It seems silly that at this time of year in the sub-zero temperatures, that any bird would want to wash itself in cold water. Well, Sunday morning while I was filming the birds, a Magpie decided to have a splash in our bird bath. I had only just tipped the ice out of the bird bath and filled it again with water. It was very funny to watch, and quite sweet too, even though it was a Magpie.
I had my tripod placed in the usual position of our office building. Again, please forgive me for the bad control of the tripod in the video below. I will learn! The other birds didn't dare to take a dip at the weekend, but were busy on the feeders most of the day. The main features were Blue Tits (it appears that 2 have already paired up for spring as they flew around together), House Sparrows (which have been very common recently), Great Tits, Dunnocks (as always), Robins, Blackbirds, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Magpies and of course Woodpigeons and Collared Doves too. I have read Shirl's posting for today, and it looks like her garden was very busy with birds coming and going. Notably the Blackcap, which I haven't seen so far this year. Hopefully the extra suet I put out on Sunday should attract them again this winter.
I haven't seen any investigation of our terrace nestbox for a 2 or 3 weeks now, so I hope they return when I relace it with my camera nestbox (hopefully this weekend). Its interesting to hear that birds in different parts of the country nest earlier than others. I am guessing that because the south is warmer, birds such as the Blue Tit are more likely to investigate nest sites earlier than in previous years.
The other video I wanted to show you timed out when it was uploading, but I will try again tomorrow.
Both videos were taken by me in our garden on Sunday 4th January 2009
Cranes and Moths
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A week back at work after our holiday with a few things of interest at
home.
The Saturday before we came back from Glen Affric I received a Bluesky
me...
6 days ago
5 comments:
THis bird is a brute. I know they are common in your area, at least that is what I surmise by your statement of it being "it was a Magpie".
I have to go way out West to see one of these birds. I appreciate seeing your magpie bathing.
Hi Joe, just catching up on your recent postings. what a great present getting a nestbox camera of Santa. I'll be looking forward to seeing some results in the spring, hopefully.
As for your photographs, don't be too hard on yourself, your photos are great, and I think using black and white is a great idea, and of course seeing High Force waterfall in Durham has made me homeshick :-)
Finally your video. They're good (and that Magpie was in super condition). It just takes practice with videos as you say. A tip is to learn to look through the viewfinder with one eye and with the other eye look at what's happening. It's not easy to get this to work, but it helps, as peripheral vision is important when filming. Also for your tripod, have the tilt and turn as loose as possible, that way when moving the camera you don't get camera shudder (fluid tripods get round this but v expencive).
Also remember in wildlife TV filming we're shooting at a ratio of 1:25 up to 1:150, which means for some programmes we shoot a 150 hours of footage to get 1 hour of finished TV programme.... so why does the programme look so good, we edit it. So even the top wildlife filmmakers spend hours filming nothing that exciting... believe me I've seen more bare fields than I've ever wanted to :-)
Hi again Joe :-)
Great to see you back posting and with a video too! Great stuff – very entertaining too! You certainly caught the action and not what you expected I'll bet. I always enjoy catching something unexpected with my camera too :-D
As Andrew says you will get used to using your tripod. The tip I’d give would be similar to Andrew’s. Keep one eye on the whole garden too. Also if you are on zoomed mode and want to film some action in another area of the garden it would save you some valuable seconds if you zoomed out to find the area and then zoom in again. I have lost action by thinking if I just turn to camera round/up/down I’d find it :-(
Have fun filming in 2009 :-D
hello Joe, I enjoyed watching your magpie - the clip showed what forceful characters they are. Real personality! It's inspired me to get the video camera out and see about borrowing a tripod myself. I have a wildlife blog at Wheatland Farm and Popehouse Moor SSSI, in Devon but so far my images are still - I have 2 small kids so have to grab what I can snap - that's my excuse anyway!
Looking forward to seeing more of your posts...
Hi Lisa, Andrew, Shirl and Maggie,
Sorry for the late replies. Am still busy with school work!
Lisa- Mm... I know what you mean about the Magpie. They often bully the other birds off the bird table, and make such a loud noise in the garden,
Joe
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Andrew- Thank you! I was very happy with the camera nestbox. I was even more pleased to see the fact that it appears to have already been visited.
Ah, the photos. Nice to hear that you liked them. Maybe I should focus more on the memory of the occasion when taking photos, not if the photo is of fantastic quality.
Thanks for the tripod tip. I shall definately bear that in mind. I think I will get used to it eventually.
Thanks again, Joe
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Hi Shirl- Thank you. I am glad you enjoyed this posting as much as I enjoyed filming the video. It was great fun. Hopefully, I can capture some smaller birds bathing in the near future.
Thanks a lot for the tripod tips. Nice ideas. I must admit that I have missed action because I tend to move the camera too suddenly on its tripod. Thanks again,
Joe
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Hi Maggie- Thanks for the comment. yes, these birds are definitely forceful, if nothing else! I must admit that I have become a bit of a fan of the crow family, simply because they have so much character.
By the way, I loved your blog, and I enjoyed browsing through your photos. I completely understand your lack of time. Sometimes you need a lot of time to work on these things. Life's too short, isn't it?!
Thanks again, Joe
Thanks
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