In Wollemi National Park we woke up every morning to the sound of male lyrebirds performing their repertoires on the other side of the dam. On our side of the water there was a pair of somewhat elusive young males that hung around together and were sometimes spotted on the paths and in the undergrowth within the campground. I had this photo of them (right) with a beautiful little patch of ferny undergrowth in the background. The photo was taken at Dunn's Swamp in Wollemi Nati

Sometimes things come together perfectly, the bird lands in the right spot with a good active pose so that you can see its face, the background and lighting are great, and you know that you have a photo that you just have to turn into a painting. This was one of those photos. It needed cropping but everything else about it worked. The subject is a male Superb fairy-wren and the photo was taken while we were camping at Cox's Creek in Coolah Tops National Park in central NSW in