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.


Continue reading >>

A Chilly Morning At The Reflection Table

Over the past couple of weeks, my Reflection Table has started to attract visitors so this morning I was up at sunrise in the hope of appearances from some feathered friends.

It was a cold 2 degrees (Celsius) and whilst that may not sound cold to some of you, for us (now seasoned) Algarvers, it is chilly. The surface of the water had a light covering of ice, so reflections were not possible until this melted, however, the table still attracted some visitors.

First up was a very brief visit from a Male Sardinian Warbler that landed on the perch gave a sort of shake-down before moving on its way. I managed to grab a shot of him shaking his wings and tail before he flew away.

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

Male Sardinian Warbler - Toutinegra-de-cabeça-preta - Sylvia melanocephala
Continue reading >>

Robins Are Back For The Winter

We don’t see too many (European) Robins in the summer months here in the Algarve, although, there is often a small number out of view present. However, once the cooler days arrive many Robins come from the much cooler Northern parts of the country.

All around the Quinta there are now many Robins now to be seen. This one was playing hide and seek this morning.

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

Peek-a-boo
Continue reading >>

Rush Hour at the Feeders

Just as an experiment, I pointed the camera at one our feed areas in the garden and set it to take a photo every 5 seconds. I left the camera for about an hour. Then I selected 60 shots and merged them to create this single shot. The sun was a bit too strong and still high in the sky, so the photo is a bit washed out, but not bad for an experiment.

It just goes to show how busy the feeders are!

{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}
Rush Hour at the Buffet - D810, AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8E @ 70mm, f/8, ISO400, Shutter speed varied from shot to shot - {Flickr Link}

Not the Siskin shot I was after, but it was still good to be close up.

The light was great this afternoon, so I put up my popup hide close to one of the feeding areas I have in the garden in the hope that the pair of Siskins would visit. I saw them this morning at another feeding area I have.

The male did turn up, but very briefly and he flew straight to the Nyger Seed Feeder rather than going via one of the many perches I have setup.

I don’t normally take photos of birds on a feeder, but couldn’t resit this one.

{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}
Siskin on the Nyger Seed Feeder - D810, AF-S 300mm f/2.8 @ 300mm, f/8, ISO500, 1/500sec - {Flickr Link}

Continue reading >>

Grumpy Robin

You may have seen Grumpy Cat doing the rounds on the Internet, but this morning I found Grumpy Robin.

Maybe he wasn’t happy that we’ve had a couple of inches of snow. However, he has an abundance of Suet to feed on in the garden!

{Click image for a higher resolution, click Flickr Link in caption to view photo on Flickr}

Grumpy Robin
Grumpy – D810, AF-S 300mm f/2.8 @ 300mm, f/5.6, ISO720, 1/500sec – {Flickr Link}
0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop