Gorgeous Geese

I’m very fond of Cape Barren Geese and this close-up is one of my favourite portraits of this remarkable species.

Dry grass is pretty desperate pickings for a grazing species but they seem to cope well on it and it makes for a softly coloured background. This bird’s red eye, bright cere and white cap show that it’s an adult. I like the tiny feathers of its face and neck.

They are one of the world’s rarest goose species. They were threatened by extinction a few decades ago but thanks to a successful conservation strategy they are now thriving on Phillip Island and sadly, are now being threatened with culling as they are considered (by some) to be a pest species.

I don’t often put my bird photographs into monochrome but sometimes I play around with the idea. In this shot I like the texture of the dry grasses and the dark background. I’ll share the colour image too, maybe the colour shot is better…

Although I like the warmth of the grasses in the shot above, and I like the colour of the sea as the background, I feel that the colours of the goose itself don’t suit that palette.

This week’s post is a little late, sorry about that. I’ve been busy in the garden cutting back the Angel’s Fishing Rods and collecting some seeds. I worked on it today and yesterday and am only a fraction of the way through. It’s going to be a very long job but it’s great to be outside listening to the birds as I work.

Take care out there, happy birding, Kim

NB I’ll answer last week’s comments when I can and I’ll rescue new comments from spam

~ Facebook page Kim Wormald – lirralirra
~ Facebook group  Ethical Bird Photography