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Friday 27 January 2012

JJ Harrison: Birds of Tasmania and Queensland

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Scarlet Robin (Petroica boodang), Meehan Range,
Tasmania, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 13 February 2009


JJ Harrison is a remarkable nature photographer from Hobart, Tasmania.

"Scarlet Robins are not too difficult to spot if you look in the right places. It is another matter to get within a few meters of a wild bird for a high quality photograph. In this instance I’d spotted this bird previously in the Meehan Range. I knew the species was sedentary and territorial so I was able to return to the same location a few times until I got a photo I was happy with. I waited patiently near a perch where I had seen it before with the sun to my back. When it arrived I took a few photos before it left again. I believe the camera was hand-held. I used fill flash with a home made version of the better beamer to even out the shadows created by the sun."




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Red Oystercatchers (Haematopus longirostris), Austin's Ferry, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 21 August 2011

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Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus), Lake Dulverton, Oatlands, Tasmania, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 15 December 2011

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Radjah Shelduck (Tadorna radjah), Centenary Lakes, Tasmania, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 30 June 2011

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Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops ornatus), perching on a drinking fountain at Centenary Lakes, Tasmania, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 30 June 2011

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Bush Stone-curlew (Burhinus grallarius)
, Centenary Lakes, Tasmania, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 30 June 2011

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Straw-necked Ibis (Threskiornis spinicollis), Centenary Lakes, Tasmania, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 30 June 2011

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Yellow-throated Honeyeater (Lichenostomus flavicollis), stealing a hair from a Tasmanian Pademelon (Thylogale billardierae) for nesting material, Melaleuca, Southwest Conservation Area, Tasmania, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 12 November 2011

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Olive Whistler (Pachycephala olivacea), Melaleuca, Southwest Conservation Area, Tasmania, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 13 November 2011

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Tasmanian Scrubwren (Sericornis humilis), Melaleuca, Southwest Conservation Area, Tasmania, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 12 November 2011

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Beautiful Firetail (Stagonopleura bella), male, Melaleuca, Southwest Conservation Area, Tasmania, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 13 November 2011

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Beautiful Firetail (Stagonopleura bella), female, Melaleuca, Southwest Conservation Area, Tasmania, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 13 November 2011

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Orange-bellied Parrot (Neophema chysogaster), male, Melaleuca, Southwest Conservation Area, Tasmania, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 11 November 2011

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Azure Kingfisher (Alcedo azurea ruficollaris), Julatten, Queensland, Australia
: photo by JJ Harrison, 3 July 2011

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Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis), Risdon Brook Park, Tasmania,
Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 28 August 2011

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Spotted Pardalote (
Pardalotus punctatus), male with nesting material, Risdon Brook Park, Tasmania, Australia
: photo by JJ Harrison, 27 August 2011

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Spotted Pardalote (
Pardalotus punctatus), female with nesting material, Risdon Brook Park, Tasmania, Australia
: photo by JJ Harrison, 27 August 2011

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Striated Pardalote (
Pardalotus striatus), Risdon Brook Park, Tasmania, Australia
: photo by JJ Harrison, 28 August 2011

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Pale-yellow Robin
(Tregellasia capito), Julatten, Queensland, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 4 July 2011

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Grey-headed Robin
(Heteromyias cinereifrons), Julatten, Queensland, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 5 July 2011

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Dusky Honeyeater (Myzomela obscura), Daintree Village,
Queensland, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 30 June 2011

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Yellow-spotted Honeyeater (
Meliphaga notata), Daintree Village,
Queensland, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 2 July 2011

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Striated Heron (
Butorides striatus), Daintree Village,
Queensland, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 2 July 2011

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Fairy Tern (
Sterna nereis), Little Swanport,
Tasmania,
Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 28 December 2011

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Double-banded Plover (Charadrius bicinctus), breeding plumage, Ralph's Bay
, Lauderdale,
Tasmania, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 30 July 2011

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Hooded Plover (
Thinornis rubricollis rubricollis), Prosser River Spit, Orford,
Tasmania,
Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 28 December 2011

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Mangrove Robin (Peneoenanthe pulverenta), Cairns Esplanade
, Cairns, Queensland, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 29 June 2011

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Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exultans), East of the Tasman Peninsula,
Tasmania, Australia: photo by JJ Harrison, 18 September 2011

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

so many differences in the glance of the birds...it is as if they had a soul!

Nin Andrews said...

Beautiful. I could stare at even the most ordinary bird for hours.
And yes, it is another matter to get within a few meters of birds!
So beautiful.

TC said...

Sandra,

A soul, yes! (It shows in the eyes.)


Nin,

What wonders to contemplate...

One of JJ Harrison's several unusual skills is his ability to get up close, be very very quiet... and wait... and wait.

Tasmania and its surrounding islands are home to some 262 bird species, many rare and endangered, many protected as endemic species.

One begins to get a grasp of this, looking at this bird's eye view.

TC said...

And for a bit of "live" birding: a cameo appearance by a Spotted Pardalote.

STEPHEN RATCLIFFE said...

Tom,

"Jj Harrison: Birds of Tasmania and Queensland" -- what beautiful birds, what great photos! JJ not only knows his birds by name, he knows how to catch them in what appears to be a moment of time that is going on and on even now, here. . . . Meanwhile, here, we saw a belted kingfisher on the telephone wire above the lagoon on the way over to Stinson (Johnny's school) this morning, one or two almost always up there these winter days (not quite like that beautiful Azure Kingfisher JJ found on 3 July 2011. . .

1.27

first grey light in sky above blackness
of ridge, silver of planet above branch
in foreground, sound of wave in channel

objects transparent in this,
color especially blue

feels shut out, so far from
recognized, no longer

grey white clouds against top of ridge,
wingspan of gull flapping toward point

TC said...

a moment of time that is going on and on...

and will that flapping gull ever reach the point, in it?

(Here today we have no kingfishers, alas, merely some extremely startled crows squawking furiously against the noisy jackhammering on the freeway feeder, a massive construction boondoggle, putting in suicidal "disabled access" routes to lure unsuspecting wheelchair riders into the frenzied traffic mayhem!)

Susan Kay Anderson said...

Oh no, it sounds like where I was in the hospital a few years ago in Seattle and they were tearing up a parking lot and cutting down some poplars. I looked out the window and had bonded with those trees in a short time and then they were gone one morning. I felt myself grow older and older the longer I stayed there looking out the window watching the changes to the parking lot. I guess it helps to look away and search for beauty-- for renewal like this here today. The birds--to concentrate on them for a bit is a nice rest.

TC said...

Susan,

It's exactly like that, and I feel exactly the same way.

ACravan said...

The birds must love this man (if JJ Harrison is in fact a man). Curtis

TC said...

Curtis,

Bird-friendly, modest, and extremely generous with the work...which, as you (and Jane) may recall, has appeared here in the past under the user-name Noodle Snacks.

(That's JJ on a picture-taking expedition in Thailand.)

ACravan said...

JJ's really, really something. Curtis

Unknown said...

By the way, Centenary Lakes is in Queensland, not Tasmania - those are tropical birds!

Simon Grove