Friendly Robins

Yesterday was the final birdwatching session in my ecology module before we undertake the campus-wide survey of bird life. The session involves people wandering round in little groups or on their own noting down what they see in the hour. The habitat my group was focussed on yesterday was the "open grassland" areas of the campus. In truth, the bird life in these areas isn't as good as what could be seen around the lake or in the woodland. But the bright sunshine we had yesterday made it a pleasant walk, and a few interesting species could be seen around.  

There wasn't anything I hadn't already seen on campus, but I saw a Nuthatch and a Jay which was good to see. But the weather seemed to be affecting one bird in particular- the Robin. Almost everywhere I walked a singing Robin could be seen, and more times than not I was able to get really close to them too. Some of these photos aren't that great but it was nice to focus on photographing one species and getting to know the best ways to get good photos of them.

The sun wasn't out all day yesterday, but quite a few times the sun came out from behind the clouds for some nicely lit photos:

I then moved on and about 10 minutes later I came across another Robin, but this time I was really very close to the bird. This particular Robin was very tame and allowed me to get very close to it. By this point the sun had gone in behind the clouds, but I was so close to the bird that I was still able to get a few decent pictures. The little shrub that the bird was perched in was about 2 metres from where I was stood, and it started singing its beautiful little song. 




















After a little while, the Robin came even closer, coming to pick grubs off the floor by my feet. By this point, the bird was only just outside the 1.5 metres minimum focussing distance of my 300mm lens, and I was actually using focal lengths less than 300mm, which I almost never have to do. It seemed such an inquisitive little creature, getting really close to me and checking me out.

It's not until you get this close to small birds that you realise how delicate they are, and the detail in the wing feathers is really quite incredible.

After a while, another Robin appeared about 5 metres away, but must have been paired with the bird I was photographing because they didn't chase each other off and seemed perfectly happy to stay in close proximity to one another. This new bird didn't really get any closer to me, but the original Robin stuck around for a few more photos, often perching on some vegetation quite low to the ground. I tried to get more at eye level for these few photos by crouching down, to get a better perspective of the bird:

It then flew up to the shrub it was perched on before for one more photo.

It always amazes me how close you can get to these bold little birds, when you think of the obvious size difference between the two creatures, but it's great that you can gain the trust of some birds like this. Even though I saw many other interesting species yesterday, this Robin was probably the highlight of the day. I find the behaviour of Robins so fascinating, and they should never be overlooked as a species. No matter what birds you see, it's really difficult to beat the song and unique character of this common little bird. 

After I had taken the photo above, I just watched the Robin for another couple of minutes before it finally flew off. By this point it was nearly the end of the hour and I decided to head back. All in all it was a really satisfying hour of birdwatching. I'm not sure when the campus-wide survey of birds is scheduled to be, but it should be an interesting exercise. The last few weeks have proven what a diverse little patch this university campus is, and hopefully the survey should demonstrate that. The total number of species I've seen on campus is now 40, and I'm still yet to see a House Sparrow, a Greenfinch or a Mistle Thrush, all of which are birds you'd probably expect to see in an area like this, especially the first two. Not only this but there are apparently a couple of Little Owls somewhere on campus which I haven't seen yet which'll be good to see when I get around to it. 

Anyway, I know I'm starting to ramble on now with today's post so I'll leave it at that. Enjoy the rest of your week and lets hope this sunshine stays :D