The Difficulty of Photographing Birds

In yesterday's post I talked about going out on a wild kingfisher chase. This morning I woke up determined to catch my prey, making my way back to the same canal where I had seen the little guy the day before.

A glorious, slightly overcast day, I'm bumping fuzzily along the dirt path on two wheels.

I reach the canal and in its murky waters I see fish.

Big fish. Bigger fish than I think a kingfisher could fish.

I don't see him yet, but there's evidence of him all around. On the rocks and poles.

I can imagine him perched there, surveying the waters. I sit down and wait.

Soon, a flash of blue catches me eye, speeding past, almost scraping the wall. I pull out my camera and start snapping. The only problem is that he won't let me get too close. As soon as I'm within twenty feet, even across the canal, he darts off. Well, not the only problem. I'm finding it's damn difficult to hold the camera completely steady to get off a good shot.

For that I'm gonna need a tripod.

Here's what I was hoping to snap.

Here's what I got.

Cute, but blurry, and not very crisp. I'll need to go back. I think there's a tripod in here somewhere.