Time spent in trees

My latest adventure didn’t take me very far from home – only into the back yard in fact. It all started because the grass was getting a wee bit long and it had actually stopped raining long enough for me to consider getting the mower out. The grass was still a little damp but I noticed a number of birds fluttering about and decided to get my camera and try to get a few shots.

I have taken a few bird shots over the years and many show the birds from underneath; them being in trees and me being on the ground. I post the best ones onto Flickr, and I received an invite once for a particular photo to be included in a group dedicated to animal bottoms. That seemed a little weird to me and I declined the offer. But it did make me think about my bird photo collecting.

 So I decided to climb the tree to get some better pics. It is a wonderful, spreading tree that once upon a time, when the kids were younger and into climbing trees, I’d tied old climbing ropes onto. The ropes are now gone and so getting to the first fork isn’t quite as easy – not hard – but not as easy as it used to be. Adding to the degree of difficulty was the SLR with 70-220mm lens dangling around my neck. I have never been kind to cameras and probably should have grabbed the lighter, tougher “Tough” camera. But I didn’t.

 The birds bounced in and around the branches and in and out of focus, while I gripped a branch with one hand, held the camera with the other and pressed the shutter button with another – which is one hand more hand than I actually have so I’m not quite sure what actually happened, although I do remember teetering and nearly toppling a couple of times.

 Here, for your enjoyment, are the photos.

Grey Fantail, wondering what this person is doing in the tree. 

Varied Sitella

Ever played Angry Birds?

Sitellas seem to enjoy being upside down

Hanging out with the birds

Red-browed Finch giving lessons on how to hang on in a tree

Eastern Rosella

King Parrots - from the ground up

Crimson  Rosella