~~
Sunday 6th. Bright with a speckled sky due to high cloud. I walked a loop to take in the Grebe pond. This time my patience paid off. I had taken my Sirui CF monopod. So I sat on a wooden bar right beside the water, dressed in my cheap camouflage outfit. There seems to be no need for a hide.
The monopod provided the vital prop for effortless support of the heavy lens and body. It is no use having perfect image stabilization if the narrow field of view wanders away from the subject due to tired arms.
Do Grebes smile?
Over time, this morning, the grebes grew less afraid and more curious. I usually sit right back in the shade of the trees. Today I sat boldly but unmoving at the front of the grass bank. Yet again, the monopod allowed me to remain perfectly still for long periods. It actually seems much less clumsy than the tripod with the very clumsy, Sirui gimbal head.
It helped that the wind brought them towards me. They are highly susceptible to drifting in the slightest breeze. They even bumped into each other when the wind caught the upwind bird. Like little dodgem cars.
A short distance to the subject is everything in photography. One adult and a juvenile came within 30 yards of me today. I had tried onboard TC and 2x and 4x digital zoom at a distance but the results were very mixed. The problem is not knowing which image has had the augmentation. It doesn't register in the image data.
The young are growing dark crests now but still seem to be dependent on the adults for food. None of the three young dived today. Nor did the adults for that matter.
A juvenile begs for food from its parent.
It is extraordinarily difficult to capture attractive images where the birds are too distant. There is also the completely random behaviour of birds which preen so often. Perhaps they are itchy but they seem to stab at their back feathers quite frequently.
Sudden head twisting to reach their backs is very commonplace. Catching the light in the bird's eye can mean twenty or thirty exposures just to catch that one instant. I am avoiding exposure bursts to give myself practice in anticipation of favourable behaviour. I took 600 images today. Only half a dozen are up to my rising standards.
The Grebe family stayed together more today. On previous visits they seemed to be studiously ignoring each other. They are known to select favourites amongst their young and feed them in isolation. Even driving the others away. I have seen this behaviour repeatedly over the course of my visits. Though not today. They seemed much more relaxed than before. Were my attempts to remain invisible under the trees counterproductive? Was being of unknown identity actually upsetting them? Or have they simply become more used to the weird bod on the far bank?
~~
