bird – Pete's Blog

I was walking the dogs in Cannock Chase this week, when I came across this bird sitting in a tree above me.

The bird is about 18-24 inches long and sitting quietly on the branch. Apologies that the picture is not clear. It was early morning and the light was not great. But it is clearly a bird of prey of some kind, and I found it unusual that it would not fly away when it saw me and two noisy dogs.

Apple photos tells me that it is a long eared owl. The size is right but to me it does not appear to have long ears and the head shape is more like a falcon or a kestrel. But it is too big for them, and too small for an eagle. Having googled identifying birds of prey, I wonder if it could be a buzzard. If you have any clue, please let me know. And why was it not scared of me?

It is a week since we moored up for the season. We are still living on the boat because our new house will not be ready for another couple of months. But we do have a car, which is a treat after living without for six months. And it does allow me to go to places like this. Perhaps learning to live a slow pace of life on a narrowboat also frames my mind to notice things more like this bird. But what is it?

During many years of travelling on a narrowboat, I must have tried to photograph a kingfisher a hundred times. We see them on the side of the canal quite frequently. A flash of blue against the brown or green. But for some reason they are really hard to photograph. They seem to know what they are doing because quite often they will sit quietly on a branch until I reach in my pocket for my phone. As soon as I look at the screen they are gone, either disappearing completely, or teasing me by flying ahead of the boat to find another perch.

So this week I was delighted to find a bird that remained still long enough for me to get a series of pictures.

I know they aren’t great – too blurry. We meet a number of bird watchers along the canals. They tell me that I am doing it wrong. I should sit quietly with a huge camera on a tripod, and wait for the bird to come to me. A great kingfisher photo can take days or weeks of waiting. I am just too impatient for that.

I did find a better way to get a kingfisher photo a couple of years ago. I met someone on a towpath that had just taken a picture and she kindly shared with me.

Now that is a kingfisher!

Tag: bird

Is this an owl?

Why is it so hard to take a picture of a kingfisher?