river Archives - Page 9 of 10 - Craig Rogers Photography

Photos Of The Kingfisher At The River Pool

10th November 201729th December 2017Craig Rogers

This morning, I was up at sunrise, drank a coffee, took the dog for a walk, had breakfast and then headed down to the Kingfisher Hide I built yesterday. Portuguese for Kingfisher is Guarda-rios, but translates to River Ranger/Guard.

I approached slowly and quietly and the perch was not empty, the Kingfisher was already there. I stopped, it stopped, we stared at each other for what felt like an hour but was probably more like 5 seconds before it flew away. I made sure that it had cleared the area totally before approaching the hide. I didn’t want to scare it away for good.

I squeezed into the hide and set myself up for a long wait. The long wait wasn’t needed, within about 5 minutes the Kingfisher was back but it looked a little confused, it knew something had changed and it flew to the next river pool about 25 metres away. I sat and watched it dive into the water catching small fish and eating them. At this moment, I really couldn’t care if it didn’t come to the perch, I was happy enough just sitting there watching it. However, soon enough it came back to the perch and didn’t seem bothered of my presence, although I was well hidden. It was a very still morning, not even a breeze so my next concern was the noise of the shutter, would it scare it. The D810 was in “quiet” mode which tries to limit the noise of the shutter, I fired off a shot, it didn’t disturb the bird at all.

I spent the next hour sat there watching it dive, sometimes successful, sometimes not. It did have a good feed. I waited until breakfast was over and it flew away before leaving. I was using my 300mm f/2.8 lens fitted with a 1.7 teleconverter as I still await the return of my 500mm f/4 from repair. I’m pretty happy with the quality of the shots considering, but looking forward to the return of my 500mm f/4. The only problem I see is getting into the hide with the size of the 500mm f/4. My next goal is to capture a usable shot of the Kingfisher with a fish in its mouth, I did get some, but not good enough.

At first, I thought this was a Male Kingfisher due to the lack of orange lower beak. However, on closer look, I think this is a juvenile Female as there is a little colour appearing underneath.

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Kingfisher Hide At The River Pool

9th November 201729th December 2017Craig Rogers

This morning, I put together a simple frame to create a temporary hide at the Kingfisher Perch.

Kingfisher Up Close!

8th November 201729th December 2017Craig Rogers

So, as promised in yesterday’s post (see here), I have relocated both the Bushnell NatureView and also the temporary perch.

I was expecting a few days of nothing whilst the Kingfisher got used to a change in its environment. I was wrong.

Just 12 minutes after I left, the Bushnell recorded a very brief visit of the Kingfisher. The capture only has a few seconds before it flies off so not really long enough to create a video, but here is a still image from the capture (continue reading below the image).

2 Egyptian Mongooses, a Little Egret and a Kingfisher visit a River Pool…….It’s No Joke Either!

7th November 201729th December 2017Craig Rogers

Sounds like the great start to a joke, but this is no joke.

Couldn’t believe my eyes when I viewed the footage from yesterday, two Egyptian Mongooses (yes, not Mongeese) sharing the pool with a Little Egret. I was waiting for a Mongoose to attack and whilst one of them takes a little interest, I think they realise that either they won’t catch it or it can do them some damage with its beak.

Then, the Kingfisher shows up, in fact, you can hear what I think is the Kingfisher’s high-pitched call from the start but isn’t brave enough to come whilst the Mongooses are there.

If you watch near the end of the clip, when the Little Egret walks out of shot, the Kingfisher returns, but doesn’t land on the perch. This backs up my thoughts from yesterday where I don’t think the Kingfisher is triggering the camera. I will be moving it later today to a different position nearer the perch. It does mean that I’ll probably miss out on the other wildlife visiting. There is one issue that really shows how important it is that we have more rain, the fish in this pool are reducing in numbers at an alarming rate. This is probably due to the Little Egret that seems to be visiting the pool very regularly to feed.

{Remember to watch in HD if possible}

A Kingfisher on the Perch!

6th November 201729th December 2017Craig Rogers

Just over one week ago the Bushnell NatureView I had setup at a River Pool to monitor Otters captured a Kingfisher (see blog here). So I got to work and set up a temporary perch for the Kingfisher to dive from.

Yesterday, I finally managed to record a Kingfisher visiting. I need to rethink the camera position as it seems the Kingfisher may not be triggering the camera consistently. When the camera is triggered it records 1 minute before waiting to be triggered again. As you can see in the video, the Kingfisher remains on the perch when the camera stops recording, however, it doesn’t trigger it again. I had set the camera up to capture it not only on the perch but also the dive. I may have to concentrate the camera solely on the perch.

The camera is not there to capture good usable footage but is in place to try to establish any trend that the Kingfisher is showing, particularly the time of day it visits. I hope (before the river starts to flow again) to hide on the river bank and capture some photos of this Kingfisher.

For now, enjoy the video.

{Remember to watch in HD if possible}

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Grey Heron and a Flock of Iberian Magpies taking a bath (Video)

5th November 20173rd May 2018Craig Rogers

It’s been quiet on the River Cam the last few days, maybe something related to the rain (yippee!) we’ve been having here in the Algarve.

However, quiet it might be, I still have 2 videos to share.

First up, a Grey Heron decided to visit looking for some aquatic life to feast on. These shallow river pools that are created by the river being dry makes perfect wading areas, however, I suspect the amount of food for the large waders is starting to run out now and the river needs to start running again soon.

[UPDATE] Since writing this post I learnt about the Azure-winged Magpies being the incorrect name for the species found in Europe, it is called the Iberian Magpie, more details can be seen in this post.

{Remember to watch in HD if possible}

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