As we have mentioned in other forums, Clif2, Karlbob and I had a great day a few weeks ago getting out at dawn for a 'serious" birdwatching day. Well ...... it turns out that when you get a few people together who have a keen sense of humour and a desire for home comforts then it can make for a very amusing day 
First priority for us was to be up at dawn .... almost a fail for some lol.... not mentioning any names here ...... and to take enough coffee to survive the trip ( naturally) plus a few yummy treats.
So we arrived at lake MacDonald to see the most beautiful sunrise and take in the sights before breakfast. Karlbob nearly tripped on a Whipbird while looking for the loos....no pics 
We set out for the edges of the lake .... stealthily making our way around the water's edge ( read laughing ourselves silly here) and wondered why there were precious few birds to be seen. After catching the pelican and a few water birds I was amazed to catch a view of a Buff banded rail that did not just take in the tail feathers
NOt so lucky with what I thought was a series of superb shots of an olive backed Oriole ,,, I am getting a name with some friends for getting this style of shot 
After finding the spectacular Wompoo fruit Doves, we decided that we had been serious enough so we retired back to the BBQ area for our yummo packed breakfast of croissants and coffee
The sun was getting a lot higher by this stage and after scoffing our goodies we followed Clif2's advice and drove around to where the birdhide is around the end of the lake. The signs said to watch out for Jabiru and other intersting things so we set off own the path to seek out the bird hide and do some serious birding 
As we headed off down the trail .... there was a problem .... hmmm our path was blocked .......
You want to go where????????? .... ROTFL .,. it was such a comedy with this Mexican standoff!!! Now someone, who shall remain nameless was all for legging it over the nearest fence cos they looked too scarey 
But we decided there was safety in numbers and we had to get past so onwards we went and ...
we scared the pants of them lol
Maybe you had to be there... but it was very funny at the time and we were almost rolling on the path laughing at ourselves.
So on we went to the birdhide and being such serious birders we were very quiet 
and watched patiently. well...actually we got so engrossed in trying to get signals from our telcos on our various mobile phones that we totally lost the plot after this fellow ........
finally left his distant perch across the lake and made a beeline for our hut. With our noses in our phones it was only when Karlbob yelled out oh @*$# here he comes that we tried to get our lenses together for the wonderful shot that would have been . Both Clif2 and I had been playing with Tele converters and neither of us could get or lenses to focus or work at all and we were so busy cursing swearing and laughing all at the same time that I didnt even make it out of the birdhide till he was well gone 
I would like to say that this was as silly as our day became but there was more to come .....
We decided that we had earned some more snacks so back we went and had another gourmet spread...doing it tough as you do when you are out in the bush 
So we relaxed and enjoyed our treats when we discovered we had made a new friend.....
Meet birdo ... our newly acquired Seeing Bird dog!!! She attached herself to us for lunch and then she just stayed.... for the rest of our time there. I think she lived just up the road and took her job very seriously!!!! SHe had adopted us and decided that she would be our guide dog for the rest of or visit. As we sat there eating and drinking and resting, a new rather serious birder rocked up and politely asked us if we had seen any Cotton Pygmy Geese .... er ...no we replied ...thinking to ourselves that we hadnt really seen anything much at all!!!
So off trotted our newest visitor down to the bird hide area. About 20 minutes later he returned , casually mentioning ...gee that Jabiru is a good find huh? 
You have never seen three people pack up their gear and get out onto a track faster !!!!
Unfortunately our seeing eye dog took this as a sign that we needed her help...... this was the rather comical result....
"Come on ..hurry up I'll show you the way !!"
I found some birds for ya!!!!
Oh crap this is a bit deeper than i thought.....nearly there though
Nearly there..... what do you call this one??? I'll get him for you
Uh oh ....there he goes
Holy crap... is that a Jabiru? ... hey guys...look what I found for you 
NOw I will just sit here and keep an eye on him so you dont miss him
And so it went on ..... I think you get the picture, If it was not such an absurd comedy of errors...we would have been cross, but with the help of lots of cussing and good humour.... we had a great time ...even with the help of our seeing eye dog
Thanks for reading , hope you found it amusing as we sure did
Cheers
Birdie
ROFL Birdie, so well told too and great photos ... of the bird(dog) and cattle (no egret). hehe Thanks for sharing this!
Alison
~~~~~~
"the earth is not only for humans, but for all animals and living things."
Well, I got a good laugh out of that story. The biggest thing is, you all had fun!
In the first pic, the Buff banded rail, there is a B&W bird hiding in the grass. A magpie?
Karen
Brisbane southside.
Well Adrienne, what can I say you are a natural story teller and the strange thing is it is all the truth. How did we manage to get any photos that day is beyond me. That wouldn't have been me you were referring to about jumping the fence because of the cattle was it, because I am sure it was Karl! as I didn't want to get any pecious body parts caught up on the barbed wire on the adrenalin fuelled hurdle. Thank God we had a sensible Woman with us who saved at least me anyway from an embarrassing trip to the "stitch it back on section" of the Hospital. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore would have had difficulty saying that many swear words in a sentence when the WBSE flew off. My WBSE photos are no better than yours Adrienne and I only have 40mm more reach than you had with my lens anyway. You have depicted the day with a good pictorial view as well, I have had a really good laugh over this, so thanks for that and next time I am up that way I will let you know so that we can continue this farsical story.
Regards
Shane
Ha ha .... thanks Karen and Alison, glad you enjoyed our tale
Shane .... it is funny that you agree with me that this is an accurate description of our activities that day .... he he he
It really was like that and I found I had such an enjoyable day out it was like having taken a long weekend away somewhere
I reckon that Sea eagle is still blushing at what he heard from the bird hide that day ...... and I thought fishing tales were the far fetched lol
Any time you are up here again .... we will definitely do it again
Or conversely ..... would love to see different areas down your way
Cheersw
Adrienne
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Very funny, I'm staying out of the Brahmin/Brahford discussion.. Glad you didn't mention the car fiasco -_-
Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
Oh how silly of me and very remiss ......... after a hasty departure with the guide dog looking for the Jabiru... we returned to find a flat battery on the car after leaving a door open
But with your typical Aussie ingenuity .... a rusty old pair of Jumper Leads finally did the trick !!!!
The perfect end to a perfect day
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Great story and great pics Adrienne. Looks like you all had a great time took loads of pics and will have have great memories of the day for years ot come. Oh not to mention friendship.
So true Cath and Shane, I would encourage any of us to meet up at some time because we already have something in common and all you need is a sense of humour, a camera and a yummy breakfast. Sweet!
Regards
Shane
Yes...absolutely..... I was very cautious at first about meeting anybody from here, but if you do it sensibly and not put yourself at risk when you do not know the person it is quite OK. The first time I did it was with Heva1 ( RIP ) and when we met we both had visions of axe murderers hiding in the bushes lol We met on a public street and with her male cousin standing by to check out I was who I said I was ....had a wonderful day and a lasting friendship till she passed away. I would have been poorer for not meeting her that is for sure.
Of course younger members need to take special care, and I once met a young member from here at a beach andn his chaperones were seemingly unaware that he had made the arrangements....don't recommend that method
It is certainly a lot easier now with the personal messaging which is great. Maybe we can organise a local get together one day in Brisbane or up this way Shane as there are a few of us up this way.
Sunshine Coast Queensland
That sounds like a good plan, Adrienne.
I would certainly be interested in doing something like that, probably in a month or so once uni is done and I have my weekends back.
On an off-topic note, I've been out and about doing bird surveys in the local Brisbane bushland as part of one of my uni subjects and it's been really interesting the variety of birds around when you start looking, even in relatively treeless parks.
Saw and heard heaps of striated pardalotes this morning along creeks and riverbanks. It helps that I now know their call very well.
Cheers
Tim
Brisbane
Sounds like you all had fun. I wish I was there myself as I get a little excited about bird watching as well, always laughing at myself when the brain is not in gear. Great story and thanks for sharing .
See it! Hear it!
Mid-North Coast NSW
Well Darin if you ever get up this way...we'd be glad to show you how not go birding when you go birding lol
I am hoping to get back down to the Hunter one day and then meet up with birdgirl2009 so maybe we will catch you there
Timmo , it is definitely something we should do , I am pretty sure Andy would be in it too .
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Sounds like a plan, you can drop in on the way thru and pick us up ( Port Macquarie ) and if you don't like me , dump me on the side of the road at a toilet stop. Iam thick skinned!
See it! Hear it!
Mid-North Coast NSW
Ha ha ha ..... nah.. i'll just do a drive by opn the highway and if you look suss I'll leave you eating my dust
Seriously I have friends I would want to call on in Wauchope so if and when we ever get down that way ....you never know. It won't be in the near future though...... have to save up some funds and get some more energy for a trip that long !
Sunshine Coast Queensland
That would make a good photo of me cover in dust with a dumb look on my face just like one of the cows
See it! Hear it!
Mid-North Coast NSW
Well Adrienne you have started something good here, and I think it would be great to have a gathering of like-minded people and enjoy a good day of fun and discovery. I am not sure how the timing would go as we both like the quiter midweek trips. I will send you a text some time to throw some ideas around.
Regards
Shane
Yes indeed Shane ... it would be great I am sure......
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Hi Adrienne,
that really sounded like a great day out, and seeing the rail is quite special!
Christina
Christina
Yes Christina...it was well worth while, although we were a little irreverend and really serious birders would probably have disassociated themselves from us rather quickly .....
...we were a bit noisy at times!
I think it is important to have fun and a good day out as well as get serious about your hobby!!, plus I can use the other younger and sharper eyes for spotting and IDs he he
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Just seeing this thread now. I've had a very busy week so haven't had much chance to pop in here. Sounds like you had a great time. I do enjoy going out with other photographers and I particularly enjoy early mornings, sunrise, the birds are just getting up and stirring and there's no-one else around. Unfortunately the photography club I belong to prefers to go out at 10am. They're all retired (I'm not) and it seems that early mornings have never been heard of. Although I managed to get them to do a sunrise walk with me at Lysterfield Lake (Victoria) earlier this year. I was still recovering from my broken leg at the time but I got there and we got some awesome golden shots and bird shots.
Kathiemt
Selby, Victoria
Well done on getting those retirees out of bed at a respectable hour, kathiemt!
Yes Kathy, I was recently convinced to be up for the sunrise here too..... normally I would have been pushing up zzzz's at that hour. Since this day I have done a few dawn shoots, but now it is heading into summer it is getting so early here in Qld.
It was a great day out and I look forward to doing something like that again, though I must say that I get a lot of enjoyment just pottering along by myself as I did today for a couple of hours..... stopping where and when I want to
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Yes, I love being by myself too. Being able to notice every sound and movement. But there is something to be said in sharing it also with a group of like-minded people as they come up with different angles, different views, different ideas.
I love doing sunrise walks and have done some on my own as well as with a local friend several times.
Kathiemt
Selby, Victoria