10am to 12pm, Monday, 21st May, 2012; Wenyu River, Chaoyang district, Beijing
Von Schrenck's Bittern!
The bird, a male no less, took off some 50 yards in front of me, and flew directly away, towards the trees across the river, presenting the narrowest of targets for me to home the auto-focus on.
I knew I'd cocked it up. But just to make sure, I looked at the eight shots of distant poplar trees, in sharp focus, and a blur in the foreground that grew progressively smaller shot-by-shot.
I cursed my ineptitude and carried on criss-crossing the narrow paths that flank the series of paddyfields.
Three immaculately-plumaged Whiskered Terns (399) were plucking small fish from the surface of the Wenyu River - the first time I've seen the species on my local patch.
Then, just as I was about to call time, I saw another male Von Schrenck's Bittern fly out of the reeds. This one flew low and across, which at least gave me a chance of a shot. I looked at the camera's monitor to check what was there... and sure enough there it was, a "not that bad" shot of what is my 400th species to be posted here: Von Schrenck's Bittern (400)
Other birds of note today: several Fan-tailed Warblers (photo of one songster appears below); a few singing Black-browed Reed Warblers; 3 singing Oriental Reed Warblers; a Greenshank; a few calling Indian Cuckoos; a few Eurasian Cuckoos; and last - but by no means least - I re-found the Wenyu Snipe (the one I saw last week that shows some characteristics of Latham's).
Von Schrenck's Bittern!
The bird, a male no less, took off some 50 yards in front of me, and flew directly away, towards the trees across the river, presenting the narrowest of targets for me to home the auto-focus on.
I knew I'd cocked it up. But just to make sure, I looked at the eight shots of distant poplar trees, in sharp focus, and a blur in the foreground that grew progressively smaller shot-by-shot.
I cursed my ineptitude and carried on criss-crossing the narrow paths that flank the series of paddyfields.
Three immaculately-plumaged Whiskered Terns (399) were plucking small fish from the surface of the Wenyu River - the first time I've seen the species on my local patch.
Then, just as I was about to call time, I saw another male Von Schrenck's Bittern fly out of the reeds. This one flew low and across, which at least gave me a chance of a shot. I looked at the camera's monitor to check what was there... and sure enough there it was, a "not that bad" shot of what is my 400th species to be posted here: Von Schrenck's Bittern (400)
Other birds of note today: several Fan-tailed Warblers (photo of one songster appears below); a few singing Black-browed Reed Warblers; 3 singing Oriental Reed Warblers; a Greenshank; a few calling Indian Cuckoos; a few Eurasian Cuckoos; and last - but by no means least - I re-found the Wenyu Snipe (the one I saw last week that shows some characteristics of Latham's).
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