Yet another bird

I was feeling rather sorry for myself after a visit to the dentist when a large bird flew into my front garden and successfully took my mind of my soreness. I straight away ran to get my camera and change the lens to the 70-300mm one and patiently waited inside the house for my visitor to come closer. Unfortunately the Blue Crane is rather timid and would take flight if I were to step outside. The noise created by the sliding door would be enough to make him startle so I remained indoors and took my pictures from behind glass.

f/5.6  1/320  300mm  800 ISO

This bird stands about knee height and eats insects and small fish and frogs - it paddles on the edge of ponds. It looks absolutely magnificent in flight and one day I will succeed in capturing a photo of one with wings outstretched! One day!

f/6.3  1/640 200mm  800 ISO

The Blue Crane is also called the White Faced Heron. a very similar bird can be found in South Africa too. I saw one when on holiday there a few years ago but the South African blue crane/heron looked to be slightly larger.

F/6.3  1/640  255mm  800 ISO

Here the bird is peering into a small pond that we have in our garden. Perhaps he was hoping to find a small frog or lizard. The lizard you may be able to see near the top of this photo is a pottery sculpture! Not edible!
Do click on the photos to see them a bit larger then click on the "back" button to return to the blog.
A shower of rain this evening will freshen things up in my garden. I will take my camera out again tomorrow.
AJ