{"id":1947,"date":"2011-05-30T23:05:21","date_gmt":"2011-05-30T22:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/archives\/1947"},"modified":"2013-11-09T15:00:12","modified_gmt":"2013-11-09T15:00:12","slug":"hobby-kestrel-swift-and-night-flying-crow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/hobby-kestrel-swift-and-night-flying-crow\/","title":{"rendered":"Hobby, Kestrel, Swift… and Night-flying Crow"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The Bank Holiday produced typically underwhelming weather… early mist followed by metal-grey skies and a touch of rain. For a short while this afternoon it looked as though things might brighten up. They didn't, but by that time I was already out in the field.<\/p>\n

It was a relatively quiet day, but I did spy a kestrel in the distance. I had just started taking some shots when another bird cam into view. A hobby, a small-peregrine-like raptor which summers in England. So I have a first of sorts, a shot of a kestrel and a hobby together.
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The hobby circled once or twice before moving away, but it was long enough to get a few more shots. In this one you can see the reddish rump, one of its identifying features (along with vertical barring).
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This is a close crop from another frame.
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The other birds making the most of the quiet skies were the swifts. I managed a decent vantage point at the top of a hill. As ever, their flight patterns were near impossible to follow, but with a good-sized flock I had plenty to pick from and there were a few usable shots at the end of the day. This is the best sequence. For those interested, I set the auto-focus to multiple points (I usually use a single centre-point for tracking birds, but a wider focusing field whcih self-adjusts is a help when they are moving quite so quickly and erratically).
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The final shot today was taken late in the evening. The garden crows were making a racket out in the garden at just after 10.30pm. On investigation it appeared that a pair of them were circling low at the far end of the garden. I've no idea what had set them off (they do have a nest nearby). I set the camera to ISO 1600, focused on a nearby tree, held the focus, and waited until something came into range. This was a one shot opportunity and produced what I think is my most unusual shot of an extremely common subject.
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\"Nature<\/a><\/span>
Camera note: all daylight shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. The crow at night was taken with the EF70-300mm 4.5-5.6 DO IS lens (at 70mm), ISO 1600, with the Canon 430EX flash unit for lighting.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[990,980],"tags":[44,434,1152,1186],"class_list":["post-1947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bird-of-prey","category-birds-2","tag-crow","tag-hobby","tag-kestrel","tag-swift","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t