grey headed flying foxes are active during the day, so Bob was able to get a range of images. That included everything from bats hanging upside down sleeping in the trees next to the river, through to groups of them in flight.

We had a lot of fun and it was unique to be shooting wildlife images alongside Beyond Here readers. (It also helped Bob justify bringing his 200-500mm lens on a 16 hour flight to the other side of the world! You know you love your photography when you can justify that!)

The Wrap

It was a lot of fun meeting Bob and Rae and showing them around one of my favorite wildlife photography spots. It never occurred to me that writing Beyond Here back in 2014, I’d some day be shooting wildlife images alongside Beyond Here readers from the other side of the world just 15 minutes from my home.

Grey headed flying foxes have a large wing span

Bob and Rae are in Melbourne for another few days before exploring parts of New South Wales and Queensland. To you both, thanks for making time to say hello and explore Yarra Bend Park together. I hope your images from yesterday are good, and that you have a great time in Australia.

Thanks for reading shooting wildlife images alongside Beyond Here readers. Happy shooting.

Favorite Wildlife Photography Locations

This post looks at one of my favorite wildlife photography locations – Yarra Bend Park in Melbourne, Australia.

Grey headed flying fox showing off its wingspan. Yarra Bend Park, Melbourne, Australia

Where is it?

Yarra Bend Park is 4km north east of the Melbourne central business district in the suburb of Kew. If you are familiar with Melbourne, it is also close to Abbotsford, Collingwood, and not too far from Richmond. It is a 260 hectare park, which makes it the largest area of natural bush land close to the city center. In the area are large residential areas, bush land, parks, sporting fields, and golf courses. The Yarra River winds its way right through Yarra Bend Park. The area is popular with cyclists, walkers, mountain bikers, and has a great lookout area which provides views of the sun setting behind the city.

How do I find it?

I first went to Yarra Bend Park in 2008 when I was invited to play golf at the public golf course there. I have since found out that it is well known in Melbourne, but I had not been there before 2008. My round of golf, which I remember being a particularly bad (!), was the first of many trips.

What can I do there?

Actually, more than I realized! I looked up the Parks Victoria website and it shows that you can do walking, jogging, golf, fly fishing, picnic, sports, eat at the restaurant, visit Studley Park boathouse, and see Dight Falls.

Position yourself to get clear background for your image

But the main thing I go to see are the huge number of grey headed flying foxes. They roost in the trees next to the Yarra River in very large numbers. There are publicly accessible walkways through these areas on one side of the river. You can see them hanging upside down in the trees, sometimes sleeping, sometimes interacting with each other, and now and then keeping an eye on you! If you had a view that bats or flying foxes did nothing during the day, that’s not the case. On most times I’ve visited there is plenty of noise and movement, and it is fairly straightforward to get images of bats in flight. In early summer, October and November, if you look closely you can also see them flying with their babies clinging to their chest.

About Grey Headed Flying Foxes

Grey headed flying foxes are the largest bat in Australia. They have a dark grey body, a light grey head, and reddish-brown fur around their necks. The adults have an average wing span of 1 meter and can weigh up to 1 kg. They rely on sight to find food, and so they have relatively large eyes for a bat. But the thing that strikes you when you see them at Yarra Bend Park is just how many there are. It’s a huge thriving community of bats!

What Equipment Should I Take?

The Canon 70-200mm f2.8 lens

While there are a lot of flying foxes at Yarra Bend Park, they are small animals and will often be some way off in the trees. To get close up images of them, you’ll need at least a 200mm lens. Even better is a 300mm or 400mm lens. (All the images on this post were taken with a 200mm lens.) For camera bodies, I use my Canon 7D for the high burst rate. It is ideal for taking images of these flying foxes in mid air. And I always take several memory cards. It is easy to take plenty of shots in burst mode and I don’t want to run out of memory.

What Types of Shots Can I Get?

Due to the large numbers of animals here, you can get a range of different images. It is possible to get these shots of flying foxes:

hanging upside down staring straight at you
interacting with each other seemingly oblivious to any humans nearby
in flight
isolated against a grey or blue sky
in silhouette against the sun
showing the veins in the wings

How do I Take Shots of Bats in Flight?

Flying foxes gather in big numbers at Yarra Bend Park

Taking shots of the flying foxes in mid flight is not difficult – particularly as there are so many of them. My suggestions for achieving this shot are to:

position yourself so you can get an uncluttered background
if it is a windy day, get them flying into the wind. They will be going slower which makes this shot easier
use the continuous focusing mode on your camera and track them in flight
use the burst mode to take a series of images in quick succession
use a fast shutter speed. My best images of these animals have been at 1/2500s and faster shutter speeds

Why is Yarra Bend Park a Favorite Wildlife Photography Location?

Yarra Bend Park is one of my favorite wildlife photography spots because:

it is so easily accessible. It is only a few kilometers from the city and there is easy parking
I have visited over 20 times, and the large group of bats has always been there
there are so many animals, that a wide range of images is possible
the contrast of being able to shoot what I consider to be a night animal during the day is unique

Take Me There!

I’ve always thought that Yarra Bend Park would be a great place to conduct photography tours. If you’d like me to take you there, drop me an email at [email protected]

Thanks for reading all the way to here! I hope you might think of bats differently now. Yarra Bend Park is one of my favorite wildlife photography locations.

Bat in flight, with baby on its chest

Capture the Icons

This week I have been in Tasmania, Australia (without the camera). Being there made me think about how important it is to me to photograph the icons in each place I spend a significant amount of time. In addition to my wedding photography, I’m a keen wildlife photographer, so that means I try to capture the icons of the local wildlife.

Close up of a Tasmanian Devil

If you are not familiar with Tasmania, it is an island state of Australia located south of the mainland. It is important to me to clarify that, because I recently posted a picture of a Tasmanian Devil on Google+ and indicated the picture was taken in Australia.

The Tasmanian Devil is a carnivore

I got one comment which said it couldn’t possibly have been taken in Australia, as they are only found in Tasmania. While I found this mildly amusing, he refused to believe that the image had been taken in Australia, or that Tasmania was part of Australia! I should have suggested he come and visit some time.

Tasmania is known for a number of things including – spectacular scenery, friendly people, fresh air, great sunrises and sunsets, fantastic farming conditions and primary produce, excellent fishing, windy weather, and for the animal which bears its name – the Tasmanian Devil.

Tasmanian Devils are not easy to photograph as they are hard to find and don’t often keep still. I have been slowly building my range of Tasmanian Devil images over the last 5 years. Some quick facts about Tasmanian Devils. They are:

characterized by a stocky, muscular build
the size of a small dog
known for the power of their jaws relative to their total size
known for their ferocity when feeding
exist in the wild only in Tasmania (that’s Tasmania, Australia!!)
since 2008 have been listed as endangered, mainly due to the impact of facial tumor disease on the population

Tasmanian Devils are known for the power of their jaws

One fact I didn’t know until today, is that very few Tasmanian Devils exist outside Australia because the population which has been exported have not been successful in breeding. Interesting. Perhaps that’s why pictures of them seem to get an extraordinary number of comments on social media? Or maybe people feel a connection to them through the Looney Tunes character “Taz”?

Visiting Tasmania is always enjoyable, even if it is a little cold at this time of year. It was also a timely reminder to me to take time to capture the icons photographically.

Do you have a favorite icon to photograph? Buildings, architecture, people, wildlife? Have you had the chance to photograph a Tassie Devil??

Look for Baby Animals

Wildlife photography tip – if you want your friends to ooohhhh and aaaaahhh at your wildlife pictures, look for baby animals. It is the baby animals which get the “isn’t it cuuuuuute!” reaction.

Below are four examples of baby animals, the stories that go with them, and some technical data on each shot. These are all Australian wildlife.

Show me the samples!

Image #1 – Baby Koala

Koala carrying its joey

Baby koalas are called joeys. They ride on mums back until they are too big. It makes for a great photograph when you can get the mother and baby both in the frame. This is relatively easy with koalas as the baby rides on mums back. Look for baby animals!

This image was taken in Queensland, Australia in the late afternoon. Koalas sleep for up to 20 hours per day. When they are awake, you can get a variety of shots in a short period of time. This shot was taken as it moved to another part of the tree to feed. The sun had set and so this was taken with quite slow shutter speed 1/60 sec at f4.

Image #2 – Baby Emus

Emu chicks

Emu chicks can be challenging to photograph as mum won’t let you get close to them. She will stay near to them for protection.

They have the beautiful striped camouflage you can see in this image and are really cute.

To make this image I sat on the ground. This helped the adult emu know that I was no threat to her and her chicks. They proceeded to stroll all around me, and I was able to make a series of interesting images. Even though they are small, they rarely stay still. To get them nicely in focus you will need a higher shutter speed. This shot is 1/1250 sec at f4.5.

Image #3 – Bush Stone Curlew Chicks

A bush stone curlew and its chicks

Bush stone curlews are common in the western suburbs in Brisbane, Australia which is where this image was made. They have an unusual behavior – when they feel threatened they stay completely still.

This does make them easy to photograph and you can get relatively close if you move slowly. Their chicks also have a similar striped pattern to the emus in the sample above. Very cute. Look for baby animals! This image was shot at 1/1250 sec at f3.5.

Image #4 – Kangaroo Joey

Kangaroos don’t generally let you get too close when they have young joeys who are out of the pouch. This one is big enough that it could easily have hopped away very quickly on its own. That might be the reason they both let me get relatively close – this shot was taken with a 70-200mm lens, 1/400 sec at f4.5

Female red kangaroo and its joey

I love the look on the joey’s face as it peeks out from behind mum! If you want your friends to oohhh and ahhhh at your wildlife pictures – look for baby animals.

The koala and kangaroo images here are good examples of filling the frame with the subject for maximum impact. I wrote an earlier blog post on that topic to give your images greater impact.

What are your favorite baby animals to photograph?