Smart little bird. The sequence above comprises a burst of three shots. It was only when I processed the photos that I could see what it was doing. They are incredibly quick and I got rather a lot of photos of brickwork while I was taking these (something over a hundred frames in about 15-20 minutes). As well as diving off rooftops they are a dab hand at more traditional stalking… two more shots taken as a burst.
More of today's pied wagtail shots, plus some earlier ones are over on my website.
Meanwhile, the foxes are very active. Last night I could hear them calling out from the front of the house, and on peering out of the kitchen window I could see a pair darting in and out of the gardens opposite. Possibly our regular ones, but it was too dark to tell for sure. Tonight the shy fox (white-tipped brush) shot across the rear garden while I was out there, far too fast for a photo. A second fox was lurking, but didn't put in an appearance. The night-time activity is very typical of the time of year. The breeding season is not far off, and the foxes are sorting out their winter territories. So if you have local urban foxes you may well see them after dark. The juveniles are now about 8 months old and will be soon be parents (they can breed from about 10 months), so a certain amount of pairing off is also taking place, and the nightly noise level will gradually increase.
Finally, a brief plug for a new fox website, developed by the Mammal Group at the University of Bristol. The researchers there, led by Professor Steve Harris, are the leading authorities on urban foxes and have carried out extensive research into their behaviour. It's an excellent and highly informative resource and well worth a visit. It's called The Fox Website, and you may even spot one or two of my photos over there 😉
Camera note: Pied wagtail photos taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
SittingFox
12 Nov 2007Yes, I visited the Mammal Group's site a few days back and noticed your picture on the front page! :up:
Very impressive sequence of the wagtail. Must have been a nice surprise to look back and see that! 🙂
Words
12 Nov 2007A very nice surprise! It's obviously a good hunting ground for them. They march up and down, and then do these sudden aerobatics and are back perched a second or so later. The brick wall helps. I focused on that and didn't worry too much about trying to follow the flight path.
Vulpes vulpes
13 Nov 2007Great Wagtail shots! Thanks for website recommendation – will be sure to check it out in detail. Spotted Roofy straight away! 😀
Flying Red Fox Blog
13 Nov 2007Very nice photos, you were very patient taking over 100 frames:)
The websites look cool too thanks.:D
Words
13 Nov 2007Mark, thanks. I had a nice spot to watch from and they were diving down very frequently, so it was easy to saty put and watch. I quite often just hold the shutter button down which gives me a burst of several shots shots a second, so it's easy to get a lot of photos very quickly. It's useful for wildlife as they never keep still!
Words
13 Nov 2007Vulpes, thanks. The wagtails are enjoyable little things to watch. Hyper active, but a lot tougher than they look.
gdare
13 Nov 2007Wow, excellent. Needs much patience to wait for these two frames :up:
cwbywz
24 Dec 2007Fantastic.
Words
24 Dec 2007Thanks Rick.