Dingo,Sparrowhawk and camp out

[hotspur]

Had a very quick camp out this week.Have not done for so long.A friendly grazier who has a large property ask me about coming out to help with cleaning up wild dogs/dingos.With the bounty in his shire at $100 per scalp,got me a bit keen.

So headed out set up camp.The owner is a keen wildlife spotter,wanted to see how I went with my photography in his properties.On dusk went to look for dingos/wild dogs-called up one it came right up to me with fangs out,next time I am going to take some else with me to do the shooting so I can do some photography/video when a dog comes charging in.

Next morning up at 4 am went walking and exploring no more dogs,But the owner told me of a rugged gully,that had 'weird' rocks-'as if there had been an inland sea and sand fossilised' he said.Well I found the amazing gully very steep
little mini scrub rainforest.the stones looked like fossilised wood or sand I collected some samples.I made a mental note to bring better tripod camera etc another time.

Got back to camp,and saw a Collared Sparrow Hawk,chasing birds near by,so got the 400L and 50D out.Awful light but great to see him fairly close.I hope these hawk images are of interest.A few image s of camp/gully/and dispatched dog-(the property owner was most pleased)

cheers Chris

Opps BTW the bird the hawk is chasing is a black faced cuckoo shrike

[Derek Klepp]

Very interesting Chris. We have a Collared Sparrowhawk nesting down the road in an old Grey Goshawks nest. The pic of the hawk chasing the blue jay really is a great shot. As for the wild dogs we have the same problem down here . They eat all the old mans prize chooks. Incidentally they look very similar to the one you've got there.
Thanks Derek

[bloodhound31]

Number 1 of the Sparrowhawk is a beaut Chris.

[hotspur]

yes Derek,the dingo's seem to have a bit of German Shepard in them,I did get some the other day that were very close to pure dingo-lots around everywher at present.Hope you get those eating your hens-causing lots of havoc for land owners.

Yes Barry-pleased with that hawk image,the lighting was not at all good,So best I think I could get.I have worked a little bit more with mainly the noise.
Here it is-thoughts and view points welcome.

very hard when birds are in tree with glare behind them,AV setting no good-it just exposes for brightness and end up with black blob,manual seems to be only way to go in these situations,I want to expose his (well its actually a 'she'-larger than male,more aggressive, chest area details,but this means a slower speed,which means may not be as sharp.

Still reasonably happy with this capture,hard to get these hawks to sit still.Planning another trip to this place with the intent to get more images of hawks ( a dingo will be a by catch next time,not main task)

[PCH]

Hi Chris,

not on the topic of pics. But on the subject of the dingo bounty, do you have to rock up somewhere with a truck load of dead dingos to get your fee paid?

Cheers,
Paul