A Beautiful Firecrest (our smallest bird)

After an extremely barren period photographically, things changed today with the appearance of the sun. It was still bitingly cold, more like a perfect winter's day than spring, but it was worth it for this sequence of shots.

It's a firecrest, arguably the smallest of the UK birds (the rival is the equally small goldcrest). This was a first sighting for me (ever), and to see one behaving so cooperatively was a very special bonus. The light was strong, and the dark shadows of the small conifer did create some challenges. Lots of sharp contrasts, to say nothing of the difficulty following a tiny bird that constantly flits in and out of the branches, barely keeping still for more than a moment.

As a contrast, here's a shot from earlier of the day of what is arguably our largest native bird, the mute swan. This is a juvenile in the shade of some trees.

It's nice to be back taking photos, and if the rest of the year is as good as this, I won't be complaining.
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Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

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This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. derWandersmann

    3 Apr 2013

    Nice shots of a rare sighting, Words! These quick little birds are a challenge, and no mistake. Good one of the swan, too.

  2. SittingFox

    3 Apr 2013

    Oh wow! :eyes: That must compensate for the difficulties with the weather lately! Beautiful little bird, and one that is always wonderful to find. Brilliant! 😀

  3. Words

    3 Apr 2013

    dW, thanks! It was a rare treat to see something genuinely worth photographing.

  4. Words

    3 Apr 2013

    Adele, I was pleased 😀 I've managed some not terrible shots of goldcrests before, but this little firecrest was behaving impeccably and seemed very happy to show off. I'll be back there next week with any luck.

  5. gdare

    4 Apr 2013

    Never seen that bird before. The smallest ones we have in Vancouver are wrens and hummingbirds 🙂

  6. Words

    4 Apr 2013

    Darko, these are smaller than wrens, but so pretty to watch. They are also quite bold and don't really take any notice of people.

  7. gdare

    6 Apr 2013

    Originally posted by Words:

    don't really take any notice of people

    We are too slow to catch them, anyway 😛

  8. Words

    10 Apr 2013

    Originally posted by gdare:

    We are too slow to catch them, anyway

    True, but I suspect we loom so large they don't actually see us!

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