Sacred Kingfishers at Sunrise - Bremer Bay, WA
Beyond the Photo
“Beyond the Photo” is a blog series where I look back on some of my favorite photos and describe the stories behind them and what makes them meaningful to me.
Sacred Kingfishers - Sony a6400 & Sigma 100-400
Focal Length 100mm // 1/3200 sec // f8.0 // ISO 640
This is one of my favourite photos that I’ve taken since picking up photography. Not only was this pair of birds a new species for me but it was also an epic sunrise at a beautiful location. Recently, my partner and I chose this photo to print large and frame on the wall of our new apartment which had me reflecting on this image. For those interested, I always order prints (and calendars, etc) from Poster Jack which are printed in Canada and shipped directly to your door.
This photo was taken early one morning in Bremer Bay, a very small town off the South-West coast of Australia. At this location, the Devil Creek flows into the Southern Ocean, forming the Wellstead Estuary just inland of the sand dunes at Bremer Beach (see map below).
I was in the process of touring around the SW corner of Australia and was camping the night before in the Bremer Bay Caravan Park just across the road from the estuary. I quickly learned on this trip that once you get into bird photography, it’s nearly impossible to resist the urge of getting up at the crack of dawn when camping given how clearly you can hear all of the intriguing sounds and morning activity of the nearby birds through your tent. No alarm clock or flat white could have me as excited to jump out of bed at 5 in the morning as the sounds of potential lifers.
I quickly got ready and headed across the road onto the Paperbark trail and slowly walked up and down the edges of the estuary. I was treated by one of the most gorgeous sunrises I’ve ever seen. Having arrived late the night before, this was my first time really seeing Bremer Bay in all its glory.
White-faced Heron - Sony a6400 & Sigma 100-400
Focal Length 400mm // 1/160 sec // f6.3 // ISO 640
My first sighting of the morning was a White-faced Heron (above photo), a bird I had become familiar with during my time in Australia as they enjoyed hanging out along the Swan River in Perth close to where I lived. I loved how the pink sky from the sunrise in this photo was reflecting off the perfectly calm water of the estuary under the heron as he hunted for his breakfast.
Following this, I spent some time walking without much action. I was enjoying just soaking in the views of the sunrise until I saw an acrobatic bird whipping down and up from a tree, diving into the perfectly calm water in a smaller side pool of the estuary. I cranked up my shutter speed to 1/3200 sec to try and freeze the action and very slowly got myself hidden behind a bush to not scare the bird.
Sacred Kingfisher - Sony a6400 & Sigma 100-400
Focal Length 105mm // 1/3200 sec // f8.0 // ISO 800
Given its large beak and shape, I first thought this was a Laughing Kookaburra - a bird I had become quite familiar with seeing while out taking photos. I then noticed that this bird was very much diving into the water and catching fish - something I didn’t think Kookaburras did. Because of this, I realized it must have been some kind of kingfisher and only identified it afterwards as a Sacred Kingfisher with the help of iNaturalist.
After watching it for some time and slowly getting closer, I spotted the tree that it was fishing from and noticed that there was a second kingfisher accompanying the one I had been watching.
Sacred Kingfishers - Sony a6400 & Sigma 100-400
Focal Length 144mm // 1/200 sec // f8.0 // ISO 100
I watched these birds for quite some time while the sun was coming up - trying to get shots of them in flight which eventually led to the photo at the beginning of this blog that I had printed. I was kneeling in a bush with my hoodie over my head to try and help cut down my silhouette to help me blend in more. They didn’t seem to notice me or at least care much that I was nearby which led me to eventually sneaking slightly closer to try and get some more close up shots.
Sacred Kingfishers - Sony a6400 & Sigma 100-400
Focal Length 319mm // 1/200 sec // f8.0 // ISO 160
Sacred Kingfishers - Sony a6400 & Sigma 100-400
Focal Length 189mm // 1/200 sec // f8.0 // ISO 250
Sacred Kingfishers - Sony a6400 & Sigma 100-400
Focal Length 400mm // 1/1000 sec // f8.0 // ISO 250
This was a great morning that I’m always brought back to when I look at our new print on the living room wall. Later on this same day I managed to get onto a ship for the crew’s last whale watching tour of the season - an epic experience as well despite getting very sea sick but that’s a story for another day!
Thank you for reading!
