blp shabash 430x45
Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds

  • You are here:  
  • Home
  • Show Image

Australian Reed-Warbler

Australian Reed-Warbler (Image ID 43349)
Photographed byMichael Hamel-Green on Mon 9th Nov, 2020 and uploaded on Tue 10th Nov, 2020 .
Resolution1400x945
Viewed481
ID43349
CommentAn Australian Reed-Warbler doing what a Reed-Warbler does best, warbling in the reeds, in this case in the Royal Park Wetlands. In earlier times, as little as a year ago, in my blissful cluelessness as a novice twitcher, I would go past this same stretch of reeds, see no birds, and wonder to myself why these wetlands were so recommended as a great bird watching spot in the heart of Melbourne. Nowadays, I take a little more trouble to listen to the insights of experienced birdwatchers, and am constantly amazed at my own previous blindness to all the birdlife that is actually out there. I try to heed the experts’ counsel of first listening, then locating, then waiting patiently and inconspicuously for the bird to suddenly (or belatedly) appear. This is exactly what happened here. I heard but did not see this Reed-Warbler in a large clump of reeds off to my right, so I waited, and waited, and waited, and - testing my admittedly limited patience - waited just one moment more, and the Warbler suddenly erupted from the reeds and flew across to perch in some reeds almost facing where I was standing. To my delight, it started up its warbling again, chup-chup dzee dzee quarty-quarty-quartly, as Menkhorst el.al. perfectly mimic the more melodious of their warblings. So what do they have to sing about? According to Menkhorst, they sing all day and into the night during breeding season. This, of course, is their breeding season, having come down from northern parts to raise a family in our more congenial Southern climatic conditions. So no doubt they are singing out of joy in starting their new family. No one has as yet dared to tell Reed-Warblers about the climate crisis, and how sojourning down South may not be such a good idea after all, especially after what happened last summer. But sing away, Warbler, before all singing, yours and ours, is over.
EquipmentNikon Z7 with Nikon 300mm PF f/4 telephoto
ISO 1250
1/3200th f8
LocationRoyal Park Wetlands, Parkville, Victoria
Keywordsadult
You already have an outstanding request to download this image for non-commercial purposes. You may cancel this request by clicking on the button below and waiting for confirmation that your request has been noted. When you have selected all the images that you require, go to 'My Download Requests' (under Photo Gallery) and submit your request by clicking 'Edit/Submit' and filling out the details. You will be advised of the result by email. Note that cookies MUST be enabled for this to work.
You may request download of this image for non-commercial purposes. A request that meets the usage rights of this image will be automatically approved; a request that does not meet the usage rights will be refused, but may (at the Download Manager's discretion) be referred to the photographer. The usage rights of this image are: Any non-commercial use by any requestor, including personal use. For further details of image usage rights, see here. Request the image by clicking on the button below and waiting for confirmation that your request has been noted. When you have selected all the images that you require, go to 'My Download Requests' (under Photo Gallery) and submit your request by clicking 'Edit/Submit' and filling out the details. You will be advised of the result by email. Note that cookies MUST be enabled for this to work.
Previous19658/31617 in Main LibraryNext
Previous107/997 by Michael Hamel-GreenNext
Previous74/115 of Australian Reed-WarblerNext
Previous74/115 of Reed-WarblersNext
Previous20330/34487 OverallNext
Use the arrows at the left and Right hand side of this page to display the Next/Previous photographs in that group, or click on one of the blue links above to start a slide show in that group (group slide shows are only allowed if there are less than 1000 images in the group).

CONTACT US

The easiest way to contact us is by emailing us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Our People page, in the About Us section, contains email links to each of the committee members.