Twice yesterday I saw a Red Kite circling over the village, haven't seen it since last year. Its always too far and fast to photo, lovely to see but a shock for the garden birds who all took cover.
There was a lovely pair of Mandarin ducks down at the river today. I stayed well back and took a photo with the long lens so I didn't disturb them. This photo is a 50% crop too so I wasn't as close as it looks. Then someone saw me taking a photo and marched down to take their own photo with their phone and scared them away.
The photo above is my favourite but I kept waiting for the male to wake up and turn his head. Then just as he did a mallard plonked himself down in the background and started staring at me judgementally.
I also saw this starling catching the sun.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
@wild edges Out of interest, you could have cropped the mallard out. Would the picture have been too shaved for you - you like to have lots of space around the subject in a compostion? I would guess there is some photography rule at play in your choice.
I wanted a bit of context and 'breathing space' in the photo but I find composition quite tricky at the best of times. There are basic rules, like the Rule of Thirds, which help but with the photo limit size on the forum, and some people viewing on small screens, making the subject smaller can lose a lot of detail. I actually prefer something like the crop below with more space in front of the subject, but the background starts to get messy and distracting in this case.
You can see with a grid overlayed though that the ducks are in the lower 2/3rds with the male's head right on the line (if he was facing the right way...). I still feel like the female's eye should be in the center of the frame though.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
I see the rule of thirds and breathing space, but i also like a whole lot of duck ... if feels like you can get the astonishingness close up - in yer face, esp in full screen, to appreciate the feather detail.
Busy morning out there in the wilderness. Our roe doe has been browsing and resting all day so far. I think the hoards of magpies and jackdaws were keeping her on her toes.
My calendar for this year is all about Garden Birds. I thought this was interesting on this month's page. "Within the next few weeks, the male wren will build as many as twelve nests - the female will select her favourite, which will then be lined with leaves, feathers and moss."
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Maybe like us, they go for their personal favourites when there's so much choice.
Buy more tulips, @Fire!
"Within the next few weeks, the male wren will build as many as twelve nests - the female will select her favourite, which will then be lined with leaves, feathers and moss."
She should be so lucky!!