So here's the list so far of all the birds I've identified this year.

Unlike the movie, I don't feel confident enough to identify birds by sound so I'm taking photos of the majority of them.  (things like sparrows and magpies for example I wasn't too worried about, but when it comes to waders that all look almost the same - photos are a must!).

Other members in my family are over the 100 mark already - mind you, they've done some travelling to find specific birds so I don't feel too bad.  With our new little hatchling at home I've been pretty much home bound, but as we work our way up to going for walks, this will soon change.

Okay, so, some of you may have seen the movie 'The Big Year' - it has Jack Black in it, Owen Wilson and Steve Martin.  It's set in the USA so we've decided to do our own right here in Aus.  My family is somewhat competitive so together, we're doing our own Big Year to try and spot as many species as we can starting tomorrow for a whole year.

There are between 760-800 bird species that we can find here in Aus.  There's no set number because there are so many migratory birds that head our way.

Now, we're based in Victoria where you can find over 220 species so... it might be a little ambitious, but I've set my goal.  250 birds is what I want to find in my big year.  Other relitives have slightly higher numbers, but this coming year, some of my family are on long service leave travelling around Aus so they'll have a little more opportunity to find some unique birds.

Anyway, why not try your own big year?  Set a goal, see what you can come up with, let me know how you go.  I'll be posting my progress here and will also be trying to get as many of them photographed as possible.  Let's see how we go!

Wow, has it really been since July my last post?  How slack is that!  I do have a good excuise though... any day now we're expecting our own little hatchling - being pregnant doesn't lend itself to much bird watching I'm afraid as waddling around and needing to go to the loo all the time is not the best.

So, I've been in the back yard and have some good photos.  Here we have some Galahs.  Not too bad since I was taking it through the glass of my screen door - they aren't yet trusting enough to let me come out side.

Anyway, look forward to some good photos next year!  I'll have plenty of time for walking though we will have our own little 'noisy miner' who may be less than helpfull when bird watching... even so, it will just add to

Okay, so here's some art in progress.  I'm not sure if I like this one or if I can save it.  I have a good photo of some Royal Spoonbills from NZ and they're on a cliff made up of rocks and dirt... I'm having issues painting backgrounds more so than the birds themselves.

The rocks I'm not too upset about but if anyone has any advice on how to paint dirt??? You would think dirt wouldn't be too hard - well in that assumption, I was wrong.

The other challenge with this one is that it's twice the size of the other canvas sizes I have been using.

Other birds I have been working on include the rainbow lorikeet that is now on my art page.

Below is some crimson rosellas that I'm working on - background is still an issue, but since it is a fence (and over the fence is the neighbours backyard) I'm trying to make it ias simple as possible!  Again, this is a larger canvas so I still need to work on the finer details of the birds to make them stand out more.  I'm getting there though... one way to relax on a less

Next piece of art to be finished is that of a Whistling Kite.

Let me know what you think.  It took me a while to work out how to make brown out of prime colours only, but I think I got there in the end.

Also managed to touch up the honeyeater which I've posted below.  A little more definition now on the background though not much.  Hopefully it looks better at any rate.

Next I am not sure whether to tackle a Bue-winged Kookaburra or a Black-shouldered Kite.

On the bird watching front, I got excited to see a small finch out the front of our house, red face, bit of white and black... took me a while to realise it was still a European Gold Finch... I guess it just wasn't in full colour yet.  Oh well.

Okay, so I've taken the plunge and I've had a crack at painting some actual art.  So I've so far painted two birds.  Above, the Blue Faced Honeyeater (still waiting for it to dry so will most likely go over this one again) to the left, the Rainbow Bee Eater.

If you look at the photos on the website, you will see the photos I took and have now attempted to change.  So far, things I have discovered - water is hard!  Getting paint to do what you want - hard.  Getting the bird to look like a bird - well, I think I've done okay there.  Any feedback is welcome as I'd love to sell some art to help support my photography hobby.  Looking at other websites, I see pictures priced in the $100s and even in the $1000s and half the time, I honestly just don't get it!  It could be just me though.

Just thought I'd share this one as it is one of my favorite bird photos so far. 

So, went up to Townsville to visit family.  Of course the camera came along and boy, did I get some awesome photos!  (You'll see some of them soon and it makes me wonder, what could I get up to if I had a real wild life lens - any sponsors out there?)

Anyway, I got quite a few of the birds on my all-time want to see / photograph list including the Blue Winged Kookaburra, White Bellied Sea Eagle, Sun Birds and Rainbow Bee Eaters (boy are those suckers quick!).

With the photography kicking along nicely and a major urge to get art and crafty, I'm hoping to have some actual photos available for sale and there will be some attempts at art.  But we'll see how that goes.

An updated bird list will be posted soon but in the meantime, happy hunting!

Finally got some good photos of the whistling kite.  Hooray!

Among other things, we managed to catch photos (some better than others) of the following;

Chestnut Teal, Australasian Grebe, Hoary Headed Grebe, Little Pied Cormorant, Black Cormarant, Pelecans, White Faced heron, Australian White Ibis, Royal Spoonbill, Black Shouldered Kite, Whistling Kite, Spotted harrier, Swamp Harrier, Brown Falcon, Australian Spotted Crake (first time we'd actually seen this one), Purple Swamp Hen, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Pied Oyster Catcher, Red-necked Avocet, Red-capped Plover, Pacific Gull, Silver Gull, Crested Tern, Crested Pigeon, Supurb Fairy-wren, Siriated Fieldwren, Magpie-lark, Willie Wagtail, Australian Magpie, Little Raven, Zebra Finch, Welcome Swallow, Golden-headed Cisticola and Black Swans.

All up, that's not bad - 34 different breads on camera with a few unidentified.

Okay, well, have been pretty busy lately and this weekend was no exception.  No bird watching had been planned, instead, it was my fathers 50th birthday celebration.  Doing the family thing we spent the weekend up in Seymour.

Now, for his birthday, my dad received a brand new set of binos to play with so of course, we went bird watching (can you tell where I picked up this hobby from yet?).  So, out to Mangalore we went, past the pub, over the railway line, down the road, second left and past some farms until we get to some bushland.  The rules?  Can't go home til we've identified 20 species.

Now, we made it, just, so let's see if I can remember what we saw;

Galah, Magpie, Magpie Lark, Australian Shell Duck, Flame Robin, Scarlet Robin (you can tell the difference with the amount of red - Scarlet Robin pictured), Horsfields Cuckoo, Yellow Brested Robin, Pied Currawong, Whistling Kite, Sulpher Crested Cockatoo, Welcome Swallow, Crow, Silvereye, White Plumed Honeyeater, Willy Wag Tail, Wattlebird, Kookaburra... and try as I might, I can't remember the last one!  Oh well, not too bad from memory.