Had a quick drive west of town 3 days ago: not much around. A fishing Osprey, thousands of Common Gull and a flock of Rooks were the most noteworthy stuff……………
Locally quiet
Tag: Osprey
A grey Friday out west
Very dark yesterday so crap for photos but a few interesting birds around: various grebes including a couple of hundred Great Cresteds, several Black-throated Diver, a lone White-tailed Eagle, lots of Brent Geese and huge numbers of Common Gull.
And my first Osprey of the year too.
Getting hot
It was pretty hot yesterday. The Chinese Pond Heron was still around but flew off before I could try to get any pics. Otherwise not much about: lots of Ospreys, some Pacific Swift, several species of duck braving a Hokkaido summer, Sand Martin and Black-crowned Night Heron.
Still there, still too far off
Another crappy photo of the Chinese Pond Heron which was still around today.
Even with at 700mm it was too far off. Today was also a very hot day with harsh sunlight: not ideal for photos.
Plenty of Ospreys around.
Camera issues
So my 7DM2 has seen better days. The main dial on top has broken and other bits are loose or stiff or falling off: but nothing major I thought. I could just about manage to get by using the dial on the grip and the Q screen for a few months but as July is generally a birding lull I sent it off to Canon expecting them to do some minor repairs for between $100 and $200.
I still have my 7D Mark 1 so these photos and the last post were taken with that 11-year-old antique. For perched birds at 700mm, it’s still OK .
It was lousy for BIFs with the T/C attached but otherwise didn’t seem so bad. This Osprey on the way home was in better light and without the T/C.
When we got back Canon had been in touch. They want about $700 to fix the camera. The shutter count is so high apparently they want to replace the mirror and shutter as well as the other bits and pieces I had sent it in for. $700 to fix for a 6-year-old camera no longer in production? No way. Especially one as idiosyncratic as the 7DM2. We asked them how much it would be to just fix the top dial but they haven’t got back to me yet.
I’m not really in the position to buy a new camera for a while. The New Canon R bodies look very interesting but are way out of my price range at the moment. I guess the unrepaired 7DM2 will come back and I’ll use it until it dies but then what?
An Osprey family
The Osprey family on the west coast is doing well. 3 juveniles, all of them flying around a bit. the female (above and below) was getting harassed by the local Black-tailed Gulls.
Every so often the male dropped by with a fish…………..
A grey end to June
After several weeks of generally clear sunny weather the clouds have come………
These Ospreys were very close, wish I’d had blue skies………
Ones that got away
Whilst I was watching the terns there were several Osprey fishing very close by.
The ight was awful so the photos are not great.
They were being overambitious: 2 or 3 times they couldn’t lift the fish out of the water like this individual……….
Woule have been a nice picture if it had been facing the other way………….
A slightly blurry Osprey
This diving Osprey caught me a bit by surprise………
It’s almost in focus.
Other stuff around this weekend included all 4 species of cuckoo, Eastern Marsh Harrier, straggling Scaup and Goldeneye, Great Egret and Rhinoceros Auklet plus all the common summer stuff.
Another one in the port
This Osprey seems to like the local port. It was there again this afternoon.
I haven’t seen it catch anything there. Yet.
Local Ospreys
I sometimes complain about how dull summer birding can be around here but then I think well at least we have Ospreys fishing in the local ports………..
Also around town today were Goosander, late Scaup and Goldeneye as well as Chestnut-eared Bunting, Oriental Reed Warbler and Siberian Stonechat.
It’s over
Well the spring migration season is over. Just common bird around now.
The common bird are still reasonably interesting: Wryneck, Oriental Honey Buzzard, various brownish warblers………..
And lots of Stonechats of course.
