Digiscoped using Canon Powershot A640 and Kowa TSN-883 x30The Common Whitethroat is, as its name suggests a common migrant bird to our shores in the summer months. There are over 670,000 territories in the U.K. alone, but the population does fluctuate with droughts in their wintering grounds in the Sahel area of North Africa affecting the numbers.
The bird is similar in size to a Great Tit, with the male (pictured here) having a grey head, white throat and a brown back with reddish brown edges to the wing feathers giving a `rufous` look to the closed wings. The underneath is buff, or slightly pinky with white outer tail feathers; the female has a browner head and is generally duller than the male.
The first birds start to arrive in mid April after a flight that has taken it from Africa to Britain via France, where it returns in the Autumn by a different route, taking in France, Spain and Portugal before arriving in Africa.
They breed in thick hedges, scrub, along woodland edges, in brambles, nettles or gorse and anywhere where there is tangled vegetation. The laying of eggs can start in April with the peak being in mid May. Both sexes incubate the 4-5 eggs for 9-14 days and the young leave the nest when they are 10-12 days old and stay with the parents for up to 20 days. They have two broods.
Excellent shots of the 'Nettle Creeper' John. I don't think I can recall a recent year when there have been so many at all of my local haunts.
ReplyDeleteDo you use a specific setting when digiscoping? Can you e-mail me with any helpful info as I have been thinking of using my Canon S95 rather than carrying and changing to the 800mm photo adapter for the DSLR.
Lovely photos John! I am very envious of those, I hardly ever see Whitethroats, everyone else seems to so I must be doing something wrong!
ReplyDeleteLovely images John and you did well to get these as they are most unco-operative.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots from you as always! Love the way you've caught the whitethroat singing. I can certainly imagine that it would be difficult to get shots of birds on the wing with a digiscope, but the clarity of the photos is outstanding.
ReplyDeleteHi Frank,
ReplyDeleteThankyou, yes they do seem to be everywhere this year!
As far as the settings on my A640, I have the ISO set as low as it goes, always in `Daylight` for White Balance, Superfine for the picture quality and I also have Macro set to on. Other than these I have it set to Multi-shot so I can capture something a bit different (that`s the theory anyway!)
J
Hi ShySongbird,
ReplyDeleteIt took me ages to get these shots! They seem to be very jumpy birds and it only takes a little movement for them to be off! I always hear more than I see, but I am sure that you will see one soon! ;)
J
Thanks Roy,
ReplyDeleteYes, they do seem to be quite camera shy, don`t they! ;)
J
Thankyou Raining Acorns,
ReplyDeleteDigiscoping has a lot of plus points, I don`t think in-flight shots are one of them! I will keep trying though, maybe one day!
J
Thanks for the info John. Maybe the notice saying my eyes need retesting is something to do with my slightly unfocuses output!
ReplyDeleteNo problem Frank! I can`t see any blurry shots from you, so I wouldn`t worry too much!
ReplyDeleteJ