On two separate occasions now, I have spied on the Karoo thrush (Turdus smithi). I cannot believe it is more than a year ago! (The two previous posts about this little friend; post 1 and post 2.) As I am still sitting down in my room writing my PhD, the little friend returned to the same spot, but this time I was ready! Or no, I am lying. She is always returning, and I am always spying on her through my window, but in a type of cat-and-mouse chase, I am never able to grab my camera quick enough to take nice photographs of them. Tired of this situation, I grabbed my camera and waited for this little shy friend, and after some trial and error, I managed to get some nice photographs, between all of the over and under-exposed ones. But even in the overexposed failures, there were some nice silhouette ones.
What a proud-looking bird! I think it was merely on the lookout for me, but nonetheless. I am not sure if this was a mother-and-baby relationship, or if it was a romantic pair, but every time I returned, there were two friends. One sat on top of the ledge, either waiting for food or on the lookout, whilst the other one was busy on the grass, looking for food.
His or her beak was full of mud if you look carefully. The bugs were probably very deep! But as I was taking photographs of this little friend, I looked up and saw that there was another friend just above this one.
It does not look like a juvenile bird, so maybe it was on the lookout, for the likes of myself who come and disturb their freedom! Before both of them took off, I took some more photographs of them, as they posed so beautifully for me.
It was relatively hot today, so I hope that they had enough water, because this little friend did not make a sound as his/her beak was open. In fact, this one looks more juvenile than the one who sat on top who I thought was the lookout. I am not sure.
I am always mesmerised by their eyes though. If the camera perfectly focuses, their eyes always pop out for me. The perfect circle of their dark eyes always pulls me in, deeper, and looking into my soul.
Moments like these do not last long. Quickly, he/she flew away and I ran after him/her. They do not like to be followed, as they are very shy birds. Hence, the reason why I always struggle to photograph them. As soon as they know you are there watching them, they fly away with tremendous speed.
I followed this one around the corner of the house, where the friend was busy searching for more bugs. Apparently, they did not like this as they increasingly moved toward a territory I presume was part of a rival bird's territory. As soon as they moved there, unbeknownst to me, another thrush came out of nowhere, chasing both these friends away.
As I am writing this post, I am listening to their calls. They are incredibly territorial, as every night at dusk, I can hear the dog fights going on just outside of my window. Sometimes when my girlfriend and I lay outside at the swimming pool close to dusk, we can see the thrush dog fights happen in real time. It is incredible to witness them but I am positive I will never capture them on video. Similar to the quick flight of bats, these birds are true fighter pilots!
In any case, as I ran outside to spy on the karoo thrush friends, I walked straight into the common house sparrow. Luck was on my side, as my camera focused and I captured a pretty nice photograph of this very beautiful bird! Luckily, it was in focus. As I have a graveyard of various bird photographs that remain stuck in time forever out of focus and capturing the last flight of the bird just out of frame. Such is the life of a photographer, I guess. Luckily, we do not pay per photograph, like in the old days.
In any case, I hope that you enjoyed these photographs of these beautiful birds. They visit my window every single day, and only in fleeting moments do I manage to capture them!
For now, happy birding, and stay safe.
All of the photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and 300mm zoom lens. The musings and writings are also my own.