appointment with mr. k fisher

There has been chat about kingfishers. Rumours and gossip about those most highly valued and sought after birds. Men were doing the chatting. Men in their fifties and older. You could walk through the Botanics and not notice them, but once your eye is in you see them all over the place. Near the bushes by the duck pond. At the Chinese Garden. I am the only one not armed with a large camera. However if you are cautious and polite you can enter their world and see through their eyes. They are watching for a flash of turquoise blue and orange. But would settle for a tree-creeper. 

Hugh

Some carry binoculars. Almost all have cameras. Hugh appeared to only have the former but once we got talking and his natural reserve faded as he warmed to his subject, he got out a medium to smallish bridge camera and after flicking through a lot of files found what he was looking for. A video file of a Kingfisher which was filmed from 4 feet away. This winter the Botanics has been knee deep in Kingfishers including this legendary specimen, possibly a juv (I am not yet a birder so forgive my basic errors) that would forgo the usual skittishness and shyness associated with the bird. With just about any bird. And yet, as a jewel-like bright orange and turquoise bird of paradise just how do you go about your business without inciting mild mannered men in their late fifties to leave the house early with sandwiches, to spend the morning sat between bridges on the Water of Leith. Camera clutched in frozen gloved hands. Flask of sugary tea in back pack. 

never mind the robin, look at the background colours!

mrs M

quack!

This was the only pic I got of the heron eating

something large, muddy and unsavoury, perhaps a frog.

I'm not sure I have the patience for it. Finding a spot and sitting there for an unspecified amount of time. I'd rather be on the move if nothing is afoot. Maybe that's why it's not a young man's game. I had a great session on Monday, and Wednesday promised more of the optimum bright skies and sunshine. Mary asked about my plans. She has been very accommodating of me not only slipping into naturewatch mode, but also out of work mode. She laughed when I said I had an appointment with Mr Fisher of Arboretum Place. She thought there was a 0% chance of success. To be honest I felt maybe slightly more but not very far into double figures. 

There had been lots of chat from my circle of lensmen who had lots to say on this, the most highly prized of local urban tropical birds. Lots seen on the Water of Leith, and a pair or more in the Botanics. I checked online and found the Botanics actually advertising it's resident bird. Don't click on the link to the photos on Flickr of James Hopkins. His amazing photos are too excellent and make mine look very shabby by comparison.

Anyway the online advice was to turn up early to the duck pond and wait for ages. Word on the street was to turn up at 11 since they don't switch on the stream into the pond until then, at which point the friendly KF turns up to fish. I went along just before 11. I saw Hugh and asked him if he was looking for KFs. He said yes. Had he seen any. Yes! I was surprised. He pointed to the large bushes behind the duck pond and said there was one maybe a pair in there. I saw nothing but bush. This constitutes much of the KF spotting day. Looking for them, not seeing them. I quizzed Hugh gently about their habits and he did warm up and told me lots of good info. But since none were forthcoming I decided to check out the Chinese Garden. I'd probably get some squirrel or robin action and I had first hand evidence of KF sightings at the Chinese Garden pond from Cycle-Michael.

I think I went back over the duck pond bridge once more, just to check the other side of the pond and bumped into 2 more lensmen, cameras ready and pointed, but switched off. More of that waiting game. Over at the Chinese Garden there was much birdsong. No signs of KFs, or anything else so after a scoot round I settled by the pagoda. I had only just laid my back pack down when a squirrel ran along the bamboo barrier and posed of photos. I fished out a nut or 2 and handed over a fair price for a good pic. We negotiated an hourly rate and established an excellent working relationship. About then 2 maybe 3 robins made a successful counter offer and I got out a small baggy of live mealworms. They proved very popular with the robins though peripheral sparrows and blue/great tits were happier with a scattering of seeds from the tupperware box. It was like spinning plates to keep them all happy without letting the squirrel actually sit in the tupperware seed tray. In fact he preferred it when I chose a couple of nuts and passed them over as the whole tray of choices seemed to confuse him. 

Oh I nearly forgot about the mallards. 2 male and one female. I am sure we have all been previously introduced over the path on the outlying slopes of the rock garden. Last year; (blog here) they were very vocal about some peanuts I had. Again, because I was being panhandled from several directions while trying to optimise the photography I totally blew the photo below which I shot holding low and didn't see the back screen. Shame really as it shows the brilliant colours and is only missing the top few inches. Makes you realise how much of a birds face you need to show to sell an image and that, below, is not quite enough. Must try harder!

I love this pic because you can see the

sky & Ting monument reflected in his eye.

...and here's my business card

With all the feeding-time-at-the-zoo going on I didn't really notice this lot arriving at the Ting monument. They were much amused by the squirrel, a little less by the robins and ducks. Lots of phone photos. It was getting a little crowded (KFs being fairly shy) so I moved back to the duck pond after taking some photos of the heron who was parked at the far end of the pond and required careful focussing through the bamboo and shrubs.

There was no sign of anything fishy but these long tailed tits delayed me a moment while I took a handful of third rate images. A passing Hugh advised the other 2 lensmen on the bridge that the Kingfisher wasn't perching and hunting from the overhanging shrubs visible from the bridge these days. They all went round to the West side of the duck pond and I was just thinking how good it would be if the KF appeared, when it did. It seemed to come from nowhere and zoomed past in a turquoise flash, a long arc over the pond to settle in the trees where Hugh had pointed an hour before. I made careful note of where it had disappeared into the foliage but there was no sign. Then it appeared and hopped onto a low overhanging branch visible from my side. 

I zoomed in max, and took a gazillion shots (all nearly identical) while it shuffled around a bit. I was very pleased and somewhat surprised I had nailed this project on the first morning out. Lots of room for improvement in the photography dept. but I felt I had just captured a myth, an urban legend. Jeez, now I would be talking about these birds and my encounters with them to other lensmen. The rites of passage had begun. I was becoming one of them!

I knew the photos were too distant. I really might have to get one of those giant lenses. Maybe a bridge camera with huge zoom and decent sized sensor. I waved to my new friends over the other side of the pond, pointing at the bushes they couldn't see from over there, and giving them the thumbs up. Out of courtesy I didn't immediately go over and show them the only KF photos of the day. After the bird disappeared into the bushes I went back to the Chinese Garden. Wearing a smile.

the magnolia is out several weeks early

teasel moon

Magpies are not easy to photograph. They are made of either end of the light spectrum and their eyes are almost impossible to see as they are black on black and the camera is already struggling to not overexpose the white while not totally blacking out the black. Sorry magpies, (and we are not even going to unpack the songbird eating debate) but the only photos you made today are substantially because of the surrounding foliage.

foliage with magpie background

any worms in your bag mister?

so quick to take the mealworm I didn't get a photo

happy to pose though - what a champ!

Due to a run through by the local siamese cat (who chases the squirrels and sets off bird alarms throughout the neighbourhood) everything was stirred up for a moment or 2. And the heron repositioned itself halfway along the pond. Like Fidra lighthouse it is impossible to spend any time neaby without taking photos even though you have taken hundreds of it already. Oh all right then.

mallards in sunshine - what's not to like

wingless robin shoots through the air

still there

has that cat gone?

The sky was clouding over and I had a lot of photos to process, so I made my way back to my bike in Inverleith Row. Before I left there was a high pitched peeping like a dog whistle and I was going to remark to my fellow lensmen that wasn't that a KF call, (only shouldn't they have they been telling me that?) when a Kingfisher jumped out the bushes and flew in a dazzle of blue and orange away from the pond back towards the other pond.

Along the path I met 3 fellow lensmen all studying a tree with great concentration. I insinuated myself quietly into their number and asked "what have we got here?" "Tree creeper" was the reply and nobody broke from staring at the tree. I felt I had joined their society and yet was still the newboy and probably breaking all sorts of conventions. (Using a toy camera for a start.) Eventually by drawing a line extending from lenses to tree I saw the well camouflaged bird. I had seen one earlier but made a mess of the pics. I won't be winning any prizes for these either but at least the tree is in focus. I made sure not to stand in between any of my team and the quarry. 

Without any hugs or formal goodbyes I slipped off and cycled home. I was very pleased to have got actual photos of a Kingfisher albeit shite ones. And it's always nice to meet a new cult. Speaking to individual members you find most are specialists: anglers who also do a bit of birding; one was a mammals (esp badgers) expert, another is very keen on butterflies. (That was me!) Isn't life fun?