Wildlife Photography across the Water: Feeding and Breeding

Thursday, 15 July 2010

Feeding and Breeding

About a month ago, Jac came and told me that there were nesting Pied Wagtail at her work location. So one very bright Saturday I took my self up to the business park to see a very busy pair of Pied Wagtail parents ferrying back and forth with food for their nestlings. Setting my car up away from the nesting box, a couple of pallet crates just in the middle of a very busy area where business comes and goes all week long, I set the 7D, 500f4 and 1.4 EFTC on a bean bag on the car window cill and watched and waited.

It didn't take long before the male came back with a beakful and looked up to the nesting area.

Flying up about a metre, he got on to the pallets and made the precarious walk to the entrance hole

After a couple of minutes in the nest, he came out again and then after another five minutes he was back to take in another mouthful of insects.

After he went back for about the third time, the female popped out for a stretch of her wings and get another load of food.

This picture shows the marking differences very well with the female being less well marked, and you can also see the brood patch on her side from the time on the nest

While I was watching these come and go, I also noticed a pair of Swallows flying into an office building that had a door left open. Timing my entry when the birds were away , I went in to see a mess on an emergency light fitting on a stairwell bulkhead. Taking myself to the top of the stairs and hunkering down with the 70-200f2.8L on the camera, I jacked the ISO up to 1600 and was getting f3.5 and 1/80 second so not the best, and a strong cream/beige hue from the painted walls.

The birds looked up when the shutter clicked, but then carried on building.

Since these pictures were taken, I believe the Swallows moved themselves on as they made an opportunistic attempt at a totally inappropriate nest when the offices were unattended, and the five young Pieds have been successfully reared, fledged and moved on.

Martin

1 comment:

Amila Kanchana15 July 2010 at 13:49
Nesting birds,any nesting animals actually, are always fascinating. Thanks for this nice post!
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Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.