Photography Discovery

Sunday, 26 June 2011

I went birding right after breakfast and was out from 7:30 – 10:30 am.  But before that, as I was enjoying my egg sandwich, I saw a small accipiter land in a nearby tree.  It was a Shikra!  What a beauty.  Then again, I can say that about every bird I see here.  Although I admit the White-browed Sparrow-Weavers sometimes get on my nerves with their incessant piercing squeaking.  Nonetheless, I’d take them over the annoying screams of the Hadada Ibis any day!

Today was the first time I was out with “the big camera.”  It’s a Canon Rebel plus 400 mm lens that a professor at Princeton let me borrow for the summer.  I used it for the first time on the game drive yesterday, but today was my first real trial-day of carrying it around with me while birding.  My goal was to take pictures of as many of the common birds around the station as possible, but I found myself going after any bird that moved (that would be all of them, yes.  I haven’t found any dead birds to photograph… yet.) 

I have never before had a lens that would allow me to take beautiful, close-up images of birds.  On about my seventh shot, I was hooked.  I admit it – I’m completely, totally, utterly in love.  Today I discovered something new about myself: my love of bird photography.  Not a huge surprise, I guess, to anyone who knows me.  But it certainly was to me!  I had no idea that my system would respond so eagerly to this new-found art.   Where to begin to describe the thrill of my discovery?  Holding that magical lens transformed me.  There is something so incredible about aiming a camera at a bird and snapping a photo that is GOOD – close and crisp and awesome.  I’ve struggled with taking pics of birds through my binoculars or scope for so many years.  The images would almost always come out blurry and disappointing.  But today I experienced a sudden internal shift.  I’ve tasted the thrill of the hunt-for-the-perfect-picture, and there’s no turning back.  I have no clue how I’ll save up money for a good camera, never mind a big lens, but I have to try.  Somehow, I must.

Wow.  I couldn’t stop taking pictures this morning!  Stalking after my feathered friends was exciting in a whole new way.  Now my goal wasn’t just to see and hear them and observe their behavior, taking in the details and appreciating the nuances of an individual bird.  Today my goal included not only that, but also much more.  Now I needed to capture the bird unobstructed by vegetation, in good light, in a posture that showed off the bird in its fullest glory… vivid colors on display, a neat behavior stilled in time.  Plus, I had to take into account artistic composition and various other environmental variables, but I have a ways to go with that yet.  Today was all about getting the hang of carrying around a heavy piece of equipment and learning to use it properly.   I have so much to learn!!  But I enjoyed the learning process to the fullest. 

I think this camera awakened the hunter instinct in me.  I slowed down to a stalk and took in my surroundings with all my senses.  I covered very little ground, but I did not need to go very far.  Birds were all around me.  Taking good pictures demanded so much focus and concentration.  It was a very dynamic meditation of sorts.  I noticed a great deal more about myself and the natural world around me.  I also found myself holding my breath when I was inching close to a bird I really wanted to capture… in the same way that I hold my breath when I’m painting a picture and hope to get a certain brush stroke just right.  This process threw me into the Now so pointedly, and I absolutely loved losing my self in this experience. 

I made a second big discovery today also.  I now have a favorite bird!  All my life I’ve never had a favorite bird.  I’ve always had a favorite bird family – Parulidae, the wood warblers.  Warblers are a vivid memory of my childhood birding years, since I chased after many warblers as a kid.  I’ve always enjoyed seeing warblers immensely, and they’ve done a lot to shape the birding of my youth.  (By “done a lot” I just mean they simply existed, but that was enough to make me happy.)  Today, however, I was struck speechless by a bird that completely unarmed me and took my breath away so poignantly that I found myself exclaiming out loud, “By golly, I think I have a favorite bird now!”  I was taking pictures of two immature African Paradise Flycatchers.  Cuties, they were.  And so cooperative, too.  They just sat still for me and behaved like good little birdies do for hungry photographers.  While I was trying to get the best shot, I saw a stream of white suddenly streak across my view.  I lowered my camera and OH MY GOD there sat the most enchanting bird I’ve ever seen!  A glowing white fairy-of-the-acacia-forest J  Ok, that sounds super cheesy, I know.  But how can I put it better?  The male’s all-white body looks like it’s lit up from within.  His long streamers glide behind him like a comet’s tail, deeming him with a mysterious, ethereal quality that I can’t quite put into words.  It’s more about the feeling I had when I saw him.

This bird completely sent me for a loop.  Oh and the male’s black head and crest and superbly vivid blue eye ring are killer handsome.  His mate is nothing to scoff at either, shimmering a resplendant black and rufous in the sun.   I stayed with this couple and their two youngsters for over an hour trying feebly to capture the male and female on camera. Their kids were easy enough.  They liked to perch lazily in one spot and wait for mommy and daddy to come feed them.  But they did fly to another perch every five minutes or so.  The parents, on the other hand, were a nightmare.  For one thing, they preferred to be in the thick scrub, obstructed by many leaves and branches.  Secondly, they did not stay put for even a second.  Such hyperactive things!  I tried so hard to get good shots, but it was really, really hard.   My insides ached  each time I missed a good shot.  I am determined to get a good shot of an African Paradise Flycatcher male and female before my time in Kenya is over!  And if I won’t get them this time around, I’ll just have to keep on trying.  Oh, wait, I’ll need a good camera and lens for that.  Doh!  Guess this is my only chance in a long while.

immature African Paradise Flycatcher

adult female African Paradise Flycatcher

adult male African Paradise Flycatcher

sadly and out-of-focus shot

I could have kept photographing ‘till lunch time, but a little incident put a quick end to my adventure.  I was trying to get a shot of a Pallid Honeyguide when the bird flew onto an open branch above my head.  I ducked down low and put my left knee on the ground to get the shot when I felt a thick thorn pierce my knee.  Ouch.  I shrugged it off and kept trying to angle myself properly to the bird, but the pain in my knee was quite acute, so I decided to have a look at it.  What I saw did not please me.  A long and noxious acacia thorn had dug its way deep into the flesh of my knee cap, and each time I moved my knee, I felt an unkind stabbing sensation.  Saddened at the sudden end of my photography escapades, I made my way home to my banda.  The thorn took me 35 minutes to remove.  I know it sounds gross, but I needed to cut the skin around the thorn because it made its way in deep.  After a long and painful excavation, I got enough of the thorn exposed to be able to pull it out with my tweezers.  It was one centimeter in length and caused quite a swelling of my knee.  I cleaned the wound well and applied triple antibiotic and a band-aid, but as the evening progresses, the pain in my knee is getting worse, and I’m having a little difficulty walking.  I hope this not-too-sensational sensation leaves me sooner than later!

the thorn's tip sticking out of my knee

removal: success!

Highlights of my morning birding:

SHIKRA

VILLAGE INDIGOBIRD

Gray-headed Silverbill

American Paradise Flycatcher – amazing looks at a family of 2 immatures and an adult male

(white morph) and female

Pallid Honeyguide

GREY WREN-WARBLER (2)

a cryptic Grey Wren-Warbler

Now for the photos...

Grey-headed Sparrow

Speckled Pigeon

angry Superb Starling

What's the magic word, sweetie?  The polite bird gets the worm!

Ethiopian Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow

African Mourning Dove

Chin-spot Batis - hiding behind vegetation

OMG, I got him mid-hop!  Go, batis, go!

he likes to play hide-and-go-seek with my camera

nice butt, plump fella

finally a clear shot!

Common (Yellow-vented) Bulbul

male Vitelline Masked Weaver

posing for me very nicely

Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu (don't ask me why these birds were named "blue rope")

Common (Fork-tailed) Drongo

I love their maroon eyes

female Vitelline Masked Weaver

preening session

Yellow-spotted Petronia... with no obvious yellow throat spot visible (it rarely is)

singin' the day away

cautious Rufous Chatterer checking me out

Von der Decken's Hornbill

female Black-necked Weaver

very pretty Purple Grenadier

a dik-dik hiding behind a single blade of grass, how cute