Winter is approaching and I'm typing this with frozen fingers having unsuccessfully tried to photograph one of the foxes. It's been skirting the garden for the past 20 minutes, and I've caught glimpses of him (I suspect a male). No doubt now I'm inside, he'll be in the garden. The trail cam is glowing. I'll have the evidence tomorrow. 😉
But this is about jays, the most colourful of the corvids. I spotted this exceptionally bold example of the species in London at lunchtime. The shots were taken in deep shade with shutter speeds varying between 1/30 to about 1/250s. The first shot was actually taken at 1/25s. Thank heavens for image stabilization!
And of course, a squirrel!
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF70-300mm 4.5-5.6 DO IS lens.
14 Comments
Anonymous writes:
What a beautiful bird! I don't know of any jays in our area that look like this one. What kind is it?
Good luck with the foxcam footage 😉
Great action shot of the squirrel :up:
nice shots thanks ,but i wish u had taken a photo for its back
Lunchtime was probably a reason it was that bold 😀
Anon, it's latin name is Garrulus glandarius, but to us it is just a jay! Very striking birds and this was easily the closest I've managed to get to one.
Darko, I think all the park birds are so used to people that they really take very little notice. The jays aren't quite as bold as the pigeons, but they are much braver than the ones I usually see.
Mick, thanks!
Erwin, thanks!
Wow, 1/25 without a tripod (presumably!) is pretty impressive! :up:
It could quite easily pass for a tropical bird in the fourth shot!
Rania, I'll see what I can do if I see more of them!
Adele, yes without a tripod. I was struggling to get any light under the tree canopy even though it was bright sunshine. In some ways the DO lens is easier to keep stable in those conditions as it's so much shorter than a standard zoom. It has limitations, but is still one of my favourite lenses.
Excellent shots :hat:
Thanks Sami!
Great shots love to see the Jay