Bushells Lagoon rocks

This place would have to be the best lagoon in the Hawkesbury region for the photography of birds of prey. Naturally, not all encounters are necessarily within reach of your lens(es), but the experience of witnessing the resident White-bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) fishing the vast expanses of water are truly humbling. On Saturday, I had about 10 Whistling Kites (Haliastur sphenurus) all circling about the lagoon, at times mock charging each other. Their high-pitched whistle-like calls are much loved by my ever alert ears. There was also the wet-flatulence sounding call of a Restless Flycatcher nearby and it allowed my close approach to photograph it hovering above the grasses seeking its prey. Late in the session, a quick uprising and alarm calls of the waterbirds in front of me brought me to encounter a Brown Goshawk (Accipiter fasciatus) circling low over the flocking, feeding waterbirds. A good lesson for any photographers is to be ready at any time. My one, and only regretted mistake was that I had my manually focusing 2x converter on my 300mm telephoto lens mounted on my tripod as I was relieving myself in the bushes, and while the camera was close, I managed to totally screw up four images of a small flock (about 8-10) Royal Spoonbills (Platalea regia) flying above me at a low height. I wish for a super telephoto lens sometime in the future that autofocuses at 600mm or more.



Little Black Cormorants (Phalacrororax sulcirostris) were the most prolific birds in flight that I was attempting to capture and succeeded about once or twice out of 200-plus attempts at shooting these birds in flight.

IMAGE DETAILS:
30D, 300mm f/4L IS USM + 1.4x, HH, manual mode, evaluative metering, ISO400, f/6.3, 1/1000th,

I now use manual mode for birds in flight as long as the light remains from the same direction. I take a test image of a mid-tone subject, set the meter accordingly (remember to push the histogram as far right as possible without flashing highlights) and shoot away. I may open up a little for a large dark subject, or close down a little for a large white subject. It's easy and reliable.