It rained for much of today, but there was a brief respite at about 1.30pm, just enough for me to wander over to the nearby woodland fringe. Conditions were poor, but I'm getting used to that. Nice tight portraits of colourful birds are out. More impressionistic takes are another matter though. And the redwings were being as cooperative as they are ever likely to be. They're not easy birds to approach, but a small flock was making its way along the trees, taking to the wing and then settling again. So I cranked the ISO to 800, added lots of positive exposure compensation (ie overexpose like mad simply to get enough light on the subject), opened the aperture all the way (f/5.6 at full zoom) and fired away. I wasted more frames than I've kept, but a couple were worth working on.
Redwings
The shot has had a bit of a working over in Photoshop. The levels have been adjusted to bring out the colour, some noise reduction has been applied, and the final image brightened. The three birds helpfully display most of the key characteristics of the redwing, including the reddish underwing and the brown upper wing, and the mottled breast on the lower of the three birds. The distinctive stripe above the eye is also shown. The grouping is typical. There's another shot here.
As for the fox news, well I think we have a newcomer. I glanced out of the window this evening and a fox was at the rear of the garden. It hightailed away as soon as it saw me looking through the window, but I got a good enough view as it crossed the garden to see that its brush is much less bushy than nicked-ear's. It also seemed less bulky than she is (though glanced impressions of foxes are notoriously inaccurate on issues of size). It's more than probable that some of the recent glimpses I'd assumed were nicked-ear were in fact the newcomer. More than that I can't really say, and I suspect I'll have to work hard to get a photograph as my usual tactic of staying quietly in the garden has yet to bear fruit. Some warmer evenings would help. I have my limits about staying out in a cold, damp garden for too long.
Camera note: the redwings were photographed with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
cakkleberrylane
20 Jan 2009Beautiful shot!
gdare
20 Jan 2009I have noticed that you and Adele have possibility to see differencies between foxes. I guess this is something you developed after watching a lot of them so you can see details with more accuracy. For me, all foxes look too similar, one to each other. Except the old dogfox that lived in Adele`s neighbourhood 🙂
Flying Red Fox Blog
20 Jan 2009Wow you saw a new foxy 😀 I wonder if hes Nicked Ear's mate? It was very wet at work yesterday, i felt fine i did and everyone was pleased i was back which was good……. i still had to take a trolley of tea and coffee to a function though! 😆
Words
20 Jan 2009Thanks Lois!
Words
20 Jan 2009Mark, I wondered if the new fox is her mate. I wouldn't be surprised. Glad your first day back at work went ok. The big question is 'Did they have biscuits as well?' 😆
Words
20 Jan 2009Darko, it's not always easy to tell them apart, but photographs make it easier!
Flying Red Fox Blog
20 Jan 2009Yes they did lol 😆 and water and one had a working lunch with sandwiches and crips hehe. You should have a meeting over here one day, would be fun serving your function….. i would even try and make fox shaped biscuits just for you"! 😆
SittingFox
20 Jan 2009Nice atmospheric shot of what is a difficult species to photograph. (It's a given that on the rare occasions that I see them up close, my camera is out of reach! :cry:)
@Darko – well, as Words says, it isn't always easy (some vixens really do look like clones of each other!) but many foxes do have quite distinctive faces, after you've been watching them up close for a while. In my garden, the SV has a much more slender muzzle than the bulky Chipped Vixen, and just altogether looks more elegant :queen:
Words
20 Jan 2009That would be good! 😆
Words
20 Jan 2009Adele, thanks. Long shots of them are reasonably easy at the moment as they tree-hop. Getting close is quite another matter (and even close, they insist on staying at the wrong end of tall trees).