Whether it's a sleek peregrine falcon with neatly stowed talons zooming over a quarry near Yass or a nankeen night heron swallowing an Oriental weather loach, photographer Geoffrey Dabb is in the right place at the right time to capture the action.
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Photographing birds around the world since his teens, Mr Dabb is now retired and still can't bring himself to whittle down thousands of pictures, in case someone needs one.
A researcher writing about crested pigeons warning other birds with their whistling wings, an academic after a flirty female fairy and Birds Australia's main scientific publication Emu are among many who have plundered his extensive collection.
When his laptop was stolen a few years ago it was not the lost computer which stung the most. A year's worth of work not backed up was gone.
He said the digital era had made photography easier so the quest to capture the unusual had intensified.
Chasing superb parrots near Hawker College, Mr Dabb encountered one covered in red dots.
''It was quite striking and [Canberra Ornithologists Group president] Chris Davey became quite excited about it because he thought if people recorded sitings of this bird, we'd get an idea of its movements.''
The recent long-term drought devastated insect life and consequently woodland birds which feed on them.
''In Campbell Park and Callum Brae Woodland and other spots, I think there are less numbers and less variety now than there were six or seven years ago. The drought has done that, that's the main [change].''
