Kay Parkin Birding: A quail of a time!

Monday, June 23, 2014

A quail of a time!

Brown Quail

It's winter and the weather has been wet, rainy and windy. So when I decided to buy a new Canon camera body I wondered whether I'd get out to use it over the weekend!

As I drove, the sky was grey but at least it was not raining! I headed to the coast as I hoped to get some decent photos of Brown Quail. Within 5 minutes of leaving the car I spotted a family of 8 quail feeding on the side of the track! As I lifted my camera the sun burst through the clouds lighting them beautifully! The posed for a couple of photos before scurrying into the grass.

I'm happy with the camera by the way! Canon7D is an older model these days but still excellent for bird photography with 8 frames per second!!

Brown Quail

Pacific Gull

Do you want to start bird watching?

Birding is a great hobby and can be done easily and without much expense. You can simply go for a walk and take note of the birds you see! If you are new to birding you may not know what the birds are called so I'd suggest carrying a note book so you can make some notes on their colour, size and markings so you can then identify them when you get home.

To identify them you can use an Australian Bird Field Guide - I'd suggest Pizzey, otherwise you can use a website which has photos of Australian birds such as www.bushpea.com

You can start listing every species of bird that you see. You will be surprised at how quickly your total increases. It is so much fun and you could encourage your family and friends to join you.

You will need a pair of binoculars - 10 x 40 is a good size. I use Nikon Monarch but try them out in the shop to get a light pair that suits you.

BIRDER

Monday, June 23, 2014

A quail of a time!