ML285097981
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Observation details
It finally happened. I'd just left the Sugar Glider behind and was making my way past the thick stand of native Peppermints the Ringtails nest in when, out the corner of my eye, I saw a perfect little whiskery bundle of charcoal grey and soft, warm rufous that struck every thought from my mind... a NIGHTJAR!!! RIGHT THERE!!! But, strangely, I didn't panic. It was almost as if my mind had shut off anything but the calm of a hunter going in for the metaphorical kill. On instinct, I didn't try to focus on the nearby branches for my cameras' sake; last time I got this close, that's when the bird vanished. No. I calmly zoomed in, locking onto the puzzled little bundle... and... there!! Through the tangle of the Peppermints, I had a perfect window through to the gum in which the Nightjar was perched, and for photo after photo I looked in amazement on this perfect piece of nocturnal evolution!! The quirks of this bird that struck me were its total lack of fear; it showed no indication of sizing up an escape, and would simply turn its head away if the lights started to get on its nerves. The sheer intricacy of the feathers also astonished me; the deep, deep brown of the back is shot right through with flecks of charcoal grey, while the belly is a soft, mousy white. The eyelashes and whiskers of this bird cannot be marvelled at enough; the way they caught the headlamps' light was insane!! After some three minutes or so, I figured it was ok to try and get some front on shots... taking a deep breath, as silently as I could, I plunged into the little wallaby tracks through the thicket. The grass rustled. The cobwebs draped themselves over my face. And... my jaw dropped when I noticed the bird hadn't fled, but if anything hopped closer to me!!! It could only have been some five or so metres from my head at that moment, and the size of it really surprised me; it very much reminded me of a softer, more upright Blackbird in overall body size and shape!! As before, the bird was utterly unafraid of me; instead, in those enormous, discerning brown eyes, I saw only a kind of benign puzzlement. It's very telling of this birds' nature that the photoshoot wasn't ended by it, but by me; after some ten minutes or so, there really wasn't anything left to do, and my camera kept running flat anyway. Having done what I always do in the face of truly remarkable creatures, blowing the Nightjar a gracious kiss, I wriggled my way back onto the path, and headed off in a state of shocked numbness...
Technical information
- Model
- COOLPIX P610
- ISO
- 1600
- Focal length
- 179.2 mm
- Flash
- Flash fired, auto
- f-stop
- f/5.6
- Shutter speed
- 1/125 sec
- Dimensions
- 1600 pixels x 1200 pixels
- Original file size
- 953.34 KB