I am processing a backlog of photos and I came across this one from a morning in January when I was photographing on the sandflats at Narooma at low tide. There was not much water at all, and I had walked far out along the exposed sand to the oyster leases. I was enjoying photographing the Crested Terns that congregate on the exposed oyster farm lines, as well as the Australian Pelicans that rest on the sand at the edge of the water. While I was photographing those birds, I heard a lot of commotion in the sky behind me. Knowing that birds calling in alarm normally means a larger creature I turned around to see a pair of White-bellied Sea-eagles (Haliaeetus leucogaster) flying relatively low over the sandflats with seagulls, some terns and a few other birds mobbing them while calling warnings. The eagles were also calling out, although the eagles appeared to be unperturbed by the attention. Both birds continued to fly on their own path rather than be put-off by the smaller birds in the air around them. They flew across to the other side of the inlet where one landed in a tree and the other on an oyster farm sign that was standing upright in the water. It was a beautiful sight as those two birds flew over me. Their large wing span and simple colouration making identification so easy. It was no surprise why the other birds were calling in alarm because while these eagles primarily eat sea creatures like fish, they will also take animals and birds, even up to the size of a swan. They will also harass other birds that are carrying prey, forcing them to drop it, so that the eagle can pick it up. These are Australia’s second largest bird of prey and Narooma is fortunate to have this pair residing permanently around the inlet.

Today is World Parrot Day 2026. A day to help raise awareness about a colourful and intelligent group of birds, the parrots. They bring beauty to our world and many of their members have been recorded as some of the most intelligent birds. This is a male Australian King-parrot (Alisterus scapularis), with its magnificent red plumage, which may be a sign to perspective partners about his suitability and health. They are yet another animal that relies on a hollow in an old-growth tree to breed, and so clearing of the land and other forms of destruction of trees increases competition for the available hollows. So, we aren’t just trying to protect the bird itself, we also have to protect our bush to ensure that hollow breeders continue to have places to nest. Australia is fortunate to have about 56 species of parrots, including the wonderful cockatoos. Hopefully these wonderful birds continue to thrive and Australia can preserve them for future generations to enjoy.

Little Wattlebirds (Anthochaera chrysoptera) are very common around Narooma, and favour the banksia trees near the beaches. They move rapidly through the trees often in small groups. Despite being a wattlebird, it doesn’t actually have any wattles, flaps of skin hanging down from its head, and is the smallest of the wattlebirds. It feeds on nectar as well as insects, and its long tongue is perfect of getting at the nectar within the flower.

Walking along Narooma’s wharf one day, I noticed a couple of Welcome Swallows (Hirundo neoxena) perched on the rail rope of a boat. The birds were not that concerned with people walking past so I took some photos. Later, I noticed them flying around under the wharf so they may have found a good space under there to roost. They would regularly launch to skim above the water, circling around before returning to the wharf.

In April, I looked out a window to our back yard and I saw a Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) sitting on the power wires that run above our back fence. While it was there a Noisy Miner came along to chase it away. Now, I have seen three miners annoy a kookaburra, but a Laughing Kookaburra doesn’t care about a lone miner. Indeed, the miner started squawking at the kookaburra, and received a blank stare. The miner flapped its wings, flew up above the larger bird, and the kookaburra didn’t even flinch. The miner tried again, landing on the other side of the kookaburra, and still no luck. Then the kookaburra noticed something beneath it, and took off. It landed briefly in the crook of a tree, before it pounced heavily to the ground. I wasn’t close, but I heard the impact on to the leaf litter. A moment later the kookaburra was up again, and flew to a nearby fallen branch. In its mouth was a squirming skink, although after a few snaps of the kookaburra’s long beak, the lizard was gone.

This is a lovely walk through some beautiful bush. The trail commences at the Berlang Campground where there is sufficient dirt parking and a drop toilet. There are also national parks fire pits if you were planning on a post walk cooking fire. Near the start there is the obstacle of the Shoalhaven River to cross but when I went through in mid-May 2026 the water was not high, and the unofficial rock and branch walkway was sufficiently clear of the water surface to allow for a relatively dry crossing. Other people have certainly waded across but this should be done carefully if the water level is high because there may be a strong current present.

As part of the photography course that I am undertaking at the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) the teacher organised an optional trip to Sydney so that we could attend parts of Australian Fashion Week (AFW), which was being held at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA). The aim was to expose us to various genres of photography, including fashion runway. We attended AFW on the Thursday and Friday of its week long program, but we seemed to pack a lot into those days. Most of my photography over those two days was very far removed from wildlife photography but the experience was still incredibly useful. I had a chance to use my photography in different lighting conditions, trying to capture subjects moving at different speeds, while also thinking about composition. All conditions very similar to photographing wildlife.

I will be honest, this is not the most exciting picture of a White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae). Indeed, I was almost going to skip it when I was processing my photos but I thought that I would at least process one of the images that I took of the bird. It was only when I started processing the image that I realised how colour coordinated it was. The yellow of the bird matched the yellow boundary paint. The plumage matched the wood’s colour and even the heron’s white face almost matched the wharf’s pylons. In the end, I was happy that I took this photo just because of the way that the colours seem to match. It is a very common bird in Australia, found across most of the country, except in the driest parts. It feeds on small creatures it finds in the shallow water or the exposed shore, and may also raid fish ponds in houses. While it is generally a quiet bird, it does have a honking-like call when disturbed.

There is a large colony of Australian Fur Seals (Arctocephalus pusillus) on Montague Island, about seven kilometres off Narooma. Over the past decades, some of those seals have also taken up residence on the southern breakwater at the entrance to Wagonga Inlet. The southern breakwater gets a lot sun during the day, so the rocks probably give the seals a warm place to rest. Some of those seals have started moving further up the inlet, even to boat ramps where they know they can get the cast-offs from returning anglers.

I never get tired of photographing the beautiful Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus), and I am normally spoilt for choice around Narooma. This species is one of Australia’s largest flying birds, so they are an impressive bird to see up close, especially in the air, with its almost three metre long wingspan. The subtly coloured bill, has been recorded as the largest of any bird in the world. While they are very common around Narooma, they don’t breed there, nor possibly in the general vicinity, with no chicks being recorded at Narooma, only juvenile birds.

The Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) is Australia’s largest cormorant species. While this bird has a preference for freshwater, a number of these birds are very much at home at Narooma. The clear waters of Narooma’s Wagonga Inlet normally have plenty of food for these cormorants and they have also learnt to hang around boat ramps for anglers cleaning their catches. These birds will wait until people are at the cleaning tables located near the boat ramps before they start arriving. Once the cormorants observe people cleaning fish they start congregating, along with other birds, stingrays and, at some boat ramps, seals. Great Cormorants are predominantly black but with a light coloured face and yellow markings, and a sapphire-green eye that sparkles when it catches the sunlight. I really love it when I take a photo and the beautiful green eye is shining strongly.

I was very fortunate that on the first day of April, ACT Wildlife again organised for me to photograph another one of their amazing carers, Corin Pennock (Corinmp on Instagram), who is also the possum coordinator for ACT Wildlife. It was a great opportunity to photograph her, and the wildlife that she was looking after, and she was so generous with her time. She even took me to show me where some amazing fungi were emerging on her extensive property.

As part of my course at the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT), I had to complete a branding and media shoot with a local business. For this assessment, I decided that I wanted to find a company that was working with nature, and I was very fortunate that the the company I came across was Capital Ecology. After reaching out to them, Rob, one of the directors, organised so that in late March I had an amazing opportunity to photograph the company at work and to get to know some of the team. It was such a valuable and interesting experience to meet such diligent and wonderful people who have so much knowledge about the natural environment.

Sunday, 22 March is International Seal Day. A day to raise awareness of the importance of protecting seals and their environments. The need for this awareness is readily apparent every time I visit Narooma. The fur seals there are an integral part of the locality, and it would be impossible to think of Narooma without seals. Tourists come to Narooma just to swim with seals at Montague Island on the authorised tourist excursions to the island, which is seven kilometres off-shore from the town. Meanwhile, at the entrance to the inlet, there are always people with phone cameras in hand delighting in being able to see wild seals close up on the southern breakwater. In addition, around the inlet itself, at the various boat ramps with fish-washing spots, seals have learnt that they can get a free feed from returning anglers, so individual seals will often appear when they see a boat around. Indeed, at the North Bar Beach boat ramp there are often seals that lounge around on the grass or the jetty, enjoying the warmth while waiting for boats. They are completely wild but tolerant of humans moving around them, and that is one of them in the photo accompanying this. The joy on people’s faces when they see a seal close up is unmistakable. It is also not uncommon for seals to swim inside the netted enclosure at North Bar Beach, normally when there are not too many people around. It is a tribute to the local community that the seals feel safe at Narooma around humans because it adds a dimension to Narooma that other towns along the South Coast of NSW don’t have without a resident seal colony. Unfortunately, seals are not safe everywhere, even in Australia, where the commercial salmon farms in Tasmania have killed seals that were naturally trying to have an easy meal by eating penned-up salmon. Hopefully, seals will continue to prosper in the waters around Australia and future generations will be able to enjoy close encounters with these wonderful animals.

I hadn’t been to Callum Brae Nature Reserve for a while but that Sunday morning in mid-March was just so nice that I had to get out photographing. I like Callum Brae because it is less than 10 minutes drive from my house but there are no houses around it, so it is normally very quiet. I always seem to find something to take my interest and that morning I found a Grey Butcherbird that let me approach reasonably close. It had just eaten a juicy dragonfly and was probably searching for its next meal. My Mum really loves this species because she would often hear its call in the backyard, which she always found relaxing. Just that memory means this bird always has a special place for me. I hope that you like the photos below.

Steph Skinner is a Canberra-based gravel cyclist who has only been riding since 2019 but has already completed the Hunt 1000 from Melbourne to Canberra and the 4300km Tour Divide in the US. This year she is training for the legendary 1900km Silk Road Mountain Race in Kyrgyzstan that has over 30 000m of climbing. They are impressive achievements for someone who only started cycling in 2019 for the daily commute to avoid paying for parking. I felt very fortunate that she agreed to let me take a series of environmental portrait shots of her.

ACT Wildlife is an organisation that looks after sick, injured and orphaned wildlife. I had an opportunity to meet some of their wonderful volunteers last year when I was doing an assignment for my photography course at CIT. I had to take off-camera flash portraits of people, and I wanted to try to incorporate wildlife into the assignment. One of the groups that bent over backwards to help me was ACT Wildlife. They were very busy at that time of year with orphaned baby wildlife but a number of their incredible volunteers literally opened their homes to help me out. Meeting the volunteers was a wonderful and eye-opening experience. A number of the volunteers had created significant pens and other enclosures in their backyards for the recovering wildlife. It is not easy building a tunnel system that will keep wombats in your backyard. 

The Emus of Potato Point are local celebrities, even if they are imported celebrities. They are actually from Western Australia and were brought to the region by the late Trevor Kennedy, a Sydney business identity who, along with his wife, owned Horse Island, which is located in the Tuross River estuary, and has a stunning mansion on it. Unfortunately for him, his prized garden pets soon realised that they could easily swim across the shallow water surrounding the island and made it to Potato Point where they are thriving. Only at the start of February, I was reminded of the Emus and so in mid-February I went to try to find them, with the intent to take some photos of these famous birds. I hope that you like the photographs below.

The start of 2026 seemed like a good time to review my portfolio. The selection is heavy with Australian Pelicans, which probably shows my fascination for this bird. Creating this portfolio brought back a lot of good memories. One image goes back to 2021, and is still one of my favourites, while most of the others are from 2025 and even January this year. After assembling the selection, I noticed that I took the majority of the shots around Narooma and the south coast of NSW. I also realised that the majority also feature water, or were taken near the water, which probably reflects where I have spent most of my time photographing.

In early January, I was on the sandflats at Narooma at low tide one morning. I had been having a wonderful start to the day photographing birds, as well as a number of other creatures. I had already photographed a group of Australia Pelicans (Pelecanus conspicillatus) that were standing at the edge of the sandflats near the boating channel preening themselves. Sometime later, I was walking back to the shore when two national parks' helicopters took off from the north side of the inlet - I think that they were monitoring the bush fires much further inland. The noise of the helicopters disturbed the group of pelicans, which then started to launch into the air. The birds were just trying to get away from the noise of the ascending helicopters so the pelicans were flying low, almost skimming across the inlet. They were backlit by the rising sun, giving them almost a rim light effect, while also lighting their wings and bills. Because of how low they were, there was also a lovely reflection on the shallow water of the ebbing tide that was still barely covering the sandflats.