“My mind flits around like that, darts and dives and twitches at times, and other times perches immobile, faintly ruffling in the breeze.”
"Mommy that weird bird is outside again. Go get the camera"
"Yes sweetheart I'm on it" Me rushing downstairs feverishly grabbing camera bag and taking out lenses, shooting off lens caps and sprinting outside"
Darn it, we missed it again. Where did it go?
"Maybe next time we'll get it LL"
"Yes mommy, but you've gotta be faster next time. As fast as a lightning bolt"
Then I got lucky. A few days ago I was as fast as lightning (or the birds were just slower and decided to play nicely with me) and I found the little blighters perching on the palm trunk and looking for bugs.
These are the Green Wood Hoopoes. They are gorgeously coloured irridescent blue, green and purple and they let you know a mile off that they're around. Loud mouths I call them. Sent that soundclip to a close friend of mine who said they sound like dolphins. Very accurate!
They don't seem to hang around long and tend to move from one place to the next in squawking flocks, then kinda "bye seeya later mommigater" and they're off.
While my zoom lens isn't the best quality and I miss my 500mm so much right now I could cry, I don't think I did too badly with these shots. I didn't even know I got the one midflight until I was processing them. At full 300mm, the chromeratic abberation on the photos is awful but the birds are still beautiful and I now have them in my collection of captures. Photographic ones, not real captures, I like them free and flitting around much like my mind most days. I love that quote above, it is just like the birds I spend at least a few minutes of my day observing. I am not a huge twitcher by any means but I have a few cool bird stories and some nice species in my list. I have no idea where my list is at the moment, but it's in the organised chaos that is my filing system.
Isn't that Hoopoe just absolutely stunning? Man, if I was a bird, I wouldn't want to be one of those. Show offs lol. But very pretty to see when I am doing my best immitationn of Husain Bolt.
LL loves this bird, it may have become her new favourite bird.
Which bird are you most proud of photographing?
