John Fox suggested I use a 300mm f4 with a 1.4 teleconverter, it's what he uses all the time and what a load of birders use too, he had a spare one and very kindly offered me a lend to see how I fared with it.
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| My shot, taken with John Fox's Nikon 300mm lens, the same lens he's won awards with. |
With all the Waxwing sightings being reported around Dublin, I figured I'd have another go at Stannaway Ave, there weren't any there last week, but there might be today.
For some unknown reason, C and her hangover decided that they wanted to come along with me which made me kind of nervous, but I embraced the challenge and we set off around Drimnagh looking up into all the trees for possible Waxwings.
'The Waxwings can look a bit like a flock of Starlings' I mentioned.
'I always get confused between Starlings and Swallows' she said, my eyes widened and I drove on in silent awe.
With no luck around Drimnagh, we headed into Crumlin, down Windmill Rd, Cashel Ave, Stannaway Rd and onto Stannaway Ave.
'This is Waxwing road' I said, and pointed up to the large flock of either Starlings or Waxwings in exactly the same tree I saw them in two years ago.
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| The light was impossible today to get any decent shots, frustrating when you've been stuck in work all week looking out at cloudless blue skies and beautiful sunshine. Still, the image here is an amazing one for the middle of Crumlin - beautiful. |
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| The Nikon 300mm f4, unlike most lenses today, has no VR system and because I was handholding and excited and cold and taking these photos with nothing to lean against - the technical quality is awful, but to capture a Waxwing with a berry in it's beak is great. |
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| Watching them eat the berries was interesting, they seem to snap the berry from the branch, balance it at the tip of their beaks then knock the berry back like they're downing shots, which maybe they were that time they were found dead, drunk from the alcohol content of the fermented berries :o/ |
I know if I was on my own, I would have stayed longer and waited to watch more and get more shots, but my passenger was starting to hunger and fade, so we waved bye to the Scandinavians and wished them a pleasant stay in Dubiln.
