Bubbles is leaving us today...

I have had a wonderful few days off work, with a friend (Bubbles) visiting from Hamilton. We have shopped and been swimming and shopped some more and late yesterday we went taking photos.  There weren't a lot of birds about to photograph so I spent most of the time chasing dragonflies (which I failed to capture in an image) and damselflies. One of the best shots of the day was of a waxeye - which is kind of funny because I have so many opportunities to photograph them at home.

 

 

Plimmerton Beach

Plimmerton beach is a spot I often forget to visit with my camera. Yesterday on the way somewhere else with a bit of time to spare we popped in for a quick look around. There on the rocks with the tide half out was a flock of terns sheltering from the wind.  They weren't easy to photograph as pretty much all of them were bunkered down with heads tucked under their wings waiting out the wind. If I had the time I might have managed a few more in flight shots but photography wasn't really the focus of the day so perhaps another time.

Waikanae Estuary

Judging the tides, the weather and the time available to me is not always easy. Yesterday we had the time and the tide, and after so many beautiful days I was hoping for blue skies too but when we arrived at Waikanae it was overcast and cloudy.  Strangely as we left, the clouds broke up and the blue sky was there after all - just a little bit late for me.

The Waikanae Estuary is a great place for bird photography, there are so many different species of bird that you can easily get close to if you are patient and quiet. I took a camp chair and sat and waited for the birds to come to me, and that is exactly what they did. I was hidden in the reeds so not seen as a threat. I will do this again as it worked so well. Comfortable too!

I was especially happy to see the Royal Spoonbills fly in. They are such majestic birds to photograph and it is not always easy to get too close to them. Again, the birds came to me so weren't worried about my being there - it was great! I just wish the clouds weren't about because the water looked so flat and grey.

I noticed that one of the Spoonbills had blood on the top of her head. She had obviously been in the wars somewhere and was quite annoyed with anyone who came too close to her. (I am assuming her gender, I could be wrong). She lashed out at the other two a few times while I was watching them.

The Bird Tree

I get easily bored of doing the same thing over and over. I know that is what I have to do to achieve the perfect shot - practice makes perfect and all that, but sometimes you just need a change.  Today I did something different!

I have created a bird tree!  Or at the very least a branch of birds. I have found that the sparrows just love millet, so I pegged some in the tree to see what would happen when I tried to photograph them at it. I am really happy with the results - if I could change anything it would be to move the tree but that is easier said that done.

The afternoon sun creating a nice back lit effect to wings spread in semi flight whilst struggling to get a grip on the millet was a great deal of fun to photograph.  You can expect to see many more like these until I get bored again.

Capturing fast flight

Juvenile Starling - I was quite taken with the spots :)

So after all my efforts to capture the fast little waxeyes in flight, I have decided the shots don't really excite me all that much. I prefer the image with more character. They are such quirky little birds with the cutest of faces that just make you want to go "awwww", but when in flight they are just another bird flying. How sad is that :)

Female Sparrow

Over the last few months that I have been photographing the waxeyes in my backyard, I have come to know some of them.  There is one that has small white feathers sticking out on the side - she seems to be a prolific breeder as we have seen several clutches of chicks from her since spring - and there is 'broken beak'. Broken beak is named because of one of his deformities. He has half the bottom of his beak broken off, and he is missing a couple of claws on his feet. He comes daily for food and is probably only alive because of the easy food supply.

'Broken Beak' leaping to another perch

Broken beak is also no stranger to the camera. Whenever I am striving to get a particular shot of the  birds when it comes time for processing nine out of ten shots will be of him. He is not as flighty as the others and will sit longer on the tree branches before jumping up to the feeders. He waits his turn and in that time I get to fire off the camera. I can't see it is him from a distance so end up taking huge amounts of shots of the same bird, which of course I don't want to do!

'Broken Beak' again during lift-off

I must do some research on the life span of the waxeyes, as this little guy has obviously decided to make this home and expects to be fed. I am sure winter would be harder for him than right now when there is an abundance of food about - time will tell as to whether he keeps visiting the feeder or not.

'Broken Beak' in flight

'Broken Beak' in flight

Still in flight

I am still doing my best to capture flight with the waxeyes. Today I thought I would treat them to a bit of home baking too. I have been buying some food blocks from the pet shop that the birds just go nuts over and I figured they couldn't be to hard to make at home. I found a recipe on the web and today I made some out of dripping, peanut butter, wild bird seed and breadcrumbs.

It was only a matter of minutes and the block I put out was totally cleaned up so I guess they were a success. I have another half dozen blocks in the fridge so they should last a wee while. It is amusing though, the birds hang around like there is more coming and there isn't. Some of them get impatient and try to fly inside to encourage us to give them more!

I had better luck with the birds in flight today as you can see but I also have high expectations for tomorrow. I have the most awesome friends, and tomorrow another one of them is letting me have her camera for the day so I can have another play.  Now my husband is worried that I will rush out and buy a new camera...  maybe... not yet...

In flight

One of the things that I have struggled with while photographing the Waxeyes, is capturing them in flight. They are very small birds and move really really fast!  So I end up with lots of images of bird on branch, then no bird on branch and I continually miss that millisecond in between when there is lift off.

So I try and anticipate their take offs using continuous shooting but alas, the same happens because my camera can only take 5 or 6 shots before it has to save and even then the bird can disappear between two of those continuous shots. They are just that quick. I have come to the conclusion that I have a need for speed!

A friend came to my rescue and has let me use her camera a couple of times. It is a Canon 7D and is built for speed. At 8 frames per second and bursts of way more than six shots, while still difficult it was possible to capture the take off.  I am now patiently waiting for the Canon 7D MkII to come out and I will then be the first to the store to purchase one.

And a cute sparrow shot to finish with :)