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A Scarlet Ibis in Chicago

A scarlet ibis bird in the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago

A Scarlet Ibis in Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. I love the deep orange colour of the bird’s feathers!


Apertureƒ/5.6
CameraCanon EOS 20D
Focal length300mm
ISO800
Shutter speed1/200s

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Birds enjoying the sunrise

Two birds sitting on a TV ariel on a house, as the sun rises behind them casting lovely colours on the sky.

A simple sunrise this morning. Two birds sitting on an ariel high up over the house had a great vantage point of the lovely colours in the sky.


Apertureƒ/1.9
CameraM2101K6G
Focal length5.89mm
ISO96
Shutter speed1/100s

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A Robin in November

A robin looking to the left, standing on a branch.

A little robin looks off to the left in the grounds of Blarney Castle last November. They’re a friendly bird.

If you want more, take a look at the fabulous robin photos that BathNature is posting and follow them!

I think my Blarney Castle membership expires today. I’m uncertain if I’ll renew it as it’s expensive, and I barely used it at all in the past 12 months.


Apertureƒ/6.3
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length240mm
ISO10000
Shutter speed1/250s

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Robin on the Ground

A little Robin standing on wet autumn leaves on the ground

A few weeks ago, I visited Blarney Castle to take some photos of the Autumn colours. Unfortunately the light was dull, and the ground was wet, but I had my tripod with me, so I set it up for some long exposure shots.

After a few minutes of that, I noticed a flicker out of the corner of my eye. I spotted a robin almost right in front of me! He was literally standing on the large log next to the mushrooms I was photographing. And of course, my camera settings were completely wrong to photograph him. In the 10 seconds it took me to swivel the camera around, fiddle with the settings and look up again, he was flying off to a nearby tree. This time I got a couple of shots of him, and then his friend approached and landed on the ground right by my feet! This time I was ready!

Why do settings change so much? In low light, you have to amplify the light hitting the camera sensor. Sort of like turning up the volume. You know how if you turn the volume up really high you’ll get distortion and crackling (and a headache and sore ears), the same thing happens with cameras. The best quality photo comes when the volume (called ISO for cameras) is turned down to a “normal value” but then it takes longer for the camera to “hear” an image. Damn, I’m straining an analogy here. For most cameras, that’s 100. This photo was taken at ISO 12800 and the only reason you don’t see lots of crackling (noise) is because of the magic of software called Topaz Photo AI. A previous ISO 100 image took a whole 1 second to make a photo. This robin photo was 1/160 of a second. He wasn’t going to hang around long!


Apertureƒ/11
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length240mm
ISO65535
Shutter speed1/160s

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Heron in the River Lee

Heron in the River Lee
A heron walks along the weir by the Lee Fields, waiting for fish.
Heron in the River Lee
A heron waiting for fish to swim past on the weir in the River Lee.

While on an outing with Blarney Photography Club to the Lee Fields, we were lucky enough to see a very patient heron attempt to catch his dinner.

The light was falling, and it cast a lovely warm glow on everything.

The heron did catch a fish eventually. I was 100m away down river and on hearing a shout looked up and caught a very blurry photo of the bird with the fish in it’s mouth.

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Emi The Goose

Emi The Goose

Emi the goose saying hi at Carbery Cottage B&B. We were feeding the ponies and I think he wanted some of the food!


Apertureƒ/9
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length269.3mm
ISO400
Shutter speed1/400s

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Bird Flying High

Bird Flying High

Spotted in Edinburgh in 2018 on a meetup there. Lovely skies, lovely weather. We were very lucky that week!


Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length28mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/500s

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A swan in the Atlantic Pond

A swan in the Atlantic Pond

A swan swimming by my side as I walked along the path.


Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length16mm
ISO5000
Shutter speed1/500s

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Blackbird in the bushes

Blackbird in the bushes

A very busy blackbird stopped still for 5 seconds so I could catch a photo of it. He was digging around, throwing up leaves and hunting around between branches. Building material for a nest perhaps?


Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length600mm
ISO2000
Shutter speed1/500s

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Robin Calling

Robin Calling

A robin calling out in the grounds of Blarney Castle today.


Apertureƒ/6.3
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length600mm
ISO320
Shutter speed1/500s

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The Crumb Patrol

The Crumb Patrol

A crow watches for crumbs on the ground at the Blarney Woollen Mills today. The white gazebo/tent is gone but it was good to see the (permanent?) outdoor covered seating next to the building still there.


Apertureƒ/2.4
CameraSM-G998B
Focal length9mm
ISO50
Shutter speed1/280s

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The Crow and the Wheel

The Crow and the Wheel

The Ferris Wheel on the Grand Parade is gone now but just recently a crow was checking it out to see if it was fun or not.


Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7M3
Focal length24mm
ISO250
Shutter speed1/500s