I read about a trail that crossed McQuoid Creek near Kambah Pool that I thought looked interesting. I did not want to do the full trail but I wanted to concentrate on the area around the creek itself. The trail was easy enough to access, it was opposite the small carpark located outside of the Kambah Pool entrance. While I was prepared to get my feet wet crossing the creek, because I had already read about that possibility, I was not prepared for the waist-high grass that I encountered. The rain over spring and summer had caused a lot of growth in this area meaning that the trails were no longer too distinct. I started following a trail made by a vehicle and missed the connecting trail. I only realised I had missed the trail when I encountered the Pine Island to Kambah Pool trail, which was a well-made and maintained trail. The area that I was in was very small and I never went too far from where I could still hear the odd car driving to Kambah Pool so I was in no risk of getting truly lost but I knew that my original plan was not going to work. The weather was also challenging because it was very overcast which not much light reaching the subjects that I was looking at. Fortunately, on both days that I visited the weather cleared up a bit towards the end of my time there so I had some better lighting. I was happy to see a Nankeen Kestrel on my first visit as well as Dollarbirds; those sightings prompted me to return the next weekend in anticipation of what I might see. I hope that you enjoy the photographs below of what I did see.
Nankeen Kestrel against an overcast sky
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/6.3 and 1/320 SEC])
Laughing Kookaburra adult
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 2000, 400mm, f/7.1 and 1/400 SEC])
Laughing Kookaburra juvenile, note the darker crown and the uniformed colour beak
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 2000, 400mm, f/7.1 and 1/400 SEC])
Backobourkia under a branch
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 100, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Robber Fly
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 400, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/500 SEC])
Adult Dollarbird in the front with food in its beak
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/14 and 1/400 SEC])
Food goes in
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/14 and 1/400 SEC])
Side by side showing the differences
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 400, 400mm, f/14 and 1/400 SEC])
Meadow Argus among the grass
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 2000, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Giant Green Slantface
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 160, 214mm, f/8.0 and 1/250 SEC])
Freeloader Fly on a dead sugar ant in a spider web
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/180 SEC] with Canon 430EX III-RT flash)
Diamondback Comb-footed Spider with a dead sugar ant
(Canon EOS 6D Mk II with a Canon EF100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM [ISO 100, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/180 SEC] with Canon 430EX III-RT flash)
Sunshine trying to break through
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 800, 100mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Grasshopper (Austroicetes sp. (genus))
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 100, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/250 SEC])
Weebill
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 2000, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
Shore Fly in a rain-created temporary pond
(Canon EOS 7D Mk II with a Canon EF100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM [ISO 2000, 400mm, f/8.0 and 1/400 SEC])
