I wandered into the garden this morning with a cup of coffee and no camera. I heard a "peep" and into the conifer that todays Robin was photographed in, a little Goldcrest flew. I stood watching the Goldcrest as he hopped from branch to branch quite openly, about six feet from me.
He performed all sorts of acrobatics, hanging from the underneath of the branches, standing right out on the tips of some of the closest branches.
He then hopped even closer, and in full view of me proceeded to groom, and give his plumage a very through going over.
I could have had scores of really nice shots if only I had taken a camera out with me.
He must have been sat there for at least five minutes before flying off.
This is the best shot I got of him later on, nowhere near as good as I could have had.
I also today missed shots of a Wren going in and out of a bird box, sited very high up in a tree and I would have thought more suitable for a Blue Tit than a Wren, but I shall keep watching it.
It may just be the contrariness of nature that you get the best photo ops when you don't have a camera but I sometimes wonder if the camera actually makes the birds more wary. They seem to come closer when I am gardening and rather ignore them, than when I'm out there with camera in hand.
@gardencat Thank you Joanne, that is very true and is a very important part of fieldcraft for photographing birds. If you don't actually "eyeball" them, (stare eye to eye at them), they are more likely to stay around. Our faces with two forward facing eyes, closely resemble the faces with the two forward facing eyes of Owls and other birds of prey, which they need to be aware of. That being said, I have seen several Goldcrests, and occasionally other birds, Robins and Blackbirds, spring to mind, that seem to be totally unafraid of certain humans. This mornings Goldcrest would have stayed with a camera being there I am sure.
