Not Lepidoptera (Birds)

[twitcher]

Realy stunning!! pic Eccles you must be chuffed with that.
I cant seem to catch a half decent shot of one, one half as good as that would do me a treat.Slimbridge is about a hour and a half away from me you might have swayed me into making the visit as its been about 5 years since the last one
Shaun.

[Denise]

I really thought that the guy in camouflage with camo-cover for his kit was overdoing things a bit though, I expect it kept him warm.
.

That could have been my brother!

Fantastic shot Mike. You must really love that Sigma lens now.

Denise

[Shirley Roulston]

Someone said eariler that the photos just get better and better, well you cannot get better that this Kingfisher, its just brilliant.
Shirley

[KeynvorLogosenn]

I can't remember what a king fisher looks like
Is it red on the top and blue on the bottom, or is it blue on the top and red on the bottom?
Or am I thinking of something completely different? Most probably
Em

[barney_s]

I can't remember what a king fisher looks like
Is it red on the top and blue on the bottom, or is it blue on the top and red on the bottom?
Or am I thinking of something completely different? Most probably
Em

Hi Em - I've not been on these forums much - tend to lurk during the summer months. But is this an "in" joke I don't understand? You infer that you can't see the photo that's been posted, but have managed to create drawings that I'd be proud of:

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB2/v ... =16&t=2680

Puzzled

- B.

[KeynvorLogosenn]

Barney, I'm vision impaired. I can't see the photo, but I use visual 'information' - that all it is to me now, that are stored in memories to create drawings. I still have a visual imagination, I draw so I don't lose it. But I can't remember what a kingfisher looks like. Thats all.
Em

[barney_s]

Oops Thanks Em. I'll contact you offline.

- B.

[KeynvorLogosenn]

Don't worry Barney It's fine. I sometimes find it hard to believe that I can draw myself sometimes! I take it as a compliment when people question it

[eccles]

Thanks for the compliments, all. At Slimbridge, there's a newly developed kingfisher hide that looks out over a clay bank in which kingfishers nest. In summer you can watch them come and go from the hide. But this guy really made picture taking easy as it wasn't bothered by dozens of people walking past, or by people taking photos as it went about its task of hunting for small fish in the pond. I suppose it was about 30 feet away so this is quite a substantial crop.
I'm wondering whether the Sigma was my best choice though. Xmilehigh was using a Sony 70-300 G with a 2x teleconverter, much easier to carry around, and it's a close call on who got the better shots. To anyone with a Sony DSLR, it's a superb lens and I can unreservedly recommend it.

@Em, kingfishers have irridescent blue wings, back and head, a long slim black beak and orange breast. Their cheeks are orange and they have white patches under the chin and above the shoulder. The tail is short and stubby. They are small birds, maybe the size of a large sparrow.

[KeynvorLogosenn]

Thank you Eccles
I guess I was close.... ish. Orange(red) and blue, had the right colours!
Oh... it all comes back now! Yes, I know exactly what one is now! They have black eyes too?
I am trying to imagine something here... oh dear. As they are small, their flight path would be flap a bit, hold wings in - turn 'bullet' shape, stay like that for a bit, when they are losing velocity and height... flap some more?
And it's the bigger birds that glide...
It's the bigger ones that glide I am sure, and it's the people around me who are trying to confuse me.
Em

[eccles]

@Em, yes, their eyes are black, or at least very dark. In flight, as far as I've seen, they flap their wings rapidly and continuously, not dipping like sparrows. They don't seem to be very maneuverable in flight, perhaps because their tail is so short, but they're very accurate when diving for fish. Most of the time, all I ever see of one is a flash of irridescent blue as the bird flies away, so to get photos of this one was a real treat.