When Henry met Honey at night,
They thought they were hidden from sight!
What they didn’t know:
They were stars in a show,
Entertaining us all with delight!
Now Maggie is seen clear and bright
With colour cam set up just right,
But her basic hue
Is not red or blue ~
The fact is she’s just black and white!
Thank you again Glo for that lovely apt poem.
............................
A few portraits from yesterday:
Female Chaffinch:
Male Chaffinch:
He was only six feet or so away from me and I had to move the camera into position very slowly in case I scared him away.
Bobby, awake for once, and listening intently:
The past few days the Starlings haven't been the only ones creating a racket. From time to time there have been some very noisy altercations amongst the Sparrows. This is a few shots of one such set to which occurred on the lawn not far from me:
After much noise and fluttering each Sparrow flew off in a different direction.
Missed Opportunity:
If it hadn't been raining for the afternoon walk I would have had the video camera with me. As it was I missed being able to video a Blackbird courtship. To set the scene: Imagine a wide brick gatepost with a flat slab on the top.
Mrs B. was on the slab and Mr B. was on the gravel underneath look up at her. He spread his tail feathers and performed a little dance going round in circles a few times at the same time uttering a few quite sounds. Then he flew up to the slab and repeated the performance. By then Mrs B. had flown away - I did feel sorry for him but she may have already produced one brood and thought enough is enough for now!
Shame sabout the missed opportunity John, but at least you saw it, and it'll be in your memory.
ReplyDeleteGreat captures of the Sparrows; and Bobby looks raring to go there.
Fantastic photos of the Chaffinch. You must have been extremely slow and careful for it not to fly away before you had the photo. I hope Bobby knows what a good dog he is!
ReplyDeleteGoodevening John,
ReplyDeleteLovely shots as ususal. I have never seen a Chaffinch very beautiful bird and your shot is lovely and crisp :)
Crista
Wonderful photos of the Chaffinch...so crisp and clear. I enjoyed the story about Mr. and Mrs. B.--didn't need a photo at all! And...Porcelain Rose's poem made me chuckle.
ReplyDeleteGosh those sparrows really were having quite a set to!
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your Blackbird account John - felt quite disappointed on behalf of Mr. B!
And a stunner of a picture of the Chaffinch - your slow moving obviously paid off :D
I wonder what Bobby had heard!
Thanks for the mention, and so glad you liked the poems, which have a bit of a limerick rhythm to them ~ you never know when I'm going to come up with a poem or two, as my muse has a mind of its own and goes off on little tangents ;)
ReplyDeleteThe male and female chaffinch are certainly different in coloring!
That's a great profile shot of Bobby! His interested is peaked, along with his ears ;)
Do you think the sparrows were a male and female having a set to, or was one of them a young sparrow? It would be interesting to know what it was that they were 'discussing'! Great photos of their interaction!
I liked the story of Mr. and Mrs. B, too ~
I thought that was such a cleverly written poem when I first read it John, and I think it was a lovely idea to include it in this post, it definitely deserved a proper read.
ReplyDeleteYour photos are lovely again, the Sparrow sequence was very amusing and the Chaffinch photos are so bright and clear.
It was a shame about your missed opportunity, it always happens that we see something which would make great viewing when the camera is elsewhere!
Beautiful Bobby, how alert he looks there!
I'm betting that like me you are thrilled that Springwatch is back, I thought the 'new' team worked very well together, and when Simon said he would be using the super slo-mo camera again I said to HLH ' that will get John thinking'! ;-)
Hi Keith: I think you are right - I will always remember that male Blackbird jumping round in circles as it performed its dance. The Sparrows were going at it hammer and tongs and didn't notice me.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mick: I was sat out with my feet up, literally, and with the camera on my lap so I had to slowly lift the camera up and frame the shot. Fortunately male Chaffinches are not over nervous but it took three attempts as it kept coming down for food
Crista: Thank you. Breeding colours are getting past their best now but the Chaffinch still looks magnificent.
Kelly. Thank you. It would have been nice to film the Blackbirds but it was great to have seen them.
Hi Trisha: Yes, the Sparrows were having a good old ding-dong of a scrap. I was really pleased to get such a close shot of the Chaffinch.
ReplyDeleteBobby hadn't heard anything but was straining hard, just in case. :)
Hi Glo: Thank you. Bobby always has his hairy radar dishes at the ready, even when he looks to be fast asleep.
Looking again at the photos of the Sparrows I think there are male and female by the colouring and yes, apart from the wing stripes the male and female Chaffinches are very differently coloured.
Hi Jan: Thank you. I really love that poem. Bobby is always alert, even when dozing - at least his ears are!
Last night was the first time I have watched a Springwatch programme right through for a couple of years. The silly comments between Kate and Bill got right up my nose in the past. Can't afford a slow motion camera - sob! Those shots of the Goshawk flying through the narrow gap were amazing.