Wednesday 20th April 2016, 9.25am (day 1,700)
“I ain’t no jackdaw. I ain’t got no stoopid hair in my beak. Want this bread? Come and get it, asshole.”
Angry bird
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Tag Archives: bird
The rook doesn’t quite pull it off
Friday 15th April 2016, 7.50am (day 1,695)
This rook was looking quite butch in the viewfinder but he rather spoils it with the hair poking out of his beak. No, it’s not on my camera lens, or on your computer screen — it is indeed poking out of his beak.
ERRATUM: Apparently this is a jackdaw, not a rook — my mistake….
Robin Redbreast
Sunday 13th March 2016, 11.55am (day 1,662)
Anybody who lives anywhere near me will know that we enjoyed a perfect spring day today — the sort where all of nature comes out to frolic. Look at the glint in this robin’s eye.
Heron, Hebden Water
Wednesday 17th February 2016, 9.45am (day 1,637)
It could be sharper and it ain’t gonna win any wildlife photography contests, but I’m glad this baby was fishing in the river this morning when I went shopping down in the town, because otherwise I was home all day working and there was nothing to see…. But herons are always good for a shot. Handsome creatures. That neck-spring-and-dagger-beak combination must be a fish’s worst nightmare.
The mallard knows
Sunday 20th December 2015, 12.05pm (day 1,578)
Ducks are always good models, well-coloured and they don’t really mind people sticking cameras in their faces. Mind you, this one was turned the other way until it zipped round and had a dabble in its wing, for cleaning purposes. Looks like it’s sweeping a cape across its face — ‘The Shadow knows?’. Before your time? Before mine, for sure.
Breakfast tray
Wednesday 5th August 2015, 7.30am (day 1,441)
Last full day in Tanzania, with the very long (35 hour) journey home starting just after lunch. Breakfast was provided for more than just the human guests of the Springlands Hotel in Moshi.
Bird in the Karanga Valley
Friday 31st July 2015, 1.00pm (day 1,436)
Did not see a huge amount of fauna on Kili, though with so many people around this is probably attributable to animals’ shyness rather than depopulation as such. There were flocks of big white-necked ravens, with impressive beaks, however, and also quite a few of these sparrow-like birds. This one was pictured in the Karanga valley, which we dropped into just before the end of walking on day 4, here at about 3,700m (12,140 feet).
Evening view over Hebden Bridge
Monday 22nd June 2015, 7.30pm (day 1,397)
Another day where the weather can politely be described as ‘mixed’. But at least this evening burst of sun brought dramatic light for a time. Today brings to an end what has been (for me) a relatively long period at home, but the next ten days see me mostly elsewhere.
Red kites feeding
Thursday 14th May 2015, 3.00pm (day 1,358)
For the second Thursday in a row I went off on a trip outside England and into another nation of the UK — this time Wales, its first appearance on the blog. I am visiting a colleague in Aberystwyth, a town with more books per head of population than anywhere in the world, apparently. Later in the day she took me to a place in the hills above the town, a centre devoted to maintaining the population of red kites (Milvus milvus), handsome birds of prey. The birds gather to be fed every day at 3pm. This was my best attempt at capturing the flock as they came down and feasted on the bounty, they all move damn quickly and I don’t have the equipment to freeze their movement in the way a pro would. But I like the one on the bottom left, caught looking at the camera.
Blackbird at the station
Tuesday 28th April 2015, 7.45am (day 1,342)
I went all the way to London and back today for no immediately obvious reason thanks to someone cancelling a meeting at the last minute. Basically I did a 10-hour round trip to have lunch in the Parcel Yard at King’s Cross. So here’s none of that. Instead, let’s feature this blackbird who was looking suspiciously at me at Hebden Bridge station this morning.
Being 42 