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This is a Black-shouldered Kite

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Black Kite

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Whistling Kite

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Lance B said:
Thanks very much for your lovely comments, Karen. Much appreciated!
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;) I am REALLY trying to convince my better half to plan a 3 week or so trip to Australia! Rent a car, drive around, shoot birds.....MAYBE see early rounds of the Australian Open.......etc. He wants to spend all the time in NZ....and has been there before. I think all he knows about Australia is Bondi Beach from an R&R visit when he was in the military! LOL!
 
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We are fortunate to have white-tailed kites nest in our neighborhood, though it is high up and hard to get pictures of the nest. They used to be called black-shouldered kites and to a non-birder like me, look just like the ones that you have in Australia and Africa. However they are quite distinct I am told. Over the years I have taken 100s of photos of our neighborhood kites but my favorites are the in air transfers. Papa brings back food to the mom on the nest and occasionally they do an in air transfer. Also when the chicks can fly papa or mama will pass food to a chick in the air. Below is one such shot:

https://flic.kr/p/2nvWyAs
 
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Butlerkid said:
;) I am REALLY trying to convince my better half to plan a 3 week or so trip to Australia! Rent a car, drive around, shoot birds.....MAYBE see early rounds of the Australian Open.......etc. He wants to spend all the time in NZ....and has been there before. I think all he knows about Australia is Bondi Beach from an R&R visit when he was in the military! LOL!
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Well, there is no doubt that New Zealand is a spectacular place, even I really want to go back. :) I think you just need to come down our way and spend more time, some in NZ and some here. The trouble is, Australia is basically the same size as the continental US and that is, it is BIG! and you have to narrow down what you want to specifically see.

If you want to see the Great Barrier Reef, which is stunningly beautiful, then you need to spend most of a week in North Queensland and do sight seeing up that way - there is LOTS to see. If you go on the wet season, there are migratory kingfishers near Cairns etc, even a lodge where they specialise in them. The Whitsundays are gorgeous.

Brisbane and the south east corner of Queensland has the Gold Coast and you can drive up to the Sunshine Coast all beautiful scenery as is the hinterland behind all of this coast line.

If you want to see the Outback, then you need to spend at least a week at Uluru (Ayers Rock), the Kata Tjuta (The Olgas)), Kings Canyon and The Macdonell Ranges. Maybe slip up to Darwin as well.

There is also Western Australia and the stunning Kimberlly's, the Spring Time Wildflowers, and then south of Perth to Margaret River just to name a few.

Melbourne and much of Victoria is beautiful, go to the Great Ocean Road and much more.

Tasmania anywhere there is spectacularly beautiful, - visit Bruny Island to see many rare birds.

New South Wales, my state, there is plenty to see. If you come to Sydney, I can show you around "my neck of the woods". :)

The thing to remember, it is about 3-4 hours to fly from east coast to west coast and visa versa. It is about 3 hours to fly from Sydney to Cairns in far North Queensland. It is an hour's flight from Sydney to Melbourne and an hour's flight from Sydney to Brisbane. As you can see, just to get around can take days out of your itinerary. I suggest you concentrate more on an area that can easily be driven or flown to in less than a day and then spend more time there and do day trips or whatever. As you are a seasoned traveler, trying to see too much in a short time means you get to see less, if you know what I mean. I would do say Queensland or the east coast one trip, do the Outback and Darwin another trip and do Western Australia another trip. Just a thought.

As for New Zealand, I think the South Island is my pick, but it is just spectacular in most places and like Australia, there are many places where there are very few people, in that once out of the cities, there are way less people about unlike there is in most other parts of the world. In many places in New Zealand and Australia where you may be the only people for miles and the solitude is amazing. :)

A few places mentioned above where I have been:
The Outback, Central Australia:
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Central Australia - 2019 by Lance B

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The Great Ocean Road, a quick trip whilst on business!:
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Great Ocean Road - Victoria 2014 by Lance B

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Perth Western Australia and south of Perth. A bit of a limited trip but some shots here:
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Western Australia 2020 by Lance B

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My trip to the South Island in New Zealand:
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New Zealand 2019 by Lance B

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There are many other places I have been but when I was young without money and those photos are print or slides and many times when our children were young but didn't have the money or time for photos of scenery!
 
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Member's gallery
ricardo00 said:
We are fortunate to have white-tailed kites nest in our neighborhood, though it is high up and hard to get pictures of the nest. They used to be called black-shouldered kites and to a non-birder like me, look just like the ones that you have in Australia and Africa. However they are quite distinct I am told. Over the years I have taken 100s of photos of our neighborhood kites but my favorites are the in air transfers. Papa brings back food to the mom on the nest and occasionally they do an in air transfer. Also when the chicks can fly papa or mama will pass food to a chick in the air. Below is one such shot:

https://flic.kr/p/2nvWyAs
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Thats excellent. I didn't know about the air transfers !
 
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Here are two Swallow-tailed Kites taken on Sanibel Island, FL and one Snail Kite taken at Harns Marsh in Lehigh Acres, FL. The Snail Kite image was taken in morning fog and the image quality suffers a bit from that.
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Jim L said:
Here are two Swallow-tailed Kites taken on Sanibel Island, FL and one Snail Kite taken at Harns Marsh in Lehigh Acres, FL. The Snail Kite image was taken in morning fog and the image quality suffers a bit from that.
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These are beautiful - one can't deny how many beautiful birds on this planet are available to us to shoot.
 
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