Showing posts with label Bluethroat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bluethroat. Show all posts

Wednesday, 8 April 2009

Bluethroat dazzler

This dazzling male Bluethroat of the red spotted form appeared on the path and this was the first view of it before disappearing into the grass.
A few minutes later it reappeared and was oblivious to us as it approached to within a few yards. It casually made its' way towards us along the tyre tracks feeding in the late evening low sunlight.
This was one of the closest views at about 10 feet distance. It's surprisingly difficult to find good focus on such a small bird. Not least the panic and tremble of having such a stunning bird so close!
The image below is the same as above but heavily cropped as far as the picture would allow before pixellating.

EXIF Detail: Aperture Priority. F/5.6 Shutter 1/160s. ISO 400. -0.3 EV.

Sunday, 26 October 2008

Stunning Bluethroat at Land's End today

The Bluethroat found on Friday 24th eventually showed well for me and a small group of assembled birders. Once found amongst the Cornish heather, it was incredibly tame, often approaching too close for the long lens cameras. At one point, it walked along the track through someone's legs! The light was really poor and of the 261 shots I took, only 20 or so were in focus due to the low shutter speed. The images below were the best I could get given the light situation and most of these were when the sun briefly emerged. I have seen several Bluethroats on Scilly but this is the first for mainland Cornwall for me. And that's after 35 years birding in the county. (Red-eyed Vireos are more regular than Bluethroats!)