Sunday 16 November 2014

Butterflies in flight

I should be trying for better shots but for now, some results out of attempts so far. Almost all of below shots are sharpened quite harshly and in third shot have removed a flower just left of the butterfly.






Thursday 6 November 2014

Scaly thrush and more

Scaly thrush is one of those birds that you are always thrilled to sight. Stays on the ground, under dense bushes and loves to stay hidden. I had seen it here once two years back – had assumed it was on her way back to summer home. This season, a week ago as I was walking by around where I had seen it previously, something took off from ground and gone in a fraction of second. I was sure it was a Scaly thrush. Was it here on its way to South or was here for the winter? In few days I got the answer. Same place, I was careful this time and stopped as soon as heard the thrush walking on the ground. It watched me for a while from inside those plants that hid it nicely, and then flew off. landed on a tree not far, on a branch at eye level. (tree was at lower height then ground I was standing on). too good to be true? Well, I wasn't carrying right equipment. Here is a crop from what I got using smaller cam. (it was on Aperture priority and I clicked without noticing what shutter speed cam had selected. I was surprised that I got at least one shot steady enough at 50x zoom at shutter speed of 1/50.) 

After above shot, I thought ‘How lucky to get it on a tree in clear sight’. While indeed for a bird that spends almost all its time on ground and hiding I was lucky to see it on the tree, what stuck me as odd fact that it was my third photograph of the bird so far and in all three it was on a tree. I remembered term for this that I had learned more than 15 years ago in context of performance measurement of portfolios - its called Survivorship bias.

Some couple of hundred meters from where I saw the thrush, is a spot that was favourite get-together place for many birds last week (they seemed to have moved elsewhere this week), mostly resident and some local migrants (i.e. those who are technically resident but appear during some season and disappear in other). Essence of being there can be best captured by capturing sound, which I haven't done so far. for now, a black hooded Oriole Juv there while it was playing with other Oriole.

Another day. I saw below flycatcher at low and clear perch. Now, I was supposed to take as good picture as possible, as fast as possible. and flycatcher was supposed to notice me and fly off. but, for the reasons I did not try to understand, my camera kept refusing to focus on the bird - probably it was underexposed or bird was too small to focus on but whatever it was, I stubbornly refused to apply mind and kept pressing shutter hoping I will get a shot. (for the fear that bird will fly off by the time I correct settings / move closer.) the bird too refused to play its part well and gave me unreasonably long time to shoot. In the end, however, being anxious about getting result, doing same thing and expecting different result policies didn't work and I was left with this below shot losing excellent opportunity. - I think I am falling back in that trap of getting anxious seeing a shot I want where probability doesn't favour me getting it. for the first time last year I had managed to get out of this trick mind plays with me and stay calm and enjoy what I see no matter how rare the shot may appear. I had managed to stop wanting to grab it. It had, as expected increased success rate, but more than that, feeling of winning over mind's trick was more enjoyable. I guess, this flycatcher reminds me that less time I am spending with nature in last few months is not a development in right direction.


Lastly, an encounter with this inquisitive butterfly. It was flying with what looked like intention to reach some flowers, suddenly notices the other butterfly on ground, alters its flight path in typical 3 dimensional unpredictable zigzag pattern to move near the butterfly on the ground, with two three dips it appeared to have understood what it wanted to and was back on its way. 
I was watching the episode and to me the butterfly on the ground appeared dead - and therefore the other one more of a concerned individual rather than just a curious creature. I thought to keep dead butterfly away from this walking path so someone doesn't step on it / cause stress to other butterflies around. I took a step towards it and it flew away :-)

Managed to get a shot of above because I was already trying for some in-flight butterfly shots. no good shots so far, but flying butterflies appear most interesting subjects right now. hope will get a post with them soon.