Goodbye 2011

Happy New Year to you all. May your 2012 be filled with many wonderful wildlife encounters.

I was just backing up my images from 2011 when I came across a folder on the hard drive that had slipped under the processing radar. It was from a session last March where I spent an easy session at the Wildlife and Wetlands Centre at Martin Mere. I like to make a visit here in the Spring as you can often find numerous wild birds, especially Shelduck mixed in with the captive birds and at the time there are still plenty of Whooper Swan and wildfowl to photograph from the hides on the main lake.

The session started before I arrived as I came across a male pheasant in full spring display mode. The bird was puffed up and 'showing off' to another male that is just out of the photo.

Due to the light direction my first port of call at Martin Mere was the main hide which as usual had plenty of birds at close range to chose from. However, I must admit I do find it slightly frustrating as these permanent hides do not allow you to get the more attractive low angle and point of view. Therefore it always feels a little if you are photographing down upon the birds rather than getting down to their level which produces better images.

Large numbers of overwintering Whooper Swans were drifting around as usual, building up their energy reserves with the daily feed, before their long flight back to the breeding grounds in Iceland.

One of my favourite duck species, the Pintail, was present in large numbers. What these birds may lack in colour they certainly make up for through their attractive shape.

A female Pintail 'blowing bubbles' as it feeds in the shallows.

Amongst the Pintail were a few of the slightly more colourful Wigeon, that were announcing their presence with their characteristic whistling calls.

I left the main hide and took a wander around to see what else could be found. There was definitely a hint of Spring in the air during this March visit with Mallards busily mating. The female certainly seems to get the worse end of the deal during the process as she is pushed below the water.

After a good bit of searching around I finally managed to find a wild Pochard amongst the captive collections to end a relaxing session with the camera.

I have already been out with the camera this year despite the best attempts by the weather to thwart me and will show some of these photos in my next post.

Too Late for Terns

Each summer I like to have at least one good session with some of the local Common Terns. I have always been attracted to the streamline elegance of these 'swallows of the sea', particularly during their twisting acrobatic flight. This year the mental alarm clock kept ringing out that it was time to pay them visit. However, due to other commitments the trip ended up being continually postponed until way past the optimal mid-summer period. For wildlife photography timing is key, particularly with birds, and so my expectations for the session ahead were not very high as I slipped out of the house before sunrise.

I arrived in the hide with numerous terns circling overhead but none were landing on the odd assortment of perches close by. If I had managed my trip a couple of months earlier they would have be queued up with plenty of flight opportunities. I would pay for my delay. While waiting for a tern to put in an appearance I had a look around to see what else was on offer.

The ducks were waking in the first rays of sun. A female mallard warming up the flight muscles.

A Tufted Duck glided slowly by while a male was stretching its wings.

Still the only terns were circling around the lake or landing on their floating nesting pontoons. Looking out the side of the hide a Lapwing was close-by and moving with characteristic stop and go walk of a plover. The rainbow hue of the shoulder feathers gently glowed in the early sun.

Still no terns. Further along the bank I waited as a hyperactive Common Sandpiper approached the hide. These birds never stop moving and this one was rapidly feeding on small flies that had gather around the muddy debris along the lake margin.

The tern perches remained vacant. A strange looking duck approached across the water. It took me a little while to decide what it was, having not seen a young Shelduck previously.

The species list was growing but the tern photography was failing. Eventually one bird landed briefly.

A second tern then arrived with what looked to be a young whiting firmly clamped in its beak.

One final bird arrived and threw a characteristic tern shape while calling to the birds flying high overhead.

I will admit it was not the most productive tern photography session which was entirely my own fault for not making the time to visit a few weeks earlier. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable morning spent with a small variety of birds in front of the camera. As I often say, there is always next year :)

Balearic Spring Day 5 - In search of a Warbler

Early morning saw us once more heading down the dusty trail towards the coastal garrigue. We decided on a return visit to the area we had visited a few days earlier to see what else it could produce for the cameras. I was really hoping I could find one of my target birds for the trip, the Balearic Warbler. The reason for this becoming a target was that on a previous visit several years before I had caught a very brief glimpse of one. This had created a long running spark of facination and curisoity that needed to be satisfied.

10 minutes after arrival the throbbing blister on my foot had been numbed by new species on the camera memory card in the shape of a Tawny Pipit. A promising start to the day.


Further wandering around amongst the coastal scrub produced the by now identifable Thekla Lark.


I was scrutinising every bush I passed and listening hard for any sign of a Balearic Warbler. However, all I was seeing was the occasional Sardinian Warbler flitting between the low scrub. The habitat looked perfect but the birds, if here, were keeping a very low profile. I continued my search for quite some time and then while walking up a small track, a small dark long-tailed bird darted across the path. My first thoughts were 'another Sardininian Warbler' but then from the low bush rose an unfamilar scratching warbling song. A Balearic Warbler at last. I settled down close by and the bird put in a couple of brief appearances, which seemed to be more for the satisfaction of its own curiosity.
There birds really are a Dartford Warbler in all but colour. I managed to find another bird a little further down the same track that was occasionally popping up on to perch to sing. I waited and waited, and waited but eventually the bird appeared.

That was the last I saw of these endemic Mallorcan warblers but it had been a memorable morning.

After much careful creeping through the undergrowth and using the available cover I managed to sneak in to close range under the vigilent watch of a Woodchat Shrike. This was to be the last bird photographed that morning.

We had worked hard for the photographs that morning and so after lunch decided to have some R&R and finish off the rest of the day at S'Albufera. Snipe fed in close to one of the Bishop Hides.

A little further out a Black-Winged Stilt was bathing.


and beyond the Stilt it was bathtime for a Spoonbill.

The afternoon 'siesta' was only occasionally disrupted by mating Stilts. A delicate operation to perform when legs are so long.

It is easy to forget the length of a Stilt's legs when they are wading around in water and it is only when they come out on to terra firma that you appreciate how bizarre they are.

As the sun set on the day there was not much to photograph in front of the hide but with the light being so beautiful even the common species took on a whole new look.

Testing the Canon 50D

I decided to take the plunge and pick up a Canon 50D body which I thought would provide a useful back up body. It certainly on paper has some advantages for bird photography 1.6x sensor, 15 megapixels (useful for cropping) and a reasonable frame rate at 6.5 fps. It comes with a host of other features. most of which I disabled before use except tuning it in with my long lens using the autofocus micro-adjust. So off I went to find some birds to photograph. The first session was in some very windy conditions on the local shore.

A purple sandpiper in some late afternoon light

...and a passing herring gull. The first thing I noticed is that the autofocus is very fast and quickly locks on to target.The next session was under much calmer conditions and the first test subject was some mallard.

My inital thoughts from these shots were:

• The files are huge and you only get about 178 images on a 4 gig card
  
• The images had more noise than my mk3 but it seemed to clean up well in a noise reduction program.
  
• The main issue was that the only RAW software that I have which will open the files is DPP supplied with the camera which has to be near the bottom of my personal list when it comes to RAW convertors.

Back out for another session on the local coast.

Common gull in flight

and then a test on the local Egrets in some end of the day light

My verdict from the inital tests are that the camera performs reasonably well although I would not say the image is quality is as a good as the mk3, but then again the 50D is a 1/3 of the cost. Obviously I need to give it some more testing and it usually take me a while to settle in with a new camera body. I will probably also feel more settled with it once I can load the raw files into my usual Capture One raw software.

BIFS

I have recently been doing a few bird in flight shots (BIFS) and decided to try and get some swallow and house martin shots before they depart south. Very difficult to photograph and lock focus on, especially hand panning the weight of a 500mm lens. Here are a couple that survived the waste bin which overflowed with near misses due to the relatively low light.

and a swallow

This landing drake mallard in eclipse plummage also caught my eye.

as did this Black-headed gull 'walking' on the waves.I also caught a passing turnstone the other day on the local beach in some better light.

Went out for a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon, just staying local. There were only common birds around due to crowds enjoying the afternoon sun. At these times, especially when the light is good, its nice to photograph those 'common' species that are two easily overlooked.

When the light is good and common birds plentiful it is also a good time to practice those flight shots.