ANDY FOWLIE
  • Hub
  • Portfolio
    • Flow 2019
    • magical Vestrahorn 2019
    • Fangorn 2019
    • a snowstorm at Kintail 2019
    • the village 2019
    • a bolt from the blue 2019
    • peaceful purple pastels 2019
    • a Slovenian sunrise 2019
    • the cormorant 2019
    • Elgol on the rocks 2019
    • weeds 2019
    • pretty in pink 2019
    • Ritsons Force 2019
    • Sakrisoy on the Rocks 2019
    • the Clappersgate eye 2019
    • the Falls of Falloch 2019
    • in the jaws 2019
    • the devils teeth 2019
    • tranquility 2019
    • the old man of storr 2019
  • Destinations unknown
  • Articles
    • The great debate...
    • Before and After
    • Shooting and editing a timelapse
  • Recognition
  • Contact
  • Store
  • About

Restart with a Redstart

1/4/2018

0 Comments

 
As 2017 came to an end, my project to photograph as many bird species as I could in 2017 also concluded. The red-legged partridge from Kilmuir in Scotland was the final addition to the 2017 list, the 169th species I captured during the year. Overall this was a pretty good result, my initial target had been 100 species which seemed ambitious enough in January last year, but ended up being fairly easy. Some relatively common species escaped my attention (e.g. rook, rough-legged buzzard, black woodpecker, hawfinch) but on the other hand I was able to photograph some rarer species (e.g. pallid harrier, red kite, stonechat, Tengmalm's owl).

With the new year I need a new count, and suddenly I am all the way back to zero. I think I will keep track of my count for 2018 also but I won't give it such a focus as I did last year, preferring to concentrate on learning to recognise new species that I have never photographed before and getting as good pictures as I can of whatever species, even if I have photographed them before.

My 2018 account got off to a very nice start yesterday as I went in search of the Black Redstart which had been spotted a number of times over the festive period in the capital area (of Finland).
Picture
Canon 1DX mark ii, 800mm f5.6L IS USM, 1/100s, f5.6, iso 10000, +1/3EV, cropped
Wait a minute, you are probably saying, that doesn't look exactly like I was expecting... and you would be right, the consensus amongst those who know better than me seems to be that this is a central asian subspecies of the black redstart - phoenicurus phoenicuroides for all you latin speakers. Quite what such a specimen would be doing in these parts is a bit of a mystery, 

It might be that those who know even better than those who know better than me can still come to an updated conclusion about what the bird is, if so then I will update this post with any subsequent developments... but for now I will assume it is this "eastern black redstart".
Picture
Canon 1DX mark ii, 800mm f5.6L IS USM, 1/100s, f5.6, iso 6400, +1/3EV, cropped
The weather in southern Finland has been typically disgusting over the past weeks, temperatures fluctuating around zero rather than providing a proper winter experience, instead we are treated to grey, wet, cold, slippery, muddy and dark days and only get to see the sun for some brief moments every 4th or 5th day. This creates quite a challenge for bird photography where you would ideally use fast shutter speeds (1/1000s or faster) to freeze the action. In order to get enough light to fall on the camera sensor in dark conditions it is sometimes necessary to gamble on much longer exposures... and as with any gamble there is a possibility to lose and that leads to blurred images... but once in a while you can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat if they happen to be blurred interestingly.
Picture
Come on... I am shooting at 1/50s, you need to stay still! Canon 1DX mark ii, 800mm f5.6L IS USM, 1/50s, f5.6, iso 2500, +1/3EV, cropped
This was a marvellous looking bird, and a rarity, so it was a really nice way to start 2018 and very much worth tramping through some luxurious mud and navigating through a swampy area in order to find it. Spotting the bird itself was easy on this occasion, the half a dozen humans pointing telephoto lenses or binoculars at a particular bush gave a strong hint as to it's location.
Picture
Canon 1DX mark ii, 800mm f5.6L IS USM, 1/400s, f5.6, iso 2500, -1EV, cropped
The bird was also very well behaved as a subject, happy to stay relatively close to it's interested observers while regularly changing positions to allow some variety in the pictures. I don't think that it was entirely healthy however, it made constant head and neck movements over the 20 minutes that I observed it, as if it was trying to swallow something, so perhaps it has something stuck in its throat. I hope that it recovers from whatever is ailing it and manages to find a way to survive the winter.
Picture
Canon 1DX mark ii, 800mm f5.6L IS USM, 1/100s, f5.6, iso 6400, +1/3EV, cropped
When searching for birds, particularly when searching for one certain species, it is very often the case that your effort ends in a disappointment, it is not an exact science or an easy task, so it is very satisfying when you get one of these good days and find what you are looking for. I hope there are more such days to come as the year progresses.
Picture
Canon 1DX mark ii, 800mm f5.6L IS USM, 1/100s, f5.6, iso 6400, +1/3EV, cropped
That's it for this time, hopefully I will soon have something to share with you again. I hope that 2018 has started well for you.

Until next time,
Andy
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    Andy Fowlie

    See also:
    read more posts

    Subscribe

    Enter your email address to receive notifications of new blog posts

    Archives

    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017

    Categories

    All
    Adriatic
    Akranes
    Alps
    Amsterdam
    Anglesey
    Architecture
    Arctic
    Aurora Borealis
    Autobau
    Barnafoss
    Bavaria
    Beach
    Bears
    Berchtesgaden
    Berlin
    Birds
    Bitnje
    Black Redstart
    Bled
    Bohinj
    Bow Fiddle Rock
    Bruarfoss
    Budapest
    Budir
    Cars
    Castle
    Castles
    Champagne
    Church
    Churches
    City
    Cley Next The Sea
    Cromer
    Czech Republic
    Destinations Unknown
    Dolomites
    Dornoch
    Duino
    Duncansby Stacks
    Eagles
    Earl Grey's Bathing House
    East Anglia
    Edinburgh
    England
    Europe
    Finland
    Fjallsarlon
    France
    Fyrish Monument
    Garmisch Partenkirchen
    Garmisch-Partenkirchen
    Germany
    Glacier
    Glencoe
    Golden Eagles
    Grundafjordur
    Hamnøy
    Hamnøy
    Harlech
    Hellnar
    Hintersee
    Howick
    Hungary
    Hunstanton
    Ice
    Iceland
    Interiors
    Isle Of Skye
    Italy
    Jamnik
    Jasna
    Jökulsárlón
    Killer Whales
    Kirkjufell
    Lake District
    Laki Tours
    Landscape
    Landscapes
    Latvia
    Liechtenstein
    Lighthouses
    Little Stint
    Llanddwyn
    Loch
    Lofoten
    Long Exposure
    Maria Gern
    Metro
    Mountains
    Neist Point
    Neuschwanstein
    Night
    Northumberland
    Norway
    Obersee
    Old Man Of Storr
    Osprey
    Oulanka National Park
    Overstrand
    Parys Mountain
    Penmon Point
    Photography
    Portfolio
    Portopiccolo
    Prague
    Red-kites
    Reims
    Reine
    Riga
    Rossfeld
    Rossfeldpanoramastrasse
    Roumlthbach-waterfall
    Rspb
    Ruka
    Sakrisoslashy
    Sakrisoy
    Sakrisy
    Salet
    Scotland
    Seascapes
    Senja
    Sheringham
    Short-eared-owl
    Skagsanden
    Skye
    Sligachan
    Slovenia
    Snow
    Snowdonia
    South Stack
    Staircase
    Staircases
    St-tomaz
    Surfing
    Switzerland
    The-house-of-the-black-madonna
    Timelapse
    Tollie
    Travel
    Trieste
    Utajaumlrvi
    Utouml
    Vestrahorn
    Vienna
    Vik
    Wales
    Waterfalls
    Wildlife
    Windmills

    RSS Feed

Flipboard
Contact  Andy
Copyright © 2019
  • Hub
  • Portfolio
    • Flow 2019
    • magical Vestrahorn 2019
    • Fangorn 2019
    • a snowstorm at Kintail 2019
    • the village 2019
    • a bolt from the blue 2019
    • peaceful purple pastels 2019
    • a Slovenian sunrise 2019
    • the cormorant 2019
    • Elgol on the rocks 2019
    • weeds 2019
    • pretty in pink 2019
    • Ritsons Force 2019
    • Sakrisoy on the Rocks 2019
    • the Clappersgate eye 2019
    • the Falls of Falloch 2019
    • in the jaws 2019
    • the devils teeth 2019
    • tranquility 2019
    • the old man of storr 2019
  • Destinations unknown
  • Articles
    • The great debate...
    • Before and After
    • Shooting and editing a timelapse
  • Recognition
  • Contact
  • Store
  • About