There are
many attractions, delights and rewards when spending time in the field with
bins and camera looking for birds and whatever else the natural world may
reveal on your walkabouts. However, I find one of the great pleasures of
birding is the fact that you never know what might turn up. While some birding
and photography is planned, and targeted, the reality is that much of what is captured
by the camera comes by shear chance, though as a wise friend once quoted – “chance
favours the prepared mind”.
A chance encounter
with a pair of Black-shouldered Kites recently came my way when we were
visiting Yuraygir National Park in northern NSW. On a short walk from Station
Creek camp ground to the coast, the path crosses sand dunes dominated by grass
and low densely growing coastal wattle plus some groves of Casuarina trees.
While trying to photograph a very wary Tawny Grassbird in the wattles (without
much success) I spotted in the distance two white birds perched in the top of a
large Casuarina tree standing alone beyond a grove of Casuarinas. At first I
thought they were White-headed Pigeons but a quick check with the bins revealed
they were Black-shouldered Kites.
Given their
position it looked like I could use the grove of trees as cover to work my way
close to them with the sun at my back – as a bird photographer you become very
aware of sun angle. I have found most raptors including Black-shouldered Kites
very wary of people on foot and their FID (flight initiation distance) is usually
quite long and certainly longer than the distance required for a good photo.
Sometimes however if the raptor is preoccupied, for example it has a prey item
it is eating, then you may, with care, be able to approach closer than the
usual FID.
So, I took
the following distant photo of the pair perched in the top of the Casuarina and
then set off through the grove. While the grove provided some cover, I have no
doubt the pair of Kites knew I was there and followed my progress towards them.
Please click on photos to enlarge.
Please click on photos to enlarge.
Pair of Black-shouldered Kites perched in top of the Casuarina. |
By stages I
stopped and took a few photos and then slowly worked my way closer. Given the
sun angle I headed towards the bird on the right-hand side of the tree. When I
reached the end of the grove of trees and their scant cover the birds were
still sitting. I then moved beyond the grove out into the open and continued to
approach the right-hand bird – by now the bird to my left was out of sight. At this
point I was surprised to get so close without them taking flight. Until this
point I had been on grass but now I could not approach further as the way ahead
was thick wattles – in any case this was close enough and any further and I would
have been taking photos looking up at a steep angle.
I took a
few shots of the bird and made some adjustments to camera settings as I went.
The bird seemed to be comfortable with my presence and spent time looking
around as well as at me – this seemed a little unusual as most raptors would
have departed by now.
I decided
it was time to leave the bird in peace but thought I would give it another few
minutes in case something happened or it took off and I could get a flight shot
– it was just a hunch that I should be patient and stay a little longer.
The bird
began to call.
I sensed something
may be about to happen! And it did – the other bird entered stage right calling
as it came.
From here
on the action unfolded rapidly and all I could do was try and capture some
photos (one shot at a time – the high speed continuous shooting function was
not selected) with no time to check and change camera settings. I have not
added any captions to the following sequence of photos – the photos can speak
for themselves – they are in the order taken.
Nine
seconds elapsed from the time the male came into view to the last photo when he
flew off. Five seconds elapsed from what looked like the start of copulation to
the last photo as the male flies off.
As the male
dismounted and flew off, the female pitched forward and almost overturned on
the flimsy twig she was perched on. The female then seemed to regain her
composure rapidly.
She then fluffed
up her feathers and vigorously shook herself.
She then
settled her feathers back in place.
And a moment
later she was gone leaving me alone with my emotions – what an incredible experience
and privilege to witness up close this intimate act between two beautiful wild
birds of prey. Some birders have referred to these chance and very special encounters
as experiencing grace, the receiving of a precious gift that you could never
arrange.
Looking
back it now seems the birds allowed my close approach because they were
preoccupied with mating. My hunch something was unusual and my decision and
patience to wait a little longer paid off. It would have been easy to assume nothing-to-see-here
and move on. Nature of course runs at its own pace – seeing amazing things often
requires us to slow down, wait and watch.
And of
course, luck plays a big part – if the bird on the right-hand side - which I
headed for because of the sun angle - was the male, then the outcome would have
been completely different.
Camera
details:
All photos
hand held using Canon 5D MKIII camera, Canon EF 300mm 1:2.8L prime lens and Canon 2X extender giving focal length
of 600mm.
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