I live in a bowl. Not a goldfish type of bowl you understand. A geological bowl or basin resulting from hills forming a circle with a depression inside. I share the bowl with lots of native and introduced trees and a large quantity of apple orchard trees and all the assorted animals, birds and bugs that inhabit them. Amongst those is a family of Australasian Harriers who appear to live in one of the large conifers where they regularly return after a foray but the books say that they build their nest on the ground or in bushes like toitoi (pampas grass).
Anyway around 9 am there was a terrible animal scream very close by. I went to the ranch sliders and looked out into the paddock and orchard. There 20 to 30 metres in front of me were three Australasian Harriers (presumably hen, cock and offspring) obviously just having caught something. My camera was a metre away and was in my hand before a second had passed. As I switched on and adjusted the lens the heavens opened and the light disappeared and the autofocus wouldn’t. The hawks took to the air with their kill. Result no photos of one of the best opportunities I’ve had here in five years to get them in flight.
A short while later two Fantails were cavorting in front of The Cottage. Again my camera was no more than a metre from my hand. Fantails are happy creatures with no real fear of humans but on this occasion the second I started filming they flitted off to pastures new.
I always keep the camera on my car passenger seat so on the way back from lunch (no croquet, the weather saw to that) when I came across a hawk on a post at the side of the road all I had to do was stare him out and click. But no. On this occasion I’d stopped at a shop and put the camera in the boot of the car and not retrieved it afterwards. The hawk and I stared at each other. He knew!
Home again I opened the ranch sliders and there on the clothesline was one of the most magnificent Kingfishers I’ve ever seen. I walked slowly inside. The camera was at hand. I poked my nose out and was just about to click the shutter when off he darted.
Home again I opened the ranch sliders and there on the clothesline was one of the most magnificent Kingfishers I’ve ever seen. I walked slowly inside. The camera was at hand. I poked my nose out and was just about to click the shutter when off he darted.
The Fantails were back this evening and one actually came within a foot of my face. That's not the first time that's happened. It's magical but not a photo op!
It’s definitely been one of those days. The sort where everything should go right because there’s nothing to go wrong but somehow it doesn’t quite turn out that way. The best picture I managed today was of one of the harriers over the orchard so I thought I'd show you that anyway.
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| Australasian Harrier (Kahu) Circus Approximans |
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Sounds very much like my sort of day.
ReplyDeleteI guess sometimes we just have to be content with the experience of seeing something without being able to catch it with the camera!
ReplyDeleteI have certainly had those days and moments, but still...we are blessed in them, sometimes, just for our own pleasure - a gift from His heart to our own, not always to be shared with any others except with a thankful praise for having had such a gift, to our Maker ♥
ReplyDeleteLove the one you did capture :)
Great attitude, Heather! But d... blast it when it recurs over and over! At least I got to see a harrier.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right, of course. Just experiencing those things would at one time have been a magical experience all on its own. They still were but I now want to capture these moments and share them. Blogging has a lot to answer for.
ReplyDeleteBoy, do I know about that kind of day!
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone else. When it gets too frustrating, put down the camera and enjoy. :)
Look at the beak on that guy! I would not want to be caught by him!