Everything is Permuted

Even the kestrels, it seems, are succumbing to the heat. I went in search of them this afternoon but the skies were empty. I had nearly given up hope of seeing any when, in the distance, I spotted a familiar outline glide into a tree.
Kestrel in a tree

She was not feeling particularly cooperative and by the time I'd got within a reasonable range, she took to the wing. Just a short flight, until she found a perch up on one of the street lights by the main road.
Kestrel on a street light

She moved away from there, and I lost track for a while. Just before I left the site I decided to sit down for 10 minutes, with the sun behind me, to see if she'd reappear. She didn't. I packed up the camera, turned and stepped about three yards. She been perched behind me, on a low fence by the rail along the race track.
Kestrel on a fence

That was this afternoon. Tonight, no foxes; but one of the hedgehogs decided to tolerate the camera as it went in search of snails (I could hear the crunching whenever it disappeared under the shrubs).
Hedgehog





Oh, and one more of the the 3D series...

Click to enlarge

Camera note: all kestrel shots taken with the EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens. The rest were taken with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens.

Most days watching nature is a wonderful affirmation of life, but today brought out the other side of the coin. These first two shots were taken a few minutes apart, early this morning.

The first is a juvenile green woodpecker. It was beneath a building and I suspect a window collision as the cause, though there were no visible signs on the building above.


Just a hundred yards away I came across a second fatality, possibly the result of a fall (it was beneath a tree).


Lunchtime I went in search of more pleasant things, and thought I 'd succeeded with this thrush.


The thrush was quietly feeding along a country lane, but a few seconds after this shot it hopped over the hedgerow into a sunlit field. I stepped across to take a better shot, but before I could even raise the camera a sparrowhawk had dropped from an overhanging tree and with the merest flurry of feather and two muted squeals, it was gone (and so was the thush). It lasted less than 2 seconds from start to finish.

Finally, I'm still working on stereoscopic images. They will improve as I get more practice, and I will almost certainly go cross-eyed in the process. But today's effort is I think an improvement on the butterfly (at least I intended to take this). As before, focus in front of the image (click to enlarge it) and the hedge should pop out into 3 dimensions. It can take a bit of practice, but once you get the hang of seeing them it's quite easy.

click to enlarge

Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.