These little fellows, real live-wire types, threw me today because of the visible variation in their plumages and bare parts, notably the colour of the legs or tarsi. They were in the same exuberant flock delighting in today’s very fine weather as I strolled along thevJiajiang River, a kind of bypass to the mighty Yangtze RIver which runs parallel, on the other side of Jiangxin Island. Think of a road in rural Surrey or Kent which runs near the M25 motorway but which is protected from the excesses of that traffic nighmare and ecological disaster zone by trees and fields. This fine stretch of water and land remove the excesses of the Yangtze excepting the distant dull drone from the screws that power the 24/7/365 movement of the myriad craft that ply their trade up and down the thousands of kilometre of navigable river.
I have been very busy of late so little opportunity to wave my new wand until today, a national holiday to mark the 72nd anniversary of the birth of the modern nation of China. We have been blessed with fantastic weather too of late. This national holiday leads into the Golden Week holiday next week which traditionally marks the transition from summer to autumn and then rapidly to winter. So today was a first opportunity to get out and see some birds. Unfortunately the throngs of people must have made the birds more skittish than usual so not a lot to report.
These Silver-throated Tits, or rather the photos, immediately underline the relative simplicity of pointing my new lens and firing off lots of shots. It would have been virtually impossible to get a decent shot of these guys using a digiscope rig due to their effervescence. I was hoping that some Vinous-throated Parrotbills might materialise too, another hyperactive species that hunt in packs. They will come in due course, rest assured, along with kingfishers and who knows what. I do like the lens ….
I also managed to get on this Long-tailed Shrike, a bird which is under serious threat in Thailand bit appears to be thriving in this area. I expect in time to get in closer to this fellow and I also expect I’ll get some decent shots of Azure-winged Magpie, another common local bird..
I should add these photographs are straight out of the box, no cropping or editing in any shape or form. I am wondering what might be possible with this lens in a hide like at Baan Song Nok, in the Kaeng Krachan area of Petchburi province, Thailand. Does anyone know of easy to access hides in China? I am sure there must be many as photography in general is increasingly popular in these pairts. Stand by!
Dodgy Birds 