Grey Fantails

Grey Fantails are fun to watch as they twist and turn in flight to take insects on the wing. They perch briefly on the outside branches of trees or on fencing wire or posts before swooping on their prey and often taking it with an audible snap of their bill.

 

Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa)
Canon 7D, 100-400mm L IS USM, 1/640, f/5.6, ISO 640, focal length 400mm

 

I particularly like the background, or bokeh, in the above image; it looks almost like a painting.

 

Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa)
Canon 7D, 100-400mm L IS USM, 1/500, f/6.3, ISO 2500, focal length 285mm

 

The fantail above and below is a juvenile as so much brown is showing in its plumage. Taking photographs of small birds in low light is a challenge I particularly enjoy.

 

Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa)
Canon 7D, 100-400mm L IS USM, 1/500, f/6.3, ISO 2000, focal length 380mm

 

 

Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa)
Canon 7D, 100-400mm L IS USM, 1/500, f/5.6, ISO 1250 focal length 400mm

 

Years ago I used to operate a wildlife shelter and saw first hand the damage done to wildlife by barbed wire. My strongest memory is of a female Common Ringtail Possum who had been trapped by barbed wire that had torn her pouch so badly that her twin joeys were exposed. If you ever have the opportunity to remove a length of barbed wire please do so, carefully of course, it’s ingenious but nasty stuff.

 

Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa)
Canon 7D, 100-400mm L IS USM, 1/640, f/5.6, ISO 800, focal length 375mm

 

I haven’t posted Grey Fantails since watching last year’s fantails gradually fill their nest. The fantails on natural perches are quite possibly the birds that featured in Grey Fantails in an Egg Cup, clicking the link will take you to the nestlings.

Happy birding, Kim

 

 

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