Follow your dreams – FIAP blue badge


I started entering competitions to receive impartial feedback about my images and to be inspired by the images of other entrants. I entered club competitions initially, then nationals and internationals and have been happy to have received awards and to have showcased Australian birdlife locally and around the world. This week I was delighted to have been awarded the coveted FIAP Best Author award at the Maitland International Photography Salon. Fourteen of my images were successful and two received Salon Gold and Salon Bronze in the nature category.

For this post I thought I’d share one of the tiniest birds I photograph along with one of the largest. I wonder how many thornbills could sit side by side on a pelican’s bill – is anyone game to guess?


Alert Thornbill - Kim Wormald
Brown Thornbill
Canon 5DIII, Canon 100-400mm L IS USM, 1/640, f/5.6, ISO 400, focal length 400mm

 

Brown Thornbills weigh 7g and are about 10cm from the tip of their bills to the tip of their tails, which makes me wonder how wide they’d be, which would help answer the pelican-bill question. One of my favourite things about bird photography is being able to examine birds in detail without causing the bird any stress. I examine their eyes, feet and bills, and especially the texture and length of their different feathers. Thornbills are exquisite.

 

 

Australian Pelican - Kim WormaldAustralian Pelican
Canon 7DII, Canon 100-400mm L IS USM, 1/1250, f/8, ISO 400, focal length 275mm

 

Pelicans are lumbering great birds that are easier to photograph than thornbills but still present a challenge when they’re on the move in overcast weather. They often look comical to me, especially the little ‘mohawk’ of feathers at the back of their heads. Pelicans are about 170cm and I’ve just found out, from Birds in Backyards, that their bills are about 40-50cm long.

Before I sign off I’d like to thank everyone who has encouraged me with bird photography, which includes lirralirra visitors, your support is much appreciated . Bird photography can be challenging, I can spend hours walking around or sitting patiently and not get a single decent shot, but at other times I can be surrounded by feathered beauty and return home with full memory cards. Even after discouraging days my love of birds keeps me wandering around outside, pressing the shutter button and unwillingly feeding the mossies and March flies as I strive to improve my images and share my love of nature.

Happy birding and follow your dreams, Kim

 

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