Jubilee Bird Walk

Carrion Crow, Corvus corone corone.  Bird walk in Jubilee Country Park, 24 March 2012.

As it turns out, taking photos of birds does not require the same skills as photographing insects or plants, both of which I can do reasonably well. I suspect it requires patience, a really long lens, and a tripod. But maybe it just requires a different skill set.

Whichever is the case, on this bird walk with the Friends of Jubilee Country Park I ended up with a tiny number of photos that I would consider even half-way decent. I was using my EOS 60D with a 200mm prime lens and 2x extender. That's as much weight as I would care to carry around with me. I set a fast shutter speed and let the camera decide the aperture, on the basis that depth of field should not be a problem for small distant objects. But there were serious problems.


First, I had to find the birds. They sang loudly enough and I learned a couple of calls (such as Chiffchaff and Chaffinch). But mostly they were small and far away. Second, they looked the wrong way; third, they sat behind twigs, like the small, faraway Chiffchaff on the left, which was at the very top of a tree.  Finally, they kept moving around. Often, I would see a bird, but by the time I had raised my camera to my eye, it would have gone and I would be wondering why I couldn't focus on it. This only worked out well once, with the rather nice silhouette of a crow at the top, its pinion feathers stressed by the power of its flight as it took off.

The next shot shows the sort of target I had only too often.

Green Woodpecker, Picus viridis.  Bird walk in Jubilee Country Park, 24 March 2012.

It's a Green Woodpecker, foraging in the grass. I think it's a female, from the lack of a red mark under the eye. It's a pleasant sight when flying low over a field, and in fact the whole group was watching this colourful bird with interest; a row of binoculars.  I have been told that their droppings look like cigarette ash, but I have yet to see this for myself.

I did get a fair shot of a Rose-ringed Parakeet, a ubiquitous naturalised inhabitant which seems to love this part of the country.  At my last house they used to come to the peanut feeder in the garden.

Rose-ringed Parakeet, Psittacula krameri.  Juvenile or female.  Bird walk in Jubilee Country Park, 24 March 2012.

However, the point of this trip for most of the group wasn't photography, but to see the birds, and that they did, enjoying themselves on a beautiful morning. It was warm and sunny, and as well as the birds I saw some queen bumblebees, a Comma butterfly and a Holly Blue; a lovely spring sight. And at least these two Mallards did not present a problem. They were at Ray's Pond, and they were large, nearby and slow-moving.

Mallard, Anas platyrynchos.  Male.  Bird walk in Jubilee Country Park, 24 March 2012.

Mallard, Anas platyrynchos.  Female.  Bird walk in Jubilee Country Park, 24 March 2012.

The experts had noted more than 20 species of bird by the end of the walk.