Tag: bird photography

11 Years The Reward.

So I drive somewhere different this morning, and watch the Rabbits,  Brown Hare, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Skylark and Meadow Pipit all starting the new day. I come to a dead end and sit and look over a valley imaginings of Barn Owl, Short Eared Owl flying low looking for food for the young Owlets. I am so appreciated of the beauty of the English countryside.

Hundreds of hours of searching 11 years with just a few sightings and always sitting in a gutter or hiding in a small crevis. This bird has alluded me for 11 years. So I start to drve back to my resting place, windows down camera on my lap. The stone wall runs alongside me on both sides, my eyes are trained to locate anything out of the ordinary.

I stare ahead and whisper the words Little Owl, please stay calm and let me spend some time with you, I bring you no harm my little Owl.

I stopped the car and slowly raise my lens up hoping it won’t fly away. Most encounters end with the Owl flying away before you stop, but this day was mine, the hours of dedication rewarded in a brief moment in time. The right time, place, my heart starts to race as our eyes meet through my viewfinder. I stare at the Owls face its eyes fixed on me.

Hello Blackie.

The sight of this fantastic hunter, amazing ability to adapt and overcome the changing climate. It sits with one foot up showing me its relaxed so I calm down a bit and have time to check my settings, they have to be right so I change my aperture 6.3 to 7.1 up to f8. Then I 5hink of Shutter speed just In case it moves or does something out of the ordinary.

Get this one Blackie

The experience is overwhelming and I forget all what’s going on around me. It preens in the morning sun not bothered about me. My Shutter is blazing away, stopping checking all is OK on my viewfinder. 11 years of waiting they have to be good. Then it decides to stretch.

O that’s nice just getting ready to fly for Blackie.

So I fly for you and sit for you, its your time Blackie it was worth the wait.

So Blackie and the Little Owl meet in the countryside and spend some quiet time together for the first time. 495 images later he decides to leave the Owl in peace, maybe to return for another meeting.

Wonderfulness

Waiting for the Owl

I made boxes for the birds in Goodenbergh Country Park and 3 years ago I made a Barn Owl nest box and placed it in a tree near to my wildlife hide.

The Jacdaw Squirrels and Stock Doves usually get in the box first but I got a really nice surprise when I was just sitting in the Deer hide. The sight of a Tawney Owl flying headfirst at the box and carrying a mouse in for what looks like young.

I can’t wait to see if the family are successful and rear a family for the good of the site. I have only seen your Owls about 5 years ago. Keeping very quiet I sat and watched the male come out of the box and sit there for a good 10 min then it flew into a tree next to me just out of sight.

Song Thrush

The Song Thrush

The beautiful singing Song Thrush came to feed on my feeder with Sunflower on, its something i have not witnessed before as i see them feeding on worms on the ground. Anyway this is a lovely image of it looking up at the feeder above. The long legs and beautiful markings on the breast together with a huge amazing eye just makes it so special and sits in my top 10 list for its song it produces every morning and evening singing for an hour or more at a time, springis here.

Pushing The ISO

For as long as i can remember i have never liked noise in any image, its a bug bare that has spoilt many an image. But always keeping the ISO is very difficult and i thought by now there would be a Camera that could deal with very high ISO without having to worry about Noise a Grainy background that if you mess about with can spoil the image detail. So i got a bit fed up sitting on the river today for 3 hours waiting for the Kingfisher to arrive so i went back to my van and set up my camera at the back of the van.

Not knowing what reuslts i would get gave me some cause for concern so as i took some images of Goldfinch and Greenfinch i never looked at the LCD on the camera. I loaded a few into Adobe Lightroom Mobile on my Samsung Galaxy TAB7+ and was amazed at the image quality with hardly any Noise at all.

So i am very happy and i will play about a bit but what i see has given me a new playground to play in.

It happened.

Bubbles float down the river, Oystercatchers sound frustrated by the Heron flying in to fish, the Female Mllard swims by with her remaing ducklings calling to them all the time to stay close. The sun shines on a new branch i found and looked a great place fot the Kinfisher to land. Foolish was i that i put my extender on my lens and soon as i did the Male came in and landed for a minute or so turning bothe left and right and straight at me. I was ell hidden but i could kick myself, the extender was playing up so my images were all soft meaning the detail goes from the bird. I have to post as its the best encounter i have had with this my second favorate bird.

Male Kingfisher

Wader Reflection

The little wader feeds on the banking near to me, not a care as it finds food in the moss close to the rivers edge. Blackie sits opposite trying to get the settings right so he can get a nice reflection.

Photography from our Static Van

Well after 9 days the little birds are using my new feeders i made when i got here. The Great Spotted Woodpecker, Siskin,Redpoll, Goldfinch, Great Tit Blue Tit Tree Sparrow Chaffinch and Blackbird together with the Robin all feeling safe feeding close to our daily living.

The quality this camera produces is amazing as seen in these images taken today.

Just A Great Photo Day

After getting my first images of the Kingfisher i went back this afternoon to the river and set up in some shrubs near the river bank. I had heard the Dipper flying past fast but i could not see if the bird was carrying any food for the young. I waite ages and just as i was about to move the Dipper landed opposite me on a small rock then flew to another one. Sadly i had used APS-C mode so the resolution is not the best but its a first and more to come.

The Dipper feeds under water catching creatures for the young, its great to watch it dive below the water and swim up stream ctaching things and rising out of the water with it. I will try and film it if i can so people can see how good it is at fishing.

Dipper on the Wenning

Day 9 HIP HIP HURRAY

6 days at the river sitting waiting for birds to come and pose for me, everything i tried failed through my own fault not taking time to prepare and not waiting long enough in one spot. Yes i am 64 and when the odd stone is digging into your hip you start to move. Then the Heron spots me 4 times in 2 days just about to fish on the river.

So i got up and wnet to the river and thought i would wait hours again, but thats what is amazing about wildlife its the luck of the draw. Sitting down next to the tree i have chosen to film the Kingfisher i position my self checked my settings and focused on the branch that the Kingfisher had been sitting on yesterday.

it happened within 5 minutes, a Male Kingfisher with a small fish in its beak. Its a male because the beak is Black top and below where as the female has black on top and Orange below. They must be feeding the young as the fish it was holding was head first so when the baby gets in in the nest in pitch black it swallows it so the scales face backwards so they dont get stuck in the babies throat.

They feed in total darkness and what is unique abou the Kingfisher is that the young rotate round when fed so all the young get the same ammount of fish. They usually have 4 to 5 young and they are fed by both adults catching 100 fish a day to feed the young.

I was no where near the nest and i dont know where it is but if i did it is a protected bird and you cant film anywhere near the nest site. It landed for about 6 secs and flew up river.

Male Kingfisher today
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