birding and taking the time to really observe a bird, a 15 minute challenge
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The last weeks I am starting to discover more birds in my area, especially directly in the area where I live. Meaning the first patch of green you will encounter when leaving the house. With the help of the Merlin Bird app, especially the sound recording feature - which is mind-blowing - I discovered more birds than I thought I would. Especially the Treecreeper and the Common redstart.
So getting out and using the Merlin app was an opportunity for me to find new birds, but also to slow down a bit more and really observe what I hear, see and in the end photograph. This was (as usual) a real eye opener, still it sounds like the obvious thing to do, but in general I (we all I guess) tend to see, composite and capture an image and move on way to quickly. So I challenged myself to at least be at a spot for 15 minutes and try to really observe birds in their habitat. Maybe this will lead to different or more interesting photos.
The first opportunity I got to test out the Merlin app and my newly set challenge was in the closed area near my house and never really walked into that little patch of trees as I always discarded as not interested and why would I go there! Well challenge accepted and headed over there. I opened the app and a total of 5 birds were directly identified. The most common ones first and I thought you see, nothing to see here. However after the first 30 seconds a treecreeper appeared that was not noticeable to the ear as other birds were so loud it masked its sound. A bit later a Common redstart appeared in the app. This was even cooler!
I thought I will never encounter a treecreeper here and its sound just got me thrilled, now the chase was on as hearing a Treecreeper but actually seeing it and then photographing is a challenge. So 15 minutes set to the clock, normally I would just move on after a few minutes. Suddenly I saw something flashing by and ended up in a tree near me, but still a good distance away. It was indeed a Treecreeper and it was running up and down trees looking for small insects. I really love these little highly camouflaged birds. The next minutes I took to first look and observe and then started to take photographs. I was a bit confined in my space due to plants and how the trees were situated, but nevertheless I got some cool shots.
Observing and waiting really pays off. We are all impatient these days which is not an ideal personal character at least for me. I really need to force myself to slowdown and wait. In the end you will get rewarded, but as many things it will take a few tries and some luck to be at the right place at the right time.
I will continue to do this challenge the next days as I really want the photograph that Common redstart. Which up till now I didn't managed to do so. Let me know what you think and don’t hesitate to leave a comment or an e-mail. Click to view larger in a light box and navigate with mouse or arrow keys. Enjoy!
