Spot the birdie!

Victorian photographers often used the expression "Watch the birdie" when taking portraits of children. The idea was to attract the child's attention to a stuffed bird held either above or to the right of the camera, thus getting the subject to inadvertently look into the camera's lense.

History lesson over. Here are a couple of images I grabbed with my Canon G9 X pocket camera this morning from inside my dining room.

This is a long tailed tit hanging upside down in one of the acers beside my pond. Can you spot him?

Long Tailed Tit

I have no idea what the little guy had found to pick at, but he was definitely busy grabbing some kind of bug from the tree.

I've always enjoyed watching our garden birds and am pleased to say the family of long tailed tits have become recent regular visitors. They have joined our resident blue tits and great tits and I'm hoping they will also become residents.

Pigeon Island formerly Bird Island

There's a small island in the bay at Kuşadaşı (Turkey) that is now known as Pigeon Island. In fact it isn't an island at all since it is connected to the mainland by a mole now. Back in Byzantine times that wasn't the case and the island was fortified and used as a defence against seaborne attack by pirates, hence the name of the fortification, Pirate Castle.

The island got it's name from the seasonal migration of birds and was known as Kuşadaşı, “Bird Island” in Turkish. During Ottoman times the island was given to the town, which then also became known as Kuşadaşı (Bird Island). To avoid confusion the island was renamed Pigeon Island.

Kuşadaşı or Bird Island from which the modern city takes its name

It makes me wonder whether the migrating birds were actually pigeons? If so perhaps the modern city of Kuşadaşı should be renamed Pigeon City, which would be apt given the number of pigeons on the streets of the city!

Okay I admit it, I was wrong...

So a few days ago I told you I'd spotted what I believed to be some rare visitors to these shores and now I'm holding my hand up to say I was mistaken. I'd seen a group of three cranes, which I mistakenly identified as Sandhill Cranes. In my defence I saw the birds in early morning light and at a distance. I saw them again this morning and this time I had my little Panasonic TZ5 with me (it just fits in the rear pouch of my cycling shirt) so I grabbed some quick images. Again we're talking early morning light (6:20am) and in overcast conditions at the extreme end of my little pocket camera's zoom... I tell you this because the images are not great by any means, but at least they prove the birds are there. :)

Common Cranes

They are Common Cranes otherwise known as European Cranes and I'm pretty sure they will have migrated the short distance from the Somerset Levels where a group were released in an effort to reintroduce the species to the UK a couple of years ago.

Common Cranes

I'd still like to photograph these birds properly, after all these are the first cranes I've ever seen living in the wild in the UK, so will make the effort to capture some images with a 'proper' camera and long lens.

Common Cranes

Unexpected sighting

Amazing the things you see when you're out on your bike... on my morning ride over the Gwent Levels today I spotted some large birds in a field. I didn't believe my eyes, so I stopped to get a better look and low and behold my initial impression appears to have been right... I'm pretty sure I was looking at some visiting Sandhill Cranes.

Sandhill Cranes

Sandhill Cranes are usually resident in North America and while they have been known to visit the UK occasionally they are very rare here. There were three in the group I saw this morning (the image above is not mine, but for illustration only) and I have just spent the last hour trying to confirm my identification. I'll take my camera and return to the location shorty to see if the birds are still there. Crossing my fingers they will be.