When I was younger I associated the activity of bird watching with either retired folks with lots of time on their hands or what we in England describe as “anoraks.” The basic definition would be a person with an obsession with a certain perhaps slightly obscure hobby, however the term was originally coined to describe “trainspotters” – people whose hobby it was to stand around at train stations for hours on end ticking off the number and type of trains that go by.
Anyway to my great surprise I spent a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon last week tracking down the beautiful blue bird with Wayne Salewski to try and capture a good image to go with this week’s front page story.
As you can see from the front page, Wayne got a great image. However the plight was not easy – these birds are tiny and quick and most of the time when you get close enough and you put your finger towards the shutter, nine times out of 10, the bird chooses that second to move on. During our drive around the agricultural community we chanced upon many other beautiful birds and had many chances for some fantastic photography. I guess with living in large cities most of my life I’ve never really had the opportunity to admire birds (except perhaps the dirty city pigeons). My bird watching afternoon was a real eye opener as to how fortunate we are to live in an area with so much fantastic wildlife and I endeavor to put my binoculars to good use as spring continues to unfold.
