This is Not a crappy post. The BIRD did the crapping 😀.
Do we think it is not politically correct to talk about crap? Then see the quote below:
I just think political correctness is crap- Gary Oldman
Hahaha. Sorry - did not mean to keep talking about it but the bird did that and shocked me. Let me start at the beginning.
We all know the second lockdown that happened last year in most of the countries worldwide. Well - it placed me in a terrible situation. I had to keep going in to work (physically - not virtually) because the local government authorities decided to exclude industrial zones from lockdown So - I had to work every day of the week but could not go out for photography on the weekends due to weekend curfew hours restrictions.
For 3 weeks straight, I worked hard and spent weekends cooped up in the house, being a couch-potato. Finally, on the fourth Sunday, I decided to go out near my house only and photograph whatever I could get. I swore to myself that I will photograph something, even if it is as mundane as a crow !
As luck would have it, the lake a short walk away from my home was brimming with water due to unusual rains this year. The water was too much even for waders. As a result, in 1 hour of walking on the edges of the lake, I did not even see ONE bird!
Surprisingly though, I found a tiny spec of color on one of the rocks partially sticking out of water. It was a Common Kingfisher. I was overjoyed to see it since it had never been seen in our area before. It is one of my favorite birds to photograph since it is so colorful.
Happily, I crawled (literally) through the grass at the edge of the lake and started clicking. I got a beautiful portrait with the bird sitting and pensively looking at the horizon.
The pensive thinker...
MY own click
As I was clicking away, the bird fluffed up its feathers and shook them. It also flicked its tail up and down 2-3 time. Then it leaned forward. Typically, these are the things birds do when they take off from a perch. So, getting ready for the flight shot, I pressed and held the shutter down. Firing at 10 frames/second, I just happened to be clicking when, instead of flying the bird decided to do a number (2!). Hehehe
That's some Rapid-fire shit!
My own click
I got such a shock from this unexpected 'action' that I almost dropped my camera. As luck would have it all that crap got captured on camera and I noticed, later, that the birds was totally looking at me, brazenly, while crapping ! As it to say "I CRAP on you world!"
In all that confusion that followed, as a I grappled with my camera to avoid dropping it, the bird took off, having 'lightened it's load' and I missed the flight shot! 😀
Anyway - I was thoroughly entertained and overcame my boredome that Sunday. I thank the Common Kingfisher for that performance.
Information about the bird
Name: Common Kingfisher
Scientific name: Alcedo atthis
Size: Around 10-15 cm (4-6 inches)
Conservation status: Least concern (IUCN 3.1)
Description (based on e-bird, Wikipedia and my observations): This is one of the smaller kingfishers found in Europe,Asia and North Africa. It feeds almost exclusively on fish, caught by diving down into lakes/rivers/streams. It has special vision for allowing it to see clearly under water.
Information about photograph
- Aperture: F5.6
- ISO: 1250
- Shutter: 1/2000
- Support: Handheld shot
- Camera: Nikon D500
- Lens: Nikkor 200-500mm
- Image format: Photo clicked in RAW and edited for presentation sizing
A big thank you for support
Thanks to c/hive-106444 (Feathered friends community) for providing this wonderful opportunity to present my experience and photographs. Thanks to @barbara-orenya and @melinda010100 for all the support and encouragement to this community. Special thanks to @nelinoeva also for starting the Species hunt initiative. My posts are not exactly in that format but have all the necessary info and Good original Photos. Further guidance will be very much welcome.
Thanks to HIVE for this wonderful platform. Thanks also to @adalger and @dna.org for encouraging me by recognizing some of my posts as worthy of Densifying nature project.
Further, thanks to Amazing nature community for welcoming me and showing me their love on some of my posts.
Note: All images and collages in this blog are created by me, based on photos clicked by me personally and/or free vector images from Pixabay
Quotes used, if not credited, are either from unknown authors or are proverbial old sayings.
