The Eurasian Golden Oriole (often refered to as just Golden Oriole) is a difficult bird to photograph. Even though the male is incredibly bright yellow with contrasting black wings and a bright red beak, they are very shy and seem to be able to camouflage themselves easily with the tree canopy.
Last year, I struggled to get the shot I was looking for and so am determined this year. So this morning I was out early in a wooded area next to the Quinta and waited. Soon enough they arrived and started to make their flute-like whistle song. As usual, I just couldn’t get a clear shot of them and at times although I could clearly see where the song was coming from, I couldn’t even spot them.
Normally with my first sessions, particularly ones locally, I use the time to study any patterns of behaviour and favorite places to perch and I have established a pattern that will help me on my next session with them.
The highlight of the morning wasn’t actually the birds. I was sat camouflaged out of sight when I heard a rustle in a nearby bush. Out came an Egyptian Mongoose, it didn’t see me and came within about 1 meter. It was impossible to turn the camera so I tried to silently grab my phone for a quick snap, but it spotted me and fled. Funnily enough, these are joint top of the list for this year! So I will be looking to use the track it used to photograph these too!
I did manage to get one shot of a male Golden Oriole which is not great, but a shot nonetheless.
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