Heavily loaded with my camera, tele zoom, portable hide, tripod and stool, I arrived just after sunrise to find a good spot near a water source I had discovered recently. In this whole area there isn't much drinking water readily available, so this spot should be a magnet for thirsty birds. There is a small decent hide right in front of the water dish, but it is locked so I had to set up my own hide right next to it.
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| Pied Flycatcher |
At first, the camera set the ISO automatically to 6400. Without any postprocessing, the images produced by the Canon 90D contain too much noise to my liking at that setting. It was still around 9 AM and the birds were coming to the branches quite often, so I knew I was going to be able to take enough photos with a much lower ISO. |
| Pied Flycatcher |
Within 150 minutes I saw four different species perching on the branches or platform: Common Redstart, House Sparrow, Eurasian Siskin and mainly Pied Flycatcher. I noticed that all these birds have different behaviours when it comes to approaching the water platform. Redstart and Siskin are quite timid and will first meticulously observe the surroundings before coming any closer. Neither of these two species landed on the perches right above the platform. I saw the Redstarts hovering for five seconds before landing. |
| Common Redstart on the platform |
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| Common Redstart scanning the area for any possible hazards |
The Pied Flycatchers were the easiest to photograph: they all posed willingly on the branch before descending to the platform. I took the most beautiful photos while the branch was still in the shade and the background was being lit by the rising sun.
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| Is that a smile, beautiful bird? |
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| Pied Flycatcher on the platform |
As the sun rose, the ISO value went down, towards the end of the session as low as 500. All the images were shot wide open with the birds being as close as five metres. It was possible my first shoot during which I kept the focussing distance of my lens limited to below 10 metres all the time. The portable hide also did a wonderful job: I had a rabbit and a Green Iberian Woodpecker coming really close without noticing me.
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| Eurasian Siskin |
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| Pied Flycatcher |
In conclusion: if you provide water to the birds and make yourself invisible, it is fairly easy to create some captivating images. Oh, and don't forget to be patient and quiet at all time.
Happy birding,
Henry.
