This could have been titled Hyden – the return. Hyden is a small town in the middle of the Wheatbelt in Western Australia some 292Km east of Perth. Regular readers will remember that we’ve been before and maybe somewhat perplexed as to why we’d bother to visit again. Well Hyden’s claim to fame is Wave Rock which is a large granite rock face that has been eroded in the shape of a perfect breaking wave. More than 100,000 tourists make their way there very year. Most just stay about an hour before zooming off to another destination to get the perfect instagram shot without taking any time to see what else is there. A great shame really as there is so much more to offer. When I wrote about our previous visit I concentrated more on other sites and the Aboriginal heritage of the area. This time I’ll look at what Hyden has to offer in terms of the natural world.
We decided to make a three day trip and on our way we’d stop off in Corrigin whose main claim to fame is the being the holder of the world record for the number of dogs in a ute and being the home to a dog cemetery. You’d be forgiven for thinking that Corrigin is a bit obsessed with dogs. Anyway it was a nice spot to break the journey, stretch the legs, make the bladder gladder etc. Corrigin does have a pretty impressive wildflower drive which begins just opposite the dog cemetery just on the outskirts of town. Most people just pull up in their car, jump out and walk a couple of metres. They then declare that there’s nothing to see and rush off in a cloud of red dust. Just take your time and have a poke about and you’d be amazed at what you can find. Here are a few examples.
Sugar Candy Orchid, Caladenia hirta subsp. hirta. Wildflower Drive, Corrigin, Western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with Olympus mZuiko 60mm f2.8 macro lens and Metz 15MS-1 flash. Exposure: AE priority 1/200 sec, f4 at ISO 400 with -1 stop exposure compensation.
Chameleon Spider Orchid, Caladenia dimidia. Wildflower Drive, Corrigin, Western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with Olympus mZuiko 60mm f2.8 macro lens and Metz 15MS-1 flash. Exposure: AE priority 1/100 sec, f4 at ISO 400 with -1 stop exposure compensation.
Blood Spider Orchid, Caladenia filifera. Wildflower Drive, Corrigin, Western Australia.
Slender Spider Orchid, Caladenia pulchra. Wildflower Drive, Corrigin, Western Australia.
Sugar Orchid, Ericksonella saccharata. Wildflower Drive, Corrigin, Western Australia.
When we got to Hyden we drove out to the Wave Rock Resort on the shore of Magic Lake which is where we were staying. The lake is quite startling. It’s not very big but is comprised of crystal clear salt water with a gypsum base. That pale coloured lake bed combined with the water makes a giant reflector that takes on the colours of the sky so as the day progresses the lake changes colour. To add to it’s other worldly qualities is that it lies in the middle of a salt plain which is fairly uniform in colour and is covered in mainly scrubby bush and a smattering of trees. It all made me want to get the tripod and graduated neutral density filters out.
Magical Magic Lake. A canoe on Magic Lake beach at sunset. Western Australia. Panasonic G85 with Panasonic Leica 8-18mm f2.8-4 lens and +3 stop graduated neutral density filter. Exposure: AE priority 1/8 sec, f11 at ISO 200 with +1 stop exposure compensation.
Magical Sunset. Magic Lake at sunset. Hyden Western Australia.
The next day we decided to combine the Wave Rock Walk Circuit with the Hippo’s Yawn Loop and the Breakers Trail to create a loop that would take us from the resort up to the Hippo’s Yawn then along the bottom of the rock out to the Breakers picnic area and then back to our accommodation at the resort. The best part of it was that we could take the dog as it is all very pet friendly. Along the way we hoped to see more orchids and birds as we passed through the salt plain and into the bush at the base of the rock.
Old fence posts march across the salt flats at Magic Lake near Hyden in Western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f4-6.3 lens. Exposure: 1/250 sec, f8 at ISO 200.
Crested pigeon, Ocyphaps lophotes, Magic Lake, Hyden, Western Australia. Panasonic G85 with LEICA DG 100-400/F4.0-6.3 lens. Exposure: Shutter priority 1/500 sec, f6.3 at ISO 200 with -1/3 stop exposure compensation.
Known to the Nyoongar as Kayibort the Black-faced woodswallow, Artamus cinerus, can be seen on the shores of Magic Lake, Hyden, Western Australia. Panasonic G85 with LEICA DG 100-400/F4.0-6.3 lens. Exposure: shutter priority 1/500 sec f6.3 at ISO 200.
Salt Lake Spider Orchid, Caladenia exilis subsp. exilis. Magic Lake, Hyden, Western Australia. Panasonic g85 with OLYMPUS M.60mm F2.8 Macro lens. Exposure: aperture priority 1/640 sec, f4 at ISO 200 with +2/3 stop exposure compensation.
Yellow Spider Orchid, Caladenia denticulata subsp. denticulata. Magic Lake, Hyden, Western Australia. Panasonic G85 with OLYMPUS M.60mm F2.8 Macro lens. Exposure: aperture priority 1/125 sec, f8 at ISO 1000 with -1/3 stop exposure compensation.
When we got to the base of the rock the vegetation changed from the scrub of the salt plain to thick bush fed by the water run off from the rock. We both enjoyed pocking around in the undergrowth looking for flowers, taking photos of each other and trying to dissuade Frida, our dog, from trying to climb up the rock face in search of interesting holes. It was amazing to see so many orchids – the blue beards were like a carpet in places. It was absolutely wonderful to see.
Helen and Frida at Hippo’s Yawn near Hyden in Western Australia.
Jug orchid, or recurved shell orchid (Pterostylis recurva). Wave Rock, Western Australia.
Blue beard or blue fairy orchid (Pheladenia deformis),. Wave Rock, Western Australia.
All in all we had a great time. There is so much to see and do that we’re already talking about going again. If you are planning a trip to Wave Rock there is a whole lot more to it than posing for a selfie for Facebook on the rock.
The Emu Fence at Wave Rock Resort. Hyden, Western Australia. iPhone SE in panorama mode. Exposure: 1/1400 sec, f2.2 at ISO 25.
South of the Swan River is a string of lakes known as the Beeliar Wetlands which are a chain of twenty six lakes stretching from Manning Lake in Hamilton Hill to Madura Swamp near Mandurah Wetlands. Nineteen of those lakes and associated wetlands have been incorporated into the Beeliar Regional Park. This extensive belt of wetlands that has been widely acknowledged as a biodiversity hot-spot having a greater number of endemic species than most other regions in Australia. Within this the Nyoongar with their hunter-gatherer life-style managed the land with their fire-stick farming and survived by hunting and trapping a variety of game, including kangaroos, possums and wallabies; by fishing using spears and fish traps; as well as by gathering an extensive range of edible wild plants, including wattle seeds. Since colonisation three-quarters of these wetlands have been drained for urban development. What remains has suffered untold damage through the introduction of feral animals and plants. Thankfully Australia is a signatory of the Ramsar Convention and several key wetlands on the Swan Coastal Plain have been set aside for conservation. Bibra Lake is the fourth lake (heading southwards) in that chain of lakes that makes up Beeliar Regional Park. Whitefellas believe that they discovered the lake in 1842 and named it after the bloke who bought the land in 1843, one Benedict von Bibra. The Nyoongar say they have known about the lake since time began and to them it known as Walubup.
I first went to Bibra Lake about thirty years ago and thought it was a bit boring and hadn’t been back until the other week. I was called upon for driving duties for the Beloved Significant Other (BSO) and I was left with a morning to kill. So I looked in my copy of Birding Sites around Perth by Ron Van Delft (sadly out of print and unavailable now) and saw that Bibra Lakes was nearby and rated as a good location for birding. The down side to this was that we were experiencing the first major cold front of winter and that meant it was bucketing down and blowing a gale. So suitably swathed in Gore-Tex and equipped with a suitably weather resistant camera I headed off to walk around the lake not expecting to see much.
A comforting warning painted on the cycle path that runs around Lake Bibra. It was cold and wet in winter so not much chance of a snakey encounter.
Initially I thought that with it raining I had more chance of photographing ducks as it was the perfect weather for them. There were quite a number of different species on the shore and the water. I was quite taken by the Shovelers and the Pink Eared Ducks. The Shovelers are quite a string looking duck with colouring and almost disproportionately large bills. They can often be seen foraging in shallow water where they filter water through their bills insects looking for insects, crustaceans and a variety of plants. Such a specialised mode of feeding means that they are limited to certain types of habitat such as freshwater swamps and lakes with large reed beds. Shovelers also tend to hang out with pink-eared ducks which are so called because of the patch of pink feathers on the sides of the drakes head. Like the Shovelers they too are filter feeders. As the walk moved through areas of paperbark and sheoak trees then smaller insect eating birds were seen such as Willie Wagtails, Grey Fantails, Silvereyes, and various types of wrens. Over all as I did the 8.5 Km walk I saw 18 different species of bird which I felt was a pretty good haul considering the weather conditions. So I’ve revised my opinion of Bibra Lakes and will not wait another 30 years before my next visit.
Australasian Shoevelers, Spatula rhynchotis. Bibra Lake, Western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with Panasonic LEICA DG 100-400/F4.0-6.3 lens. Exposure: 1/400 sec, f6.3 at ISO 250.
A pink-eared duck (Malacorhynchus membranaceus) keeping a low profile while amongst Eurasian coots (Fulica atra). Bibra Lake, Western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with Panasonic LEICA DG 100-400/F4.0-6.3 lens. Exposure: 1/500 sec, f6.3 at ISO 3200.
Brown Honeyeater, Lichmera indistincta. Bibra Lake, Western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with Panasonic LEICA DG 100-400/F4.0-6.3 lens. Exposure: 1/500 sec, f6.3 at ISO 2500.
Varigated Fairy-wren, Malurus lamberti. Bibra Lake, western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with Panasonic LEICA DG 100-400/F4.0-6.3 lens. Exposure: 1/500 sec, f6.3, ISO 320.
Willie Wagtail, Rhipidura leucophrys leucophrys, Bibra Lake. Panasonic Lumix G85 with Panasonic LEICA DG 100-400/F4.0-6.3 lens. Exposure: 1/500 sec, f6.3 at ISO 1600.
A female mistletoebird, Dicaeum hirundinaceum, at Bibra Lake in Western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with Panasonic LEICA DG 100-400/F4.0-6.3 lens. Exposure: 1/500 sec, f6.3 at ISO 2000.
Bibra Lake is part of the Beeliar Wetlands which is an internationally recognised birding hotspot. This is one of two bird hides that have been buit at Bibra Lake.
Don’t feed the birds sign at Bibra Lake complete with Willie Wagtail, Rhipidura leucophrys leucophrys. Panasonic Lumix G85 with Panasonic LEICA DG 100-400/F4.0-6.3 lens. Exposure: 1/500, f4, ISO 250.
If you are interested in the birds that can be seen at Bibra Lakes, and indeed throughout the Beeliar Wetlands Birding WA has a useful webpage that gives info on the species that can be seen and where. Birdlife Australia put out a couple of useful brochures which can be got from regional visitors centres or downloaded as PDFs from their website. The brochures are:
On 7th October 2018 I put a video up of me unwrapping the Panasonic Leica DG Vario-Elmar 100-400 f4-6.3 ASPH Power OIS and my initial impressions of it. Well after six months of use this is my opinion of the lens. I don’t know if it has won the title for having the longest model name, but if not it should be a contender. For brevities sake I’ll just refer to it hence forth as the PanaLeica 100-400. At the outset I’ll say that this is my lens bought with my money and I’ve only used the one copy of it
First off let’s set things straight – this is a very specialist bit of kit that you either have a need for or you don’t. I’ll also say that there is a very good argument to adopt the micro four thirds system just for this lens alone. No I’ve not stopped taking my meds, this lens should be a contender for anyone who shoots wildlife, particularly birds, and travels a lot. A long time ago someone said to me, and I’m not entirely sure who it was, but I’ll attribute it to Hugh Graham who’d been a Fleet Street photographer, that you should choose your camera system on the basis of the lenses you’ll use. I think Panasonic were very smart when they designed this lens because this leverages all the benefits of the m4/3 system. It uses the two times crop factor and small size to produce a lens that is just not available in the 35mm full frame world ie a compact lightweight 200-800mm zoom lens. Recently a muppet on YouTube pronounced that micro four thirds is dead but this lens proves that the system is very viable indeed. Lets compare the PanaLeica 100-400 to some of its rivals.
Comparing the Canon EOS6d with Sigma 150-600mm lens to the Panasonic G85 and PanaLeica 100-400 lens. Remember folks the Panasonic combination has more reach.
Lens
Weight
Cost
PanaLeica 100-400
0.985 Kg
$1900 AUD
Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS USM Lens
4.5 Kg
$17000 AUD
Sigma 800mm f/5.6 APO EX DG HSM Lens
4.9 Kg
$8400 AUD
Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6 APO EX DG HSM Lens
5.8 Kg
$8000 AUD
Nikon AF-S 800mm f/5.6E FL ED VR Lens
4.5 Kg
$23000 AUD
Or lets look at it another way. My Panasonic G85 with battery grip, two batteries, a memory card and the PanaLeica 100-400 weighs in at 1.829 Kg. A Canon EOS 550d with a Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM Lens which has the same equivalent angle of view is 2.958 Kg and my Canon 6d with the same Sigma lens is 3.345 Kg and doesn’t have the same range. To get the same zoom range the 6d would need to be paired up with the Sigma 300-800mm f/5.6 APO EX DG HSM Lens and the combination would weigh 7.1 Kg. Now if you sit in a bird hide all day with your camera on a tripod then you might be prepared to sacrifice weight, expense and portability to get high image quality. But if like me you walk around anything up to 20 Km in a day looking for birds and are willing to work around the issue of the smaller sensor and it’s inherent poorer performance at ISOs over 6400 (and coming from the days of shooting slide film at ISOs between 50 and 400 I can’t believe that I see 6400 as a problem) then you will be very happy. The argument about image quality is very spurious if you only look at your images on an iPad or phone. So you can see why I think that this lens is enough to persuade people to adopt the m4/3 system – it has enormous reach, is lightweight and is very affordable.
Tech Specs
Focal Length
100-400mm (200-800 35mm equivalent)
Aperture range
f4-6.3 to f22
Construction
20 elements in 13 groups
Diaphragm
9 circular blades
Focus drive
Ultra sonic stepper motor
Close focus distance
1.3 m
Maximum magnification
x 0.25
Length collapsed
17.15 cm
Diameter
8.3 cm
Filter size
72 mm
Weight
985 g
The Leica designation denotes that Leica had input into the design but the lens is made by Panasonic at their Yamagata lens factory in Japan. The PanaLeica 100-400 retains the same design cues as Leica’s own lenses and the other Panasonic lenses in this series such as the 8-18mm f2.8-4 ie it uses the same fonts and the same ribbing for the focus and zoom rings. It features an all metal body construction and is listed as being weather proof. However, there is no rating as to the extent of the weather resistance. It is a very attractive lens to look at and has a satisfying heft to it which reinforces the fact that this a quality bit of kit. In November 2015 I blogged about the Olympus m.Zuiko 75-300mm f4.8-6.7 mk ii which I bought when I first started dabbling in wildlife photography, with its plastic construction it makes the PanaLeica 100-400 look like a luxury item.
The PanaLeica 100-400mm mounted on Olympus OMD EM1 with lens zoomed out to 400mm.
With regards to the physical controls on the lens body working backwards from the built in mini lens hood (a separate full-sized one can attach to this but I have never used it) there is a narrow focus ring. As per usual with Panasonic this a fly by wire ring with no direct physical coupling to the lens heliocord. Behind the focusing ring is ring which locks and unlocks the lens mechanism to prevent zoom creep. This can be applied at any point in the focal range. The zoom ring is nice a broad enabling a good grip and is quite smooth with a little resistance to movement. It has a ninety degree throw and works very nicely when shooting video. The lens body extends outwards as you progress through the lens range. The front lens element, however, does not rotate which is good news for users of polarizing and variable neutral density filters. The tripod foot and collar is really a rather clever piece of design. There is no collar as such, the rear part of the lens rotates 90 degrees to allow users to change from horizontal to vertical orientation. The foot screws into the lens and can be completely detached. In another nice touch you don’t need the foot to attach a tripod plate as you can attach it directly to the lens body which reduces the profile of the lens considerably. Just before the lens mount there are three physical switches. The first is a focus limiter which offers two positions, full focus range and 5m to infinity. Below that is a switch for AF or manual focus, and below that a switch for the optical image stabilisation system. The lens mount is metal and there is an o ring that provides some sealing against water and dust ingress.
Without a doubt the PanaLeica 100-400 is a very complex lens with 20 elements in 13 groups, 1 ultra low dispersion element, 2 extra low dispersion elements and 1 aspheric extra low dispersion element. From this we can see that it is corrected against chromatic aberration and optimised to produce high contrast, high-resolution images whilst maintaining a compact form factor. Although each group is positioned precisely within the lens barrel it is impossible to do this perfectly so the three lens groups that are most acutely effected by tilt and centring defects and therefore impact most upon image quality are the only ones that are adjustable. This has meant that repair or adjustment of the lens is very difficult and only Panasonic’s Yamagata factory is able to do this which means warranty repairs are sent back to Japan for assessment and then are usually replaced. If your lens fails outside of the warranty period customers are offered a refurbished lens at a discount rather than a repair. To further complicate the issue Panasonic in most countries contracts out its customer service and it is very difficult to access and there have been quite a few accounts of poor service on various camera forums. So my best advice would be to buy this lens from a bricks and mortar store with a good returns policy and then thoroughly test the lens, because if you have a problem it could be quite difficult to resolve.
The image quality is very good from 100-300 and just gets a little softer towards 400. This is not unusual for zoom lenses. At all focal lengths the edges of the frame are a little softer wide open but sharpen up nicely as you stop down. Diffraction becomes apparent at f16. There is next to no chromatic aberration, and the only times that I did observe it a simple click in Lightroom fixed it. Flare is remarkably well controlled on a lens with so many glass elements. I have shot a lot of frames into the light and have found that I don’t need to use the full-sized screw on lens hood, I just use the mini sliding hood that is built into the lens. Filter users be aware that this lens is very fussy about filters as many long lenses are. I’ve had no problem with multi-coated B+W and Heliopan filters. For giggles I tried an uncoated Fotga variable neutral density filter and using a combination of the lens on both a G85 and an EM1 could not get focus. This is not a fault of the lens but shows the effect that using cheap uncoated filters can have on lenses. My Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS L does exactly the same with the Fotga filter. I’ve never understood why people will spend $2K on a lens and then slap a cheap $10 filter on it. If you are going to use filters use good ones.
Australasian Grebe, Tachybaptus novaehollandiae. Lake Monger, Western Australia. Olympus OMD EM1 with PanaLeica 100-400mm. Exposure: 1/1000s, f6.3, ISO 400.
Rainbow Lorikeet, Trichoglossus moluccanus. Lake Monger, Western Australia. Olympus OMD EM1 with PanaLeica 100-400mm lens. Exposure: 1/1000s, f5.1 at ISO 6400.
Laughing Kookaburra, Dacelo novaeguineae. Avon Walk Trail, York, Western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with PanaLeica 100-400mm lens. Exposure: 1/1000s, f6.3 at ISO 250.
White faced heron, Egretta novaehollandiae, Wilson Inlet, Denmark, Western Australia. Olympus OMD EM1 with PanaLeica 100-400mm lens. Exposure: 1/800s, f6.3 at ISO 320.
In Use
After six months of use and a few thousand exposures I think I’ve got a good handle on this lens. The inbuilt optical stabilisation combines with Panasonic’s Dual IS bodies (at the time of writing the GH5, G9, G95, G85, GX85, and GX9) to give impressive results, around 5-6 stops. When shooting 4K video with the G85 it is very impressive being able to shoot handheld with such a long lens. The video below has footage using the lens on both the G85 and EM1 as well as more stills examples. Unfortunately the OIS does not combine with the IBIS on Olympus bodies so it’s a case of either or. I have my EM1 set up with the IBIS permanently on and have selected Lens IS Priority in the custom functions. This means that when a lens with inbuilt stabilisation is detected the camera switches IBIS off. The reason for this is with shorter lenses IBIS is more effective, but with longer telephoto lenses lens based stabilization works best. The OIS works well enough to get fairly good handheld 1080 video with the EM1, but it’s obviously not as smooth as the G85. The hybrid AF system in the EM1 (a combination of contrast detect and on sensor phase detect) is more confident than the DFD (depth from defocus) of the Panasonic. With small subjects against busy backgrounds I’ve found that the G85 and the PanaLeica just hesitates that little bit as it tries to acquire focus and with small birds that slight hesitation is difference between getting a shot or not. The EM1 is very quick to acquire focus and that is why I’ve ended up favouring it more for bird photography. Now I’m perfectly happy to accept that this just might be a shortcoming of the AF system in the G85 and having read the Lumix GH5/Gh5s/G9 AF Guide Book things might improve significantly if I were to use one of those bodies. But for now I have the quandary of superb image stabilisation versus better AF and I’d sooner have better AF and use faster shutter speeds.
Conclusion
Good close focusing and fairly decent maximum magnification of 0.25 means that the PanaLeica 100-400 is very good when photographing larger insects such as butterflies, moths, dragon flies and damsel flies. Australian painted lady (Vanessa kershawi). Thomsons Lake, Western Australia. Olympus OMD EM1 with PanaLeica 100-400mm lens. Exposure: 1/1000s, f6.3 at ISO 640.
If you are already invested in the m4/3 ecosystem and are interested in photographing birds then this is a no brainer. The PanaLeica 100-400 is streets ahead of the Olympus 75-300 and I would imagine the similarly priced Panasonic 100-300mm. It’s absolutely the muts nuts for walking around in the bush photographing birds and larger insects. Now if you’re interested in wildlife and nature and either don’t have a camera or have another brand I’d really recommend giving this lens and a micro four thirds camera some serious consideration. The image quality is very good as long as you’re not a pixel peeper and are honest with your self on what you’ll do with the image. It is very liberating to walk through the bush unencumbered by heavy camera kit that cost the equivalent of the annual GDP of a small Pacific Island nation. My only wish is that there were more compatibility within the micro four thirds system so that the image stabilisation worked across brands, the zoom rings turn in the same direction and that Panasonic adopt the clutch mechanism on their lenses for manual focus with hard stops.
Sacred Kingfisher, Todiramphus sanctus, the Knoll, Walpole, Western Australia. Olympus OMD EM1 with PanaLeica 100-400 lens. Exposure: 1/1000s, f5.7 at ISO 800.
Time to promote the achievements of Beloved Significant Other (BSO) via the wonderful medium of video. I didn’t intend to shoot a croquet video. No. I was enlisted as a logistical consultant (alright driver!) to take aforementioned personage and a friend to a croquet competition at the Cambridge Croquet Club. While the event was happening I was going bird watching at the nearby ornithological Mecca of Herdsman Lake with the hope of photographing nankeen herons. Alas the herons didn’t know that I was coming to see them and weren’t at home. Couple this with the fact that I was suffering from a deadly combination of Ebola, typhoid, bubonic plague and cholera (BSO says it was in fact a head cold) I went back to the croquet club to find a quiet corner in which I could drown in snot. Somehow news that BSO had made it to the finals penetrated my fever fuelled delirium and I leapt into action to record the event. I was not really equipped to do so as although I had the Panasonic G85 with me that shoots lovely 4K video I only had two lenses. The Panasonic Leica 100-400mm a great lens for birding but a bit long for court side croquet. The Sigma 16mm f1.4 which is another fantastic lens, but being a fixed focal length not as useful as standard zoom for the grip and grin at the presentations at the end of the tournament. All I can say is thank goodness for the magnificent stabilisation which enabled me to get good handheld footage, although it was defeated by my violent sneezing although it wasn’t as bad as that depicted below.
Blue-breasted Fairy Wren, Malurus pulcherrimus. Denmark, Western Australia.
A New Holland Honeyeater feeding on a bottlebrush. Walpole, Western Australia.
White-breasted Robin, Eopsaltria geogiana, at the Denmark ornitarium, Western Australia.
Away down south in the DenmarkWalpole region the other week. It was blissful with temperatures in the low 20s rather than the high 30s and low 40s we have in York. We had a great deal of fun walking around Wilson and Nornalup Inlets spotting and photographing birds. Here are three of the photos I took. All of them were taken with the Olympus OMD EM1 and the Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f4-6.3 Asph Vario-Elmar lens, of which I’ll have more to say in a little while. It is a lightweight combination that makes wandering around like this much more enjoyable than carrying my full frame Canon set up.
Originally the song was a track on the 1977 album Exodus and its release as a single in 1980 was somewhat of a surprise as Marley had released the Uprising album also that year. The song was well liked globally and is one Marley’s most popular songs – it’s feel good factor and catchy melody puts an instant smile on your face and before you can catch your self you find your self singing the chorus. Within 8 months Bob Marley had died from malignant melanoma. I remember the day very well, in fact I was still at school, Chichester High School for Boys Sixth form, and the next day one of my class mates, Chris Goodwin, gave a eulogy for him in the sixth form assembly much to the consternation of some of the staff. Chichester was an incredibly conservative place back then, people would joke that if there was a pig wearing a tory blue rosette it would be voted in as the Conservative MP for the town. Bob Marley left a powerful legacy as a third world performer who transcended his start as a niche world music performer to become a global superstar who spread a message of hope and love.
Red-capped Robin,Wei. Avon Walk Trail, York, Western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm F4.0-6.3 lens. Exposure: 1/1000 sec, f6.3 at ISO 640.
Being originally from England I automatically associate Christmas with cold weather, and by association Robins as they are part of iconography of the festive season. So when walking along the Avon River on a 40º C day seeing these Red-capped Robins seems a little incongruous. For such a small bird they are as bold as brass and will let you approach quite closely. The other confusing thing about Australian robins is that they don’t just come in red.
The Western Yellow Robin (Eopsaltria griseogularis). Lake Leschenaultia, Western Australia. Olympus OMD EM1 with Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 II lens. Exposure: 1/400 sec, f8 at ISO 800.
When we were in Tasmania we had proper winters with snow, and that meant we had robins in their proper setting, but not at Christmas. Oh it’s all very confusing!
A pink robin (pink) at Silver Falls, Mount Wellington in Tasmania. Olympus OM-D E-M10 with Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/4-5.6 R lens. Exposure: 1/160 sec, f5.6 at ISO 200.
Rainbow Bee Eater, Merops ornatus. Avon Walk Trail, York, Western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f4-6.3. Exposure: 1/1000, f6.3 at ISO 250.
There are quite a number of them along the Avon River here in York. They migrate from Indonesia, New Guinea and northern Australia to avoid the cyclone season and come to breed during our summer. They nest in burrows which they dig and I discovered them quite by chance. While walking the dog I noticed these brightly coloured birds literally nose diving into the ground. At first I thought that the bird must have been hurt and went over to look for it, but I found nothing. Over the next few weeks I watched several others repeat the behaviour so looking carefully at the embankment I found several holes which turned out to be their burrows. So ever since I’ve been trying to photograph them.
Rainbow Bee Eater, Merops ornatus. Avon Walk Trail, York, Western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f4-6.3. Exposure: 1/1000, f6.3 at ISO 320.
So far I’ve only managed to photograph them when they perch. They feed on flying insects and their acrobatic manoeuvring while chasing their prey are beyond my photographic abilities. Luckily I’ve noticed that they tend to favour a particular tree de jour as a lookout and they repeatedly return between sorties so it has just been a case of walking along the river finding that day’s favoured tree and waiting.
Rainbow Bee Eater, Merops ornatus. Avon Walk Trail, York, Western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f4-6.3. Exposure: 1/1000, f6.3 at ISO 250.
Just before Christmas my wife and I decided to mount a mission early one morning to observe them bringing food to the chicks that have hatched. We must have been a strange sight for any passers-by – my wife in her camp chair with binoculars aimed at an earth bank and me loitering in the foliage under a tree with a camera and very long lens. We spent a couple of delightful hours watching and photographing before heading off for morning tea.
Rainbow Bee Eater, Merops ornatus. Avon Walk Trail, York, Western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f4-6.3. Exposure: 1/1000, f6.3 at ISO 250.
Juvenile pied stilts (Himantopus leuccocephalus) at Blackadder Lake, Vivash, Western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with a Panasonic LEICA DG 100-400/F4.0-6.3 lens. Exposure 1/1250, f6.3, ISO 800.
The other day we were down at Blackadder Lake in Vivash. We had gone to photograph Sacred Kingfishers, but the only glimpse we got of them was as we got out of the car. When we got to the lake we became entranced by the antics of a pair of juvenile pied stilts. They moved across the lake shallows in perfect synchronised formation, until the need for a tasty morsel became too much.
Juvenile pied stilts (Himantopus leuccocephalus) at Blackadder Lake, Vivash, Western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with a Panasonic LEICA DG 100-400/F4.0-6.3 lens. Exposure 1/1250, f6.3, ISO 800.
Juvenile pied stilts (Himantopus leuccocephalus) at Blackadder Lake, Vivash, Western Australia. Panasonic Lumix G85 with a Panasonic LEICA DG 100-400/F4.0-6.3 lens. Exposure 1/1250, f6.3, ISO 800.
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