Wildlife Photographic Journals

Fieldfare Fly-bys

A large part of being of wildlife photographer is being able to spot an opportunity. I was out photographing some Fieldfares recently. With all the recent cold weather a big flock of birds were gorging themselves on a Sea Buckthorn bush that was heavily laden with orange berries.

As I watched the acrobatics of the birds on the bushes, I noticed a steady traffic of birds along a regular circular route to and from the bushes. This movement of birds reminded me of the constant stream of puffins that come into the Farne Islands and I decided the situation might provide a good and rare opportunity for some flight shots of Fieldfare. These are not easy birds to photograph being relatively small and fast moving but I was aided by the good light conditions and clear blue skies. I stood at distance from the bush and under the flight path to give myself opportunity to track and lock focus on to the birds during their approach to my position.

The characteristic white underwing of the Fieldfare which is always a good identification feature if a flock of thrushes are passing at distance.

By this next photograph you will notice all the birds are heading in the same direction. All the birds were captured on the outbound journey from the bush and were flying in from another direction, a kind on avian one way traffic system.
This bird was taking one of the berries with it.

As everything that goes up must come down, so what goes in one end must eventually come out the other.

One last image to finish with this one taken with the 7D, a camera body that if you read enough about it on the Internet is apparently not good at focusing. Then again it pays not to believe all you read when it comes to camera kit and usually better to just get out there and use it.