I got them! I managed to get some images of the parrots that live in the grounds of a local town hall! Today was bright and sunny again, with no clouds in the sky at all, meaning no moody landscapes today. However, with it being Autumn time, the sun never really gets that high in the sky in the UK, which is kind of nice, becasue for big chunks of the day you get that nice side light with big long shadows.
Anyway, the bright and clear weather, and low sun light was perfect to have another go at photographing some birds – I know I know, why do I keep doing it when I haven’t really got the kit – I can hear your words ringing in my ears now. Thing is, I just really enjoy it, no matter what the end reuslt is, the process of going out and spending time with wildlife is just someithing I love to do.
I met a lovely chap sat on a park bench too, he was there when I arrived, and he was still there when I left. He wasn’t taking photographs at all, he was simply watching and enjoying the wildlife. We chatted about the joys of being out and about, until the pull of capturing more images became too strong for me, and I said my goodbyes and wandered on.
I’d captrued several images of the birds by now, all sorts of birds, some stood, some perched, some in flight, but no parrots. I like to capture all birds, especially if I can captrue them in flight, its good practice I think because it’s a real challenge.
I’d heard the parrots (I’ve learnt what they sound like after the last time), but not seen them, and so wandered further into the woodland. The more you study wildlife the closer you get to them, and I was noticing that where I saw sea gulls, I didn’t hear parrots. Seaguls can be quite strong headed, maybe the parrots are more gentle, I dont know; but it gives an extra little insight when looing for them.
Quite an abstract image here of mr pigeon, the reflection of some railings looking like the pigeon is shaking the very earth with its foot steps!
Time was ticking on by now, and I took one last walk around the little lake and off to a corner of the park I hadn’t investigated yet, but that had some really tall trees in it that looked interesting. I hadn’t visited it yet because I’d been searching trees where the light was at its best, nice and bright and from the right direction, and the tree branches were nice and open giving a clear line of sight. But now I had to dig deeper if I was going to find the parrots.
Sure enough, there they were, the parrots! I think there is a pair in the park, there maybe more but I’ve only ever seen two together at once. Its nice if thats the case to be honest, I think.
Anyway, they were a little way off, and the undergrowth between me and the birds was pretty dense, so I took some very long range shots just to make sure I had some, in case I lost sight of them again.
After watching the parrots for a little while, climbing up and down the branches and hopping around the place, I plucked up the courage to edge closer to them through the thick undergrowth.
I got a little closer, but unfortunately a crow came through and that really startled the parrots, casuing them to fly off. I could hear their distincive calls disappearing into the distance; and being now embedded into the undergrowth I couldn’t catch sight of where they landed. Not to worry, I enjoyed seeing them and I got some nice photographs of them too.
I even managed to pick a line through the branches and capture some images of them in flight too.
Learnings – well, learning the “ways of the Parrot” has really started to help me photograph them. Learning which trees they like to hang out in, what birds they sit with (pigeons) and what birds they dont (sea gulls and crows) and of course, their very distinctive call! Its not like a parrot “caw” or “squark”, and I’ll try and record it next time for you.
For all of todays images I used my Tamron lens, mainly at 300mm, on Auto ISO, f/11 and 1/1000 of a second shutter. I set the light metering to spot meter, so the exposure was right for the birds specifically, AI Servo continuous focusing and a sinlg focus point, which I pretty much use all the time anyway.
What lovely little green birds they are!
Onegav 