Egrets are always reliable!

It's been quite a long break since the last entry. Hmm...being a second year student is totally different from freshmen. Last year I had plentiful freetime to go out birdwatching, but these days all my weekends are used up for shukudai(Japanese for HOMEWORK!). This semester, the Japanese language Advance course is a real pain for me. I have no idea how I've passed the test last semester, cuz my Japanese skills are no way close to the word "Advance". Anyway, these days I am very busy with this so called advance Japanese thingys like the shukudai, happyo(presentations) and sakubun(essays). I've just got a mood to go out taking photos again this morning. I was actually riding my bicycle to the bank, but when I was crossing the bridge just around my dorm, I saw a strange Rock Pigeon sipping water down the river. It was much smaller than average, just a bit bigger than the White-cheeked Starlings which were walking around everywhere near the pigeon. But then my eyes caught two little birds walking behind it, so I looked at them carefully and oh God...they're Grey-tailed Tattlers. I got my new lifer during a ride to the bank! Cool...

Well, it seems that I have lost my point about this entry. The tattlers thing was also interesting, but I'll talk about it later. Just as the title says, after years of bird photographing, I finally found that egrets are very interesting. They're truly a reliable subject for photographing! They are common, large in size, quite tame and their white plumage is really omoshiroi(interesting or funny) when photographing in different conditions of light. Just next to the busy tattlers, there was also an adult Great Egret in its worn breeding plumage. Instead of paying full attention to my latest lifer, I turned the lens towards the egret. Finally I got some interesting shots that satisfy me quite very well. The photo at the top of the entry was shot with very low fstop, which I actually set up for the tattlers and forgot to change, and the egret was quite far away from me. The result was unexpected(well...since I forgot that my setting was still for the tattlers), instead of getting a nice sharp image, I got a different, blurry, very short focal area and somehow more artistic feeling picture. I wonder if this pic was crystal clear sharp, I wouldn't like it as much as when it is blurred.

One of my other "most favorite egret shots" is this Little Egret swaying its beak against the evening light. I love how the droplets of water were arranged in a very beautiful curvy way. Even though the face of the egret was hidden behind its neck, I don't feel that this image is inferior. Indeed, I found it more artistic and able to give a strange peaceful feeling to me when I look at it. Anyway to wrap these things up, just like what I have said before, whenever there are egrets around, they are sure reliable for your photography!