Having featured the blackbird yesterday, today’s bird is a close relation. It’s another of the family Turdidae, this time the much less commonly seen Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris). Like the blackbird, it’s a member of the thrush family, but it tends to keep well away from inhabited areas, preferring woodland fringe and fields (hence its name).
I’d hiked across a couple of fields at lunchtime. It was beautiful out, but cold, so a walk seemed to make more sense than freezing at the edge of the pond. I headed for a small wood just to the south of Falmer (and just inside the South Downs National Park).
There hadn’t been too much to see, and maybe it was the cold but I got a little creative with the camera. It makes a change to try something different every now and then.
Emerging from the woods, and still having seen little if any wildlife, I came across a lone fieldfare. It’s something of a winter bird so it was probably less bothered by the cold than I was. It was bracing itself against the chill wind.
It was a treat to get such a clear shot, even from quite a distance away.
Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.
Some more images of commonplace birds, this time the blackbird (Turdus merula). For the male at least, the naming is clearly descriptive: the blackbird is indeed black. It generally also has an orange beak, tongue and eye-ring. Less often the beak and eye-ring are red, but orange is the classic and most common form.
Blackbird (male) singing
Blackbird (male) eating a berry
Those were taken yesterday (but were put to one side in favour of the wren. The next three shots were taken today, on the edge of a woodland path. It’s the female of the species, and she is brown… from beak to tail.
Female blackbird head on
Female blackbird side view
Female blackbird in angry mode!
Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.
