Psilos Bird Journal
Friday May 16th 2008
     
Grey wagtails - "We are family 2"
 
With great excitement I returned the following day. The day was more overcast but at times the light was quite nice. Yesterday I had watched a stoat wandering around and the chicks could fledge at any time so I was well aware that I could arrive and find nothing at all.
     

     
Drawing nearer I could see the waterfall and with bated breath I craned my head to look for them. Instantly relief flooded through me as both birds were easily visible hunting on the waterfall and the chicks were obviously still in the nest.


Today I had a very different plan. I knew the birds settled relatively easily in my presence so decided to see just how much I could push my luck. The river bed on which the nest site was sited was elevated by a step that fell away further down the river. This meant that if I climbed down into the river further downstream and laid on the ledge that ran its length I would have a direct eye level view of the water surface where the birds were hunting. It just remained to be seen if the birds would accept me there too.
 
 
This section of the river is much darker and with my decision to photograph the birds here I knew my iso levels would have to be much higher. I was hoping that the lowering of picture quality would be worth it for the low level angles that I would get. So with great care and some trepidation I lowered myself down into the river bottom, laid myself flat on the narrow and quite uncomfortable concrete ledge and waited....
 
 
At this point it really does make you wonder if birds recognise individual humans or whether they just recognise your actions. From the moment I arrived the birds hardly broke step. From the moment I laid low in that river bed and looked out across at them they accepted me totally. I could get up and down, rapidly move my camera in their direction and it never scared them off. Indeed such was their commitment to catch food that at times they ran very near to where I was lieing and in pursuit of flies would hover so close to my body that I could hear the flutter of their wings.
 
Eventually I got all the shots I wanted and decided to photograph them in a different and far sunnier setting. Upriver at the top of the waterfall the river runs fast and shallow over a myriad of pebbles and boulders. At no time did the birds go further than twenty yards above or below the nest site and it was here that I now wanted to photograph them. You would think that if I went to the top of the river the birds would go to the bottom and vice versa but at no time was this the case. Indeed at times they seemed to positively follow me. Whether they felt safer in my company or whether it was coincidence I do not know.