My Best Grey Wagtails Yet Photo Gallery by romy ocon at pbase.com

My Best Grey Wagtails Yet

Grey Wagtails inhabit streams and wet forest roads, where light is a scarce commodity. To compound the difficulty of good capture of these fellows, they are also shyish. They are always in motion too. As their name implies, they almost perpetually wag their tail, wreaking havoc on the ability of the camera to freeze their motion using the slow shutter speeds dictated by the low light in their habitat.

As if all these challenges aren't enough, a shooter must also mount the camera and lens very low to achieve a pleasing shooting angle, given the bird's preference to stay on the ground or stream water. Shooting close to the ground, while it can produce pleasing bokeh on the foreground and background, is a very difficult thing to do in the field, particularly with a monster lens and my bulging beer-belly.

But then for me, that's what wild bird photography is all about...the fun is in meeting challenges and conquering difficulties. If this thing is as easy as shooting them in zoos or aviaries, I'd look for another hobby.

These pics were taken at a nature resort in Tiaong, Quezon Province.... the same area where I had previously photographed the Indigo-banded Kingfisher up close. The bad news is according to the locals, one of the IBKFs I photographed was found dead, floating on the stream several weeks after my last visit. The remaining two IBKFs I saw in this trip were very shy, and I was not able to get as close as previously.

The good news is for the first time, I heard unmistakeably the call of the IBKF... not once but numerous times during this visit. It can be noted that the Kennedy Guide (published year 2000) says that the "call (is) not recorded." Like its cousin the Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), the IBKF's call is usually given in flight, and it is of similar "high-pitched, insect-like, metallic chee-ee often continued in a stream of notes" (KG's description of the call of the Common KF). The major difference is that the IBKF's call is less audible (lower in sound volume and not as eardrum-piercing) than that of the CKF. To my ears, the IBKF's call is very close to that of the Colasisi (albeit the IBKF's has longer duration of notes). Describing bird calls is a very tricky thing to do and I wish I had a sound recorder with me.

Note that the Grey Wagtail is already molting into breeding plumage (throat is turning dark) and in a few weeks, it's expected to fly back to its breeding grounds up north.

I hope the viewer enjoys these images as much as I had fun in capturing them, despite my back aching, and my belly and seat of my pants getting full of mud after the sortie...;-)

IMG_8357-1200x800.jpg Grey Wagtail Scientific name - Motacilla cinerea Habitat - Streams and forest roads at all elevations. [20D + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG)]	IMG_8577-900x600.jpg Grey Wagtail (Breeding plumage) Scientific name - Motacilla cinerea Habitat - Streams and forest roads at all elevations. [20D + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG)]	IMG_8531-800x600.jpg Grey Wagtail Scientific name - Motacilla cinerea Habitat - Streams and forest roads at all elevations. [20D + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG)]	IMG_8592-900x600.jpg Grey Wagtail Scientific name - Motacilla cinerea Habitat - Streams and forest roads at all elevations. [20D + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG)]	IMG_8307-800x600.jpg Grey Wagtail Scientific name - Motacilla cinerea Habitat - Streams and forest roads at all elevations. [20D + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG)]
IMG_8521-800x400.jpg Grey Wagtail Scientific name - Motacilla cinerea Habitat - Streams and forest roads at all elevations. [20D + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG)]	IMG_8604-1600x900.jpg Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) Habitat - Streams and forest roads at all elevations. Shooting info - Tiaong, Quezon, Philippines, March 25, 2006, Canon 20D + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG), 687 mm, f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/100 sec, manual exposure in available light, 475B + 3421 support, pushed +1 stop in PP, near full frame resized to 1600x900.	IMG_8545-900x600.jpg Grey Wagtail Scientific name - Motacilla cinerea Habitat - Streams and forest roads at all elevations. [Resized Full Frame, no cropping, 20D + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG)]	IMG_8343-800x600.jpg Indigo-banded Kingfisher (a Philippine endemic, male) Scientific name - Alcedo cyanopecta Habitat - Uncommon, restricted to clear fresh water streams up to at least 1500 m. [20D + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG), using MLU at 0.5 sec shutter speed)	IMG_8333-720x540.jpg Indigo-banded Kingfisher (a Philippine endemic, male) Scientific name - Alcedo cyanopecta Habitat - Uncommon, restricted to clear fresh water streams up to at least 1500 m. [20D + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG), using MLU at 0.5 sec shutter speed)
IMG_8251-720x540.jpg Mangrove Blue Flycatcher Scientific name - Cyornis rufigastra blythi (endemic race) Habitat - Disturbed forest, early second growth and in the lowlands. [20D + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG)]	IMG_8631-800x600.jpg Oriental Magpie-Robin (Female) Scientific name - Copsychus saularis Habitat - Uncommon, in all levels of second growth and cultivated areas in the lowlands. [20D + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG)]	IMG_8624-800x600.jpg Oriental Magpie-Robin (Female) Scientific name - Copsychus saularis Habitat - Uncommon, in all levels of second growth and cultivated areas in the lowlands. [20D + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG)]	IMG_8642-800x600.jpg Olive-backed Sunbird (Male) Scientific name - Nectarinia jugularis Habitat - Coconut plantations, second growth, scrub and gardens. [20D + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG)]	IMG_8392-800x600.jpg Eurasian Tree Sparrow Scientific name - Passer montanus Habitat - Common in virtually every inhabited island. [20D + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG)]
IMG_8398-800x600.jpg Eurasian Tree Sparrow Scientific name - Passer montanus Habitat - Common in virtually every inhabited island. [20D + Sigmonster (Sigma 300-800 DG)]

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