As regent of England in the early 1800s, the future George IV redecorated Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, built the highly ornamental Royal Pavilion at Brighton and adored pomp and ceremony. One of his alleged namesakes, Australia’s majestic black and gold regent bowerbird, exhibits somewhat similar inclinations

I had been bird-watching since dawn, my binoculars scouring the rainforest canopy. The morning was serene, the air crisp and clean. Suddenly a flash of black and gold grabbed my attention. I followed the bright movement until it stopped in a nearby tree. My first ever sighting in the wild of an adult male regent bowerbird (Sericulus chrysocephalus)! I was in a subtropical rainforest remnant known as the Big Scrub Flora Reserve near Rocky Creek Dam in northern New South Wales. The sight of that stunning, colourful bird contrasted against the various shades of green and brown in the canopy is a memory I will always savour.

The other bird has the blues

In much of its habitat, the regent bowerbird lives side by side with the more common satin bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceous). The males of both species exhibit the unusual and distinctive behaviour of bower building: creating a special structure solely for the purpose of enticing a female (or females) to mate with them. Glossy black male satin bowerbirds are famous for collecting a sea of blue ornaments – leaves, flowers, snail shells, bottle caps, clothes pegs – to decorate their bowers, which are often quite visible. Over many years of guiding, bushwalking, bird watching, photographing or assisting wildlife documentary makers, I have found dozens of satin bowers, many active, in forests, clearings, near buildings, roads and car parks.

Over that same period, I have only ever found four regent bowerbird bowers.

It’s not due to a lack of looking.

The regent bowerbird prefers subtropical rainforests on the coasts and hinterlands of Queensland and New South Wales, although it is found in warm temperate rainforests as well. Much of their former range has been destroyed by clearing, but fortunately, they can still be found in protected areas, including coastal rainforests at Iluka (coastal NSW), the Nightcap and Border Ranges (NSW) and Lamington National Park (Qld) – one of the best wildlife photography locations in Australia, in my opinion. Over years of observation, I have noticed they will readily venture out to the edge of the forest, but most sightings have been within the lushness of the subtropical rainforest.

The birds are predominantly fruit eaters. You can see them foraging on the forest floor amongst shrubs, trees or vines, or in the canopy. Along with native berries, such as lillypillies, quandongs and satinash, they will readily feed on exotic species, such as inkweed or lantana. Depending on the availability, regent bowerbirds will also feed on larger fruits such as native fig and quince. Rather than swallowing these fruits whole, as they do with the berries, they will pick at the flesh of the ripened fruit.

Dried treats and seasonal fruits

They are also partial to dried fruit such as currants and sultanas. O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, situated in Lamington National Park, south-east Queensland, is world famous for feeding throngs of wild regent bowerbirds that fly freely around the guesthouse. For nearly five years, part of my job as a nature-based guide was to feed these birds during the early morning bird walks, much to the delight of the guests. Nowhere else in the world can people experience these magnificent birds at such close range. We only ever fed the regent and satin bowerbirds currants and sultanas and I must stress that within Lamington National Park itself (which surrounds the privately owned O’Reilly’s), the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service strictly prohibits the feeding of any native animals.

Putting into action my advice on how to photograph birds in Lamington National Park, I noticed what appeared to be a regular pattern of regent behaviour at Lamington. They would land in the shrubs and trees of the guesthouse and wait for their daily feed. Once they had eaten, they would invariably fly off into the forest, in search of their natural fruit and berry diet. Around December each year, they would slowly withdraw into the forest, returning to the guesthouse in numbers around April or May. We thought that due to a plentiful supply of native fruit in the forests through summer and early autumn, the birds did not need to supplement their diets. Once fruits start to diminish, they come in search of the extra dried fruit.

Although predominantly frugivorous, the regent female, who raises the chicks on her own, will often catch beetles, moths, cicadas and other insects for her young.

Back to the bower

The male regent’s bower is smaller than that of its satin cousin. The bird uses various sized twigs that cross each other in all directions, creating a fairly solid structure. Rather than place decorations around the outside of the bower as the satin does, the regent tends to place an assortment of trinkets and baubles in the centre of his bower. These are neutral in colour and may include different types of snail shells, cicada casings or castings, shiny leaves and berries.

Some earlier literature on regent bowerbirds suggested that the extreme rarity of finding a bower meant the bird was in the process of discarding the practice of bower building altogether. Although this theory has been overturned, finding an active bower remains a rare occurrence. The male will usually choose a thick, scrubby part of the rainforest undergrowth in which to position his bower. It will need to have clear access to the allimportant females he is trying to woo but overall, concealing the bower is a priority. One possible reason for the seclusion could be the male’s extremely bright colours which could easily attract predators.

One, two, three, four

Of the four bowers I’ve found, three were covered by dense vegetation – it is easy to see how searching for them can be a difficult task.

One bower lasted only six or seven days before the male completely destroyed and relocated it. Sir David Attenborough’s film crew captured footage of the next active bower when they were in Australia in November 1999. Sir David visited Lamington National Park in order to film the behaviours of both the regent and satin bowerbirds as part of a documentary on bowerbirds of Australia. I had the great fortune and privilege of assisting him in finding a regent’s bower as well as assisting the film crew.

I found my third bower while bird watching in the Border Ranges National Park in northern New South Wales. I decided to rest on a log, when a flicker of gold in the scrubby undergrowth to my left caught the corner of my eye. I slowly picked up my binoculars. To my surprise and sheer delight, there was a regent bowerbird male adding sticks to his fully constructed bower.

After years of trying to capture some photos of a regent bowerbird working his bower, my opportunity finally arrived when I found my fourth bower. Male regent bowerbirds will usually destroy and move their bowers within a week of construction. This particular male was accustomed to the presence of humans and had apparently decided to stay in one spot for a couple of weeks. Thus, I was able to set up a camouflaged hide only four metres from his bower.

The sight of that stunning, colourful bird contrasted against the various shades of green and brown in the canopy is a memory I will always savour.

He would be gone for hours at a time, then fly in out of nowhere, heading straight for his bower – usually with fresh sticks to add to the structure or new decorations to adorn its centre. He was completely oblivious to my presence and was dedicated to diligently improving or beautifying his ‘love shack’. Beak brimming full of berries or greenery, he would position himself inside the bower, mix the berries or greenery with saliva and proceed to paint the inside structure with his beak and tongue. The male’s goal is to present the bower in a way that will attract any passing females. I wonder if he consulted with an interior decorator? With patience, I was able to capture some images of this rarely seen or photographed behaviour.

Song and dance man

The regent, like other bowerbirds, is polygamous rather than monogamous. His aim is to attract as many females as possible to his structure. Once a female arrives, the male puts on a stunning performance. With wings spread, head lowered and, often, some form of decoration or ‘gift’ in his bill, he will energetically strut and cavort in the most pompous of fashions. At the same time, his chatter and mimicry increases to an all-out frenzy.

If the female is impressed with the bower, its decorations and the high-energy performance, she flies down and enters the bower, signalling her willingness to mate. The male immediately flies to the bower and mounts her. In the blink of an eye, it’s all over and the female flies off.

Solo effort

After mating, the female regent fends for herself, building the nest, incubating the eggs and rearing the chicks. Saucershaped nests of twigs and rootlets are generally constructed amongst dense rainforest trees. The female normally lays two or three eggs, incubating them for 20 to 21 days and feeding the chicks on a variety of small rainforest fruits and an assortment of insects. They will fledge after another 20 to 21 days.

The male continues to woo as many females as he can throughout the breeding season. This method ensures that females only mate with the healthiest, most energetic males, passing on strong genes to the next generation.

Juvenile regent bowerbirds are subdued and plain: head, throat and neck are a lacklustre mixture of brown and greyish white with sporadic markings throughout; top of the head is a dull black; the mantle and wings are a greenish brown. Females retain a darker version of this colouration as adults, with dark eyes and an all-black bill. Males take around seven years to attain full adult plumage: a rich bluey-black body with a very vivid violet-blue on the breast, neck and rump area. The forehead, crown, neck and upper back are golden yellow, as are the majority of the primary feathers. The eyes are light yellow with a black centre and the bill is a golden yellow. There would be little dispute about naming the male regent bowerbird as the most stunningly coloured of all of Australia’s bowerbirds.

If you have a passion for wildlife, nature or travel photography and would love to go on a small-number, professional photography adventure, please get in touch with Michael Snedic at WildNature Photo Expeditions. You can call him on 0408 941 965 or fill in this Contact Form and he will get back to you ASAP.

I’ve just located a Pacific Baza’s nest and I’m going to set up the tower!’ Glen thundered down the phone line. For many years my friend and fellow wildlife photographer, Glen Threlfo, and I had hoped to photograph this beautiful bird of prey— here was our chance.

The Baza, also commonly known as the Crested Hawk, tends to nest quite high in the horizontal branches of various types of eucalypts or melaleucas. Its nest is often inaccessible, but this one was relatively low and positioned on the outer branches of a casuarina tree. Most importantly, it was in an area suitable for positioning a photographic tower, at the edge of a patch of Gold Coast hinterland rainforest. Our tower was assembled piece by piece, with each 2 m section bolted on top of the next, until the 20 m was reached. To keep it from toppling over, especially during windy conditions, we attached around 17–18 guy-ropes. From the hide perched on top, we were able to view the nest at eye level from a distance of around 4 m.

Any birder who has had the privilege of seeing a Pacific Baza at close range would have to agree that they are one of Australia’s most attractive birds of prey. Their bright yellow eye, distinct crest, and brown and white barred chest make them one of the most easily recognised raptors. Their distribution ranges from coastal northern Australia to as far south as Sydney, and they are also found in Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, New Guinea and nearby islands.

The pair that Glen and I were watching had constructed their nest in the usual manner: no more than a pile of loosely stacked sticks covered with a layer of green-leafed eucalyptus twigs. Yet, the untidy structure was kept clean. Once or twice a day the male brought a fresh spray of eucalyptus leaves. From a very early age, their single chick began to release its droppings over the side, rather than soil the nest. It was an amusing sight to see the chick, only a few minutes after it had eaten, edging to the side of the nest, backside raised, ‘aiming’ at a nearby branch!

The Bazas were highly protective of their single chick, but gentle at the same time. Often, one parent would be away feeding while the other sat guard in a nearby tree. Most other birds kept their distance, although some would fly into the ‘no-go’ zone near the nest. Then, either parent would fly casually to where the trespasser was perched and land nearby, displaying no aggression whatsoever. I must add, though, that not once did I see an intruder stay around long enough to find out!

The parents shared hunting duties, with breaks between feeds lasting anywhere from 10 minutes to over an hour and a half. They brought in a wide variety of insects (mainly stick insects and large grubs/larvae) as well as a few small frogs. Considering the size of the chick in its early stages, it was amazing to watch it swallow such huge insects in one go.

Often, I observed either parent searching for insects to bring back to feed their chick. They used such precision and agility, swooping on insects that were in the outer foliage of nearby eucalypts. On a few occasions the male hung upside down on the drooping branches, wings outstretched. He would scour the leaves carefully, returning to the nest minutes later with a beak full of morsels for his chick. On other occasions, he spent lengthy periods of time away and, on his return, would often land on the same branch, beak brimming with offerings, calling repeatedly with a ‘wi chu, wi chu, wi chu’. The female, who tended to do more of the feeding, would respond in kind and immediately fly over to perch next to him, take the food from his beak, and fly directly to the nest to feed the ever-hungry chick.

One morning it started to rain. I was sheltered by the hide but the tiny chick wasn’t so lucky. It was just starting to get wet when the female arrived. She ruffled her feathers, outstretched her wings and proceeded to create an ‘umbrella’. After a few minutes, she was totally drenched, but did not falter in her resolve to keep her offspring dry! As soon as the rain stopped, she flew to a nearby tree and spent the next hour and a half preening.

When the chick fledged about 33 days after hatching, the second egg of the original two-egg clutch still remained intact in the nest.

The hours spent sitting cramped in a hide 20 m above the ground, in all weather conditions, were certainly worthwhile. I learnt much from my close encounter with this placid raptor family. Capturing numerous photographs was the icing on the cake!

If you have a passion for wildlife, nature or travel photography and would love to go on a small-number, professional photography adventure, please get in touch with Michael Snedic at WildNature Photo Expeditions. You can call him on 0408 941 965 or fill in this Contact Form and he will get back to you ASAP.

Text and Images By Michael Snedic

Recently, aurora activity has been ‘off the charts’! Less than two weeks ago, aurora activity across Australia (and the world) was the best in at least 20 years (Northern auroras are called Aurora Borealis and southern ones are called Aurora Australis). Auroras were seen and photographed in locations that you previously couldn’t imagine – Uluru in the Northern Territory, Mackay in Queensland, Christmas Island and many more locations. Those in the southern parts of Australia, especially Tasmania, are used to auroras but to have them right across Australia was simply awesome. The unbelievable colours and patterns made those nights recently very special moments indeed. I saw a huge number of aurora images posted across social media and there were many great images. There were, unfortunately, quite a few that could have been amazing but the photographers didn’t necessarily know the correct settings and techniques to use. In this article, I will show you the best ways to photograph auroras.

Essential – Using A Tripod

To end up with great shots of an aroura, you need to use a tripod. Sure, there are shots out there with phones and hand-held cameras but by using a tripod for stabilisation is the preferred method. I highly recommend using a sturdy tripod, rather than a Joby GorillaPod or similar. The tripod needs to be on firm ground to minimise camera shake.

Remote or Cable Release

Apart from using a sturdy tripod, it is best to use a remote or cable release to take aurora images. This eliminates any movement that may be created by physically pressing the camera’s shutter button with your finger, especially since we are using quite slow shutter speeds. If you don’t own a remote or cable release, you can use the camera’s timer or, if your camera make and model has the feature available, connect it to an App where you can press the shutter button via your phone.

Recommended Camera Settings

The main problem that arises when photographing auroras arises when photographers who aren’t familiar with the correct settings use ‘normal’ landscape settings (i.e small aperture size, 100 ISO and a reasonably fast shutter speed). For auroras, the settings are opposite to landscape photography. My suggested starting point when using a digital SLR or mirrorless camera is to set your camera to manual mode. Set the camera’s shutter speed to around 15 seconds, the f-stop set to the widest (lowest number) aperture your lens allows, such as f1.8, f2.8 or f4 and the ISO at 1600. Take a few test shots to see the result and if needed, you can tweak the settings for optimal images. If your images are a tad dark, you can either reduce the shutter speed by one stop to 30 seconds or increase the ISO by one stop to 3200. An important point to remember is to not set your shutter speed for longer than 30 seconds, as this can create small arcs in your images due to the movement of the stars.

It takes a bit of ‘trial and error’ but well worth experimenting with your settings in order to capture great shots.

Best Way To Focus

Autofocus won’t work when shooting an aroura, so you need to focus manually. Focus to infinity (furthest away) or manually focus on a star and when it is sharp, you have perfect focus. There’s nothing more frustrating than finding out there is an aurora alert, travelling long distances to get there, waiting for hours for the aurora to be at its best, then realising after you get back home that all of your shots are blurry due to incorrect focusing! As far as lens focal lengths go, I recommend anywhere from 14mm to approximately 50mm. Lenses with a focal length of 14-18mm will give you a wider field of view and preferred if you are wanting to capture quite a large expanse. By the way, don’t forget to pack a headlamp so that you can see what you are doing with your camera!

Find A Foreground Feature

Aurora images can be more interesting by having a foreground feature. This may be a mountain range (such as in the two images shown with this article), an old building, a jetty or a monument. It is definitely worth scouting locations during the day when you can see where you are going and what features you have around you. That way you aren’t fumbling around at night trying to work out where things are.

How To Find Out When The Next Aurora Is Due

There are a number of Aurora Facebook groups worth joining. I personally recommend the Aurora Australis Tasmania group of which I have been a member for many years. They will usually have posts letting people know if there is any activity happening and where. There are also websites such as www.spaceweather.com you can visit that let you know if there are auroras due and what ‘strength’ the solar flares are. One important thing to remember is that even if there is a high alert for an aurora, your best chances for seeing and photographing one is when there is no rain and the skies are clear. That doesn’t mean you can’t photograph one when its cloudy (see my shot featured taken in Coles Bay, Tasmania as an example) as this can add interest in your shot.

More than anything, enjoy the experience and if you achieve great photos of an aurora, that’s simply a bonus!

If you have a passion for wildlife, nature or travel photography and would love to go on a small-number, professional photography adventure, please get in touch with Michael Snedic at WildNature Photo Expeditions. You can call him on 0408 941 965 or fill in this Contact Form and he will get back to you ASAP.

‘Oh, man, that’s so cool!’

If you have a passion for wildlife, nature or travel photography and would love to go on a small-number, professional photography adventure, please get in touch with Michael Snedic at WildNature Photo Expeditions. You can call him on 0408 941 965 or fill in this Contact Form and he will get back to you ASAP.

Lord Howe Island is a small island off the east coast of Australia. It is officially a part of New South Wales and can be accessed by flying from either Sydney or Brisbane. It is, without a doubt, one of my favourite locations in Australia to visit with my camera. The air is clean, there are few cars and the island limits the number of visitors that can visit at one time.

Recently, there was a multi-million dollar vermin eradication program implemented, which will help the local birds and wildlife thrive. Birds are plentiful on Lord Howe Island. The truly angelic White Terns hover above your head around the island, making it quite easy to get shots of them in flight. Sooty Terns nest by the tens of thousands in spring (Australian spring), so depending on when you travel, you will see countless birds nesting right in front of you on the beach, either sitting on eggs or looking after their fluffy chicks.

The most famous bird on the island is the lord Howe Island Woodhen. This bird is only found on Lord Howe Island and nowhere else on earth! At one stage, there were only 30 or so birds left in the world, whereas nowadays there are an estimated 300+ individuals. The Lord Howe Island Woodhen can be seen frequently foraging on the ground around the island and they are quite used to people. Join me on my next photography tour to Lord Howe Island and there is a good chance we will spot some!

If you have a passion for wildlife, nature or travel photography and would love to go on a small-number, professional photography adventure, please get in touch with Michael Snedic at WildNature Photo Expeditions. You can call him on 0408 941 965 or fill in this Contact Form and he will get back to you ASAP.

Photographing the ‘tiny things’ in the natural world can be both enjoyable and rewarding. Below are some tips and techniques that will help you achieve better macro photos.

1. Dedicated Macro Lens

If you love your macro photography, using a macro lens is always preferable. Whether your lens has focal length of 50mm, 200ml or anything in between, a dedicated macro lens allows for closer focusing and incredibly sharp images. Yes, some zoom lenses have a ‘macro’ setting but they aren’t true macro lenses.

There isn’t a perfect focal length for a macro lens. The most popular focal lengths seem to be between 60 mmto 100mm. Lenses with a focal length of 180 or 200mm macro lens are a tad heavier to use and don’t have as close a minimum focal length as the smaller sizes. One advantage , however, is that you are able to focus further away, which can have its advantages when photographing insects such as dragonflies or butterflies which can be a bit kittish when approaching them too close.

2. Extension Tubes

Using extension tubes with SLR or Mirrorless cameras allow for much closer focusing to your macro subjects (they fit in between the camera and lens). The downside is that depth of field becomes a real issue and even at an aperture of f22, only a fraction of your close-up image will be in focus. Generally, extension tubes are best when using a tripod, as this allows for greater stability. Hand holding a lens with an extension tube can be quite tricky since adding them reduces your aperture size and therefore decreases your shutter speed.

3. Macro Flash

By using a macro or ring flash attached to your lens negates the use of a tripod, especially in low light scenarios. You are, quite simply, carrying around your own light source. Using a flash has the advantage of you being able to capture insects such as bees buzzing over a flower, which a slower shutter speed will struggle to capture in poor light. Also, for insects that fly or move, the fact that you aren’t connected to a tripod means you have much more flexibility focusing on the moving subject.

Apart from using a macro flash, there are also numerous macro lights available on the market. Rather than a flash being fired when you take a shot, a macro light uses a continuous light source that usually can be adjusted according to the amount of light you require on your subject.

4. Using a Diffuser

Sometimes when you head on out with your camera with the aim of photographing plants, insects, fungi or frogs, lighting may be harsh. There are ways of reducing your exposure in-camera but harsh lighting can create unsightly images, especially if the subject is shiny and reflective, or white and yellow. By setting up on a tripod and using a portable hand-held diffuser between your intended subject and the lens, this creates much smoother lighting. Sure, photographing during overcast weather is ideal, but we can’t choose what mother nature will do! I have often gone out to shoot macro subjects on an overcast day when the lighting is sublime, only to have the clouds replaced by harsh sunlight!

5. Watch Your Background

I regularly see beautiful macro shots posted, including insects, plants or wildlife such as geckoes or frogs. Unfortunately, some of these images are ruined by unsightly twigs, grasses or overblown leaves in the background. Photographers are often so into getting the perfect exposure or composition of their intended subject(s) that they are oblivious to the distracting background which only show up once the images are downloaded and viewed on a computer.

Overall, I encourage you to get on out there and experiment with different subjects, lighting conditions and compositions. The more you practise, the easier macro photography becomes and the process can be loads of fun : -))

If you have a passion for wildlife, nature or travel photography and would love to go on a small-number, professional photography adventure, please get in touch with Michael Snedic at WildNature Photo Expeditions. You can call him on 0408 941 965 or fill in this Contact Form and he will get back to you ASAP.