link :

Welcome Gary (albeit to the other edge of our continent) - are you visiting just the West, or the Eastern seaboard also?

Unless we disqualify the winner of the previous comp (and I am not advocating that for a moment!), then what is to prevent that person's image being selected on merit?

And to attack a relatively new member, who in addition did a creditable job with the judging in my view, is unwarranted.

Well done Nathan, David and Alun.

Thanks Sam-Joseph and Archie - it wouldn't be the first time I've seen a wedgie's undercarriage from below either - they used to check us out closely when sharing 'their' thermals flying a sailpane. Sometimes they'd share - and sometimes they wouldn't. In the latter case, discretion was the better part of valour... Even smaller birds than these make one hell of a mess of a canopy if there's a mid-air. Your 60 knots plus theirs about the same, equals a closing rate of around two miles a minute...

David - cheers, Mike - if they'd have just been drops, it would have been good!

Don - Johanna is on the west coast of Victoria, only about 100 k's east of the 12 Apostles rock formations. Johanna beach is the backup beach for Bells, where they hold the world surfing titles.

Lens-wise, it's nice to dream - but I'm doing really well with what I've got now. I don't specialise in avian pics, so the 135 will do me.

The even numbered ones would be my pick of these 6 Doc. Really like the petrol tank too.

Good work Phil - this is how I would have liked to have seen the eagle! Alas not

One of the 'fun' things I did at Johanna on our recent trip, was to get soaked in an attempt to stalk a wedgetailed eagle sitting on a fence post on the far side of a hill in a cowpaddock. The hill had been oversown with oats, the pasture was over a foot high, and it had just rained. SO - let's grab the K10 and the longest lens I have (50-135) - they're both water resistant!

Crawl, squelsh, crawl... pop head out of wet grass near crest of hill...

SPRUNG! Blighter saw me coming a mile off. They don't get to a 6 foot wingspan for nothing.
[IMG]http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy9/i_berg/Johanna%20Valley%20in%20Winter/_IGP6613-5R.jpg[/IMG]

Radio traffic: " Johanna Tower, Wedgie 1, request clearance Rwy 36 for immediate departure, copied Charlie"...
(Charlie would normally be one of the codes for the current aerodrome weather forecast - on this occasion the Charlie was the bloke who was going to walk home in wet clothes and footwear to dry out his camera.)
[IMG]http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy9/i_berg/Johanna%20Valley%20in%20Winter/_IGP6616-4R.jpg[/IMG]

Bugger it, nothing to lose now, already soaked through, let's stand up a bit out of the wet grass... Pop head up again...
[IMG]http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy9/i_berg/Johanna%20Valley%20in%20Winter/_IGP6617-3R.jpg[/IMG]

Radio traffic: "Wedgie 1, cleared for takeoff Rwy 35, contact departures when airborne on 118.8".
[IMG]http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy9/i_berg/Johanna%20Valley%20in%20Winter/_IGP6618-2R.jpg[/IMG]

Radio Traffic: "Johanna Departures, Wedgie 1 airborne Rwy 36 at time 39, tracking 020 for nearest thermal".
[IMG]http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy9/i_berg/Johanna%20Valley%20in%20Winter/_IGP6619-1R.jpg[/IMG]

Apologies for the quality of the shots - I'll send it a complimentary coupon for a studio sitting next time.

They're a magnificent part of our native fauna in Oz. Love it.

Phil,

On my monitor, these both appear to have a slightly yellow tinge to them? Easily fixed in White Balance though.

A great opportunity to break out the new Beauty Dish (c) (TM) (R) Mk III!