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Thursday 28th 65F, a sunny day with light winds. After lunch I set off to cycle to the same lake as yesterday. This time I went straight to the tree-shaded, grass bank and set up near the picnic table. I am beginning to organize an efficient routine. The table was handy for laying everything out for easy access. It saved me having to have my binoculars hanging around my neck when I had only to reach over. A scan of the lake with my 8x42 Nikon Monarch 5 binoculars was useful.
It allowed me to quickly assess most of the birds present. Two families of Shelducks, an Adult Great Crested Grebe and very pale juvenile. A second Grebe juvenile was fiercely chased away by the adult Grebe. One can only imagine the story behind this odd behaviour. It was repeated later but the unwanted juvenile did not retreat very far. It surely can't be due to a shortage of food in this very mature lake? The original pair of grebes spent most of their time preening out on the water.
A large Heron moved at intervals between the bird nesting "furniture." Presumably nest boxes erected on posts by the owner of the lake. A heron is not the most exciting video subject due to its rather static pose for most of the time. Though It did offer some useful practice without having to constantly pan the telescope. Few water birds seem to stay still for very long. I do need to attend to the telescope's balance. Even with the dovetail plate fully moved to one end it is still tail heavy with the camera and adapter aboard.
The Shelducks are real tourists. Rarely holding still as they move around the lake. Then onto the bank at intervals, before soon setting off again. Their young are excellent paddlers even over longer distances.
I fooled the Canon battery into accepting a full charge this time. Every time the green light on the charger came on I would lift the battery away from the contacts and then drop it back in again. The orange light came on for a few more minutes or just a few seconds before turning green again. It had no trouble holding out for an hour today. While I captured stills or video, without turning the camera off. I did notice that there was much less demand for auto-focus and centering today. The servo motors can usually be heard whining briefly during focusing and subject centering.
The lowest power, naked eyeball view through the Vortex Razor was sharp, bright and colourful. Not so much through the camera. I deliberately kept the camera zoom under half way and used the telescope zoom when I wanted more scale for a distant subject. Unfortunately, the Razor zoom ring is as foolishly stiff as the eyepiece, rubber ring is ridiculously loose and floppy. Neither is a good sign at this price level! Quality control is obviously not their greatest strength!
I will post some of today's videos once I have checked them properly and uploaded them. The wind was much lighter than yesterday. So I had a superb background of natural bird noises for most of the time. There were even warblers and Blue tits in the foliage just above my head.
I will post some of today's videos once I have checked them properly and uploaded them. The wind was much lighter than yesterday. So I had a superb background of natural bird noises for most of the time. There were even warblers and Blue tits in the foliage just above my head.
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