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Yesterday, I visited the Black Swamp wetlands on the shores of Moreton Bay. This area exists at the end of a shopping centre on the main road from Brisbane to Cleveland, but is the home of many native shrubs, trees, birds and bats. It has been known as the Black Swamp for eons, but is now a protected environmental area.

This is the Australian White Ibis (below), and there is quite a colony of them here. Ibis have now become pests in Brisbane (it's our fault, not theirs!) as they forage for food in city rubbish bins and beg for food from restaurants and people lunching in parks. For some reason, they remind me of buzzards - they've got that funeral parlour look about them:



Also plentiful are the much more attractive spoonbill (I think these are Royal Spoonbill), which have beaks with what looks like a spatula on the end - evidently handy for stirring up the swamp for foodstuff. This pair may have chicks in the nest because apparently that yellow splash on the neck is more pronounced when they are breeding:


Both pix are cropped from images taken with the 80-400mm VR. I need more grunt for bird shots!

I dont really care what anyone says I happen to quite like the Ibis's... and the spoonbills are always good value.. terrible parents though as thier chicks are always falling out of their flimsy nests lol...

Really like the spoonbill shot here... the light looked to be terrible (glary etc) and I think you have handled it well..

Trevor,

cricketfan wrote:Yesterday, I visited the Black Swamp wetlands on the shores of Moreton Bay. This area exists at the end of a shopping centre

You're suggesting that there's a difference between the black swamp and a shopping center?

Both pix are cropped from images taken with the 80-400mm VR. I need more grunt for bird shots!

Nah .... they're fine. Just use sneakerzoom.

gstark wrote:Nah .... they're fine. Just use sneakerzoom.

If I got any closer, I'd have to climb the tree! And I have about the same success with trees as I have with surf skis.

cricketfan wrote:

gstark wrote:Nah .... they're fine. Just use sneakerzoom.

If I got any closer, I'd have to climb the tree! And I have about the same success with trees as I have with surf skis.

Well there's your problem, Trevor. Who in their right mind tries to climb surf skis?

Smoking them? A much better idea!

Just having a look through old posts and saw your lovely pics of the Ibises, (Ibis plural??).
Whats the effect on the foliage behind the bird... sort of striated. Was that created by your particular lens?

Nice shots.

Nice work Trevor. I go there a bit myself (two minutes down the road) but mainly just to keep an eye on the water levels and local frog populations. Some nice pythons live around there and it's got a large resident flying fox colony at the eastern end.

Nice images Trevor. You are right it is a terrific place. It's only about 5 mins from my sister-in-laws place at Rabi Bay. I've taken some lovely shots of breeding egrets there with my 80-400VR. Mind you there was a bit of stalking and wet feet involved to get some good shots:wink:
Gee simon if i would have known you were that close i would have called by. Next time mate!
cheers
marco

marcotrov wrote:Gee simon if i would have known you were that close i would have called by. Next time mate!
cheers
marco

Absolutely Marco - we'll go for a beer and a steak at the Grand View! Make sure you PM me when you're next trip is being planned.

Flash in the pan wrote:Just having a look through old posts and saw your lovely pics of the Ibises, (Ibis plural??).
Whats the effect on the foliage behind the bird... sort of striated. Was that created by your particular lens?
Nice shots.

I guess so. I can only put it down to bokeh. We are looking right at the top of the tree canopy, so maybe there was some movement due to the breeze, compounded by that portion of the image being OOF.

Manta wrote:Nice work Trevor. I go there a bit myself (two minutes down the road) but mainly just to keep an eye on the water levels and local frog populations. Some nice pythons live around there and it's got a large resident flying fox colony at the eastern end.

Hi Simon

It was my first time there. I took some overseas visitors to the Straddie ferry, and on the way back I saw the sign on Shore St. I made it my business to get back with a camera and have a look.
Have you walked right through there? I was unsure as to how much latitude they gave you as far as access was concerned.

Manta wrote:

marcotrov wrote:Gee simon if i would have known you were that close i would have called by. Next time mate!
cheers
marco

Absolutely Marco - we'll go for a beer and a steak at the Grand View! Make sure you PM me when you're next trip is being planned.

We should co-ordinate. Sounds like a plan.

Good plan indeed Trevor.

Access? Pretty well up to you and how much you're prepared to work. It's densely overgrown and waterlogged in most areas so there's a natural limit to most ramblings anyway. The heaviest growth is where the bats roost - they ain't stupid.