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The Kingfishers & Their Friend Weasel

Ok, I very much doubt a Weasel would be a Kingfisher friend but it makes a nice children’s story book title…….

I was counting on a sleepy morning today but the dogs had other ideas, waking me up before sunrise. Therefore, I took the opportunity to spend some time at the new Kingfisher perch I placed in the river a few days ago.

It still needs some work on positioning but it’s great to see once again there are many Kingfishers present. The local pair seem to be busy feeding a 2nd brood and although not intentional, I have spotted their nest in the riverbank where they are busy delivering food. There’s plenty wrong with the Kingfisher image below, but it’s a great start to my new season of Kingfisher photos!

Whilst I sat there patiently waiting a Weasel showed up running around like crazy. I fired the camera shutter which grabbed it’s attention and then fired off the shot below with him looking directly at the camera before continuing on its hunt for breakfast.

(Click to view in Lightbox)


Misty River Captured On My Smartphone

Smartphone photography is a little restrictive which actually makes it fun. Trying to get a shot that shouldn’t work is a real challenge. This morning I was down at the river and the sun was beaming down onto the bridge/ford and the rising steam made it look amazing. The sun is a little blown out, but again, that’s the restriction on a smartphone as its dynamic range (the difference between the darks and lights) it can capture is quite small.

As the saying goes, the best camera is the one you have with you, so I wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to capture this. Once the world returns to some sort of normal, keep an eye out for my Smartphone Workshops!

(Click to view in Lightbox)


Wooooohoooo! The River Is Running!!!!!! (Video)

If you live in the Algarve, you will know that the region was starting to get desperate for rain, also you will know just how much rain we’ve had in the last 2 days, particularly here in the northern hills where it has been heavy and persistent. I had a bet with myself yesterday that the river would get a kick-start and be running this morning. However, it was still dry and we even walked the dogs along our usual route along the river bed.

Imagine my surprise this afternoon when I stood outside the Quinta and could hear gushing water. I headed down to the river (its just over 400 metres away) and it is now in full flow, even over the top of the bridge/ford (Video below).


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Kingfisher Project Is Back On, Plus A Few Other Birds

For those that Follow Me On Facebook will know that I have continued my Kingfisher Project due to the location of the autumn morning sun lighting a river pool. Whilst walking the dogs, we watched an adult female perched in amazing light on a tree branch, so can’t waste an opportunity like this. I positioned a perch and setup my popup hide yesterday and was at the river this morning. It didn’t quite go as planned as the Kingfisher didn’t use the perch. It seems as now the water level is so low, she prefers to perch higher up to be able to watch a larger area of water. I have now installed a high perch and will return tomorrow morning.

However, all was not lost, I was able to sit and watch this adult female diving and catching fish many times and on one occasion she came up with a Crayfish. I snapped these images. Notice the wet marks on the branch, this is where she was hitting the Crayfish to kill it before eating. I suspect this is “Princessa” that I photographed when she was a juvenile but as I can’t confirm this I am calling this girl Tufty due to her feathers on the back of her head sticking up. Not sure these are permanently like this or just because she was wet.


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New Location At The River

Yesterday I installed yet another perch for the Kingfishers to use. The river pools are getting smaller by what seems like every minute and although it results in the Kingfishers being more concentrated on certain areas, it means I have less good angles to shoot with.

This mornings task was to photograph a Kingfisher just coming into land on the perch with outstretched wings. Everything was going to plan until I broke my number one rule of “Focus on what you are trying to get and don’t be distracted!”.

The camera was setup, pointed at the perch, I had pre-focused, AF settings and fast shutter speed all dialled in. All I had to do was wait for a Kingfisher to fly to the perch. Although there were many visits to the perch all of them approached from in front rather than behind, then one of the young females landed high in a branch of a tree behind the perch. She dived into the water and retreated to another branch directly behind the perch. I wanted to look to see if she had caught a fish and moved the camera and focused on her, she flew right at the perch and I didn’t get the camera moved back in time. Yes, I am kicking myself! This was the last time I saw her this morning as she had already caught two large Louisiana Crayfish.

I did get some portrait shots of her on the perch earlier.

{Click image(s) to view on Flickr - opens in new tab}

Common Kingfisher (Juvenile Female) - Guarda-rios (juvenil femea) - Alcedo atthis
📷 Nikon D850, AF-S 500mm f/4 @ 1/800sec, f/11, ISO640
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