Friday at the Flicks - Greenfinch

Was it a Bird? Was it a Kite?

On our first walk of the day on Wednesday, nearing the spot where the tree was blown down a short while ago, something moving behind a house caught my attention:



Very first thought was it looked like a large bird, about the size of a heron. Observing for a bit longer I could see what appeared to be a string attached to whatever it was. Second thought was someone was up early kite flying as the wind was blustery and the object was above the edge of the field behind the house:




It was bitterly cold so I decided to continue on our way home. At lunch time we took a different route but the last walk of the day took us back to the same spot. The object was still bobbing and weaving in the gusts which were stronger and colder that they had been in the morning. This time I decided we would investigate so detoured to amble down the track next to the field. Once the thing came in to sight the penny dropped. A bird scarer designed to resemble a raptor, sometimes hovering, sometimes diving. It consisted of a pole 4 to 5m high with the flying object connected with a springy length of wire.

Silent video:



It really was very effective and there weren't any pigeons or gulls anywhere near that end of the field.



Much better than the very noisy gas cannons which can make the area sound like WW3 has broken out. They could still be heard from time to time but appeared to be further away from the housing than they have been in recent years.

Greenfinch

There was a time when I had quite a few Greenfinches as regular visitors but several years of finch disease has reduced their numbers drastically.

Sunrises

Last Saturday, Nikon S9050, cropped, unprocessed:



This morning, iPhone4, Camera+ app.
Cropped, processed in Photomatrix Pro v4 and Elements 10:

A Farmer's Work is Never Finished

It may have been a lazy Sunday morning for some of us but if you work on the land then jobs have to be done when needed and when the weather allows. Yesterday was very windy and it could well be again by the end of today so using a window of calmer weather this morning was the ideal time to catch with some spraying:

 

 

 




Those booms seem to get wider each year.
A good job they fold up well when travelling by road.

Dive Straight In

I always have the 70D set to burst shooting. A few days ago I was hoping to catch a sequence of shots when a bird visited the Birdy Bistro. The lighting conditions were poor but I did manage to catch the following sequence as a male Chaffinch dived in to grab a seed:

Choose a porthole


Line up with it


Apply the air brakes to slow down


Head first in to the seeds


The Chaffinch had no intention of landing on the perch.
They often fly close, hover, dive in and leave again as soon as they have grabbed a seed.

Friday at the Flicks - Wood Pigeon, Starlings

Just a couple of the regulars this week. There are always two or three Wood Pigeons hanging round the garden cleaning up the seed dropped by the smaller birds. The only problem is they can make more mess than they clear up.



There were several weeks when I hardly saw any Starlings in the garden but I think some of the Winter visitors have now joined the locals so there is usually a noisy session each morning as they squabble over whose turn it is at the Birdy Bistro.



The ticking which can be heard occasionally is the auto focus on the camera being picked up by the built in microphone. I must have a look round for an external one.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you, even the ordinary everyday ones.