Whilst we waited in vain for the Gyr to appear yesterday a lone Snow Bunting kept us entertained.................
There had apparently been a flock of 20 of them, only this individual remained. Like the Peregrine it was very tame...............
Nice light helped.
It was finding lots of food in the dunes..................
No golden beaches here, the sand is volcanic ash I guess..............
I'd seen this species several times before in Japan but had yet to get any decent photos.
When I was a youngster I saw them on the beach at Southport and on the golf course (?) at Fleetwood...............
Fast shutter speeds were possible because of the nice light but it was very active and I have 00's of binned shots and I have aches and pains in funny places after handholding the 500 lens trying to keep up with the bunting...............
You can see there is still some snow around but this location was not buried in drifts like the last place I went trying to find this species. No snowshoes necessary yesterday..................
Difficult to avoid shots with garbage sometimes...............
Fantastic shots of a fantastic bird. I've only seen one in Japan, I suppose they usually live up to their name and we don't get many down here.
ReplyDeleteThanks Neil,they aren't that numerous in south Hokkaido either..........
DeleteGreat pictures, Stu. You managed to get the eye right on. Pretty good handheld. You must be fit and strong getting around with that 500.
ReplyDelete'Fit and strong'...........I think 'unfit and lazy' is more apt!
DeleteYou made up for it this time. Great shots. This is a bird that is very common here in the winter, sometimes in huge flocks.
ReplyDeleteI was happy with just one, a huge flock is not something you'd see in Japan...........
DeleteI think it looks better on your sand than ours! The brownish sand we have in NW England makes for unappealing photos so much of the time, and there's no contrast with snow buntings, which melt away into it from any distance.
ReplyDeleteWell I suppose if you look at that way.............
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