Just what colour is the Hume's/Yellow-browed warbler?

A couple of people have commented that my pictures of the Hume's/YB warbler show the bird to be brighter and more coloured than they have seen in other pictures and perhaps than they remembered it. I must admit that my initial impression was of a bird that was noticeably  duller than the other YBs I have seen (though there have not been many) so the colour/brightness of my shots were a bit of a surprise. I did have a lot of dull shots (un-published) but these were when the bird was in a sub-optimal position with respect to pose and light direction and possibly exposure.

I shoot (Canon 7D) using auto-white balance and more often than not I adjust the white balance to try and better match the colours in the image with those I remember (or to be closer to the colours depicted in my field guides). This can be done by selecting "daylight", "cloud", "shade",or choosing a temperature. (For the record  Canon daylight corresponds to something around 5200K whereas with my Sony daylight seems to be around 5600K).
When I processed these shots originally I chose to use 5200K as the reference temperature.
In the following images I have kept everything identical except the temperature so you can see the impact it has on the appearance of the critter.

As Shot

As originally posted (5200K)

At 4000K

At 4400K

At 4800K

At 5200K again

At 5600K

The picture was taken at 9.30 am on a bright sunny morning and the bird was in a near perfect position - about 10 feet up with the light directly behind me. The low level of the sun at this time of year will impart a yellow cast to the picture so the final representation is down to taste as much as anything.

To me the 4000 and 4400K shots are too cold given the conditions irrespective of what I thought the bird looked like - though I have to admit I like the look of the 4400K picture! To me the  4800K, "as shot" and  and 5200K all look acceptable though the "as shot" looks a little brown on the mantle for my taste. 5600K doesn't look that bad either but it's getting a little too warm.

I'm sitting on the fence wrt just what the bird is because I just don't have the knowledge /experience to do otherwise. I only post these shots to show that the "colour" of a bird can be pretty subjective. It will change depending on the lighting conditions and on how you choose to process it.

Who said the camera never lies!!!

Out and about around Dover

After twitching the phalarope, the Humes and going to Hampton for some purple sandpiper shots it was time to stay local.
Seeing as everywhere is under water I decided to keep my feet dry and start with Dover docks.
The inner harbour was almost bird free (I'm not counting the pigeons) but as I wandered out onto the Prince of Wales pier I found a few auks in the form of 2 razorbills and 2 guillemots.

Razorbill and guillemot

Another reassuring sight were the 9 gt crested grebes - still way down on normal but moving in the right direction. A few kittiwakes were drifting around but the star of the show was a shag.
3/4 of the way along the pier there are some step down to the water (fenced off) and because I've found purple sandpipers on them before I always check them out. Well today as I poked my head over the railings I was confronted with a shag.....on the third step from the top.
To get a full view of the bird I had to stand back a little and lean over the railings but I was looking out to sea hence shooting into the light; I also had to shoot holding the camera in portrait mode because that was the only way I could get the whole bird in. Still it was as close to a shag as I have been. To put things into perspective this shot is uncropped.

I then tried to get on it with the light behind me. That meant shooting over the top of the railings and due to the angles and how close I had to get (~4 yards) I could only get it's head in. Again these are uncropped shots.

You are probably going to ask just how sad could someone be but have you ever looked at a shags feet before. Well I hadn't until today. The outer toe is far longer than the others. I always assume the centre toe is the longest but that's not the case. Just thought I'd share that with you!!!!

That was it for the pier.
Next stop was Langdon Hole. The cliff tops down here are pretty grim at the moment but if anyone wants to see corn buntings and yellowhammers visit Langdon Hole - there's a mixed flock of 60+ birds there on the rough pasture immediately north of the Hole. There's not a lot else but it's brilliant for these. I just wish they were a bit more approachable.

Corn bunting

Yellowhammer

There were about 10 skylarks chasing each other around but I only saw 1 meadow pipit.
On the cliffs no sign of the peregrines today but a few fulmars are back in town.

Thanet Wanderings

Today I was mainly in Thanet.
My morning started at the Ramsgate cemetary. I tried to resist but with so little around to point the camera at I failed. Anyway when I arrived I was alone and couldn't find it though I did find a firecrest. It took several minutes to id the crest because it was deep in ivy and all I kept getting were glimpses of a wing bar. It was a bit of a let down when it finally came out into the open.
After that I went back to the 2 pine trees near the chapel and waited - I was working under the assumption that these were the trees that had featured in a lot of the pictures posted over the w/e. This standing around doing nothing strategy worked brilliantly and within a few minutes the Hume's/YB appeared.
I was expecting a very mobile bird but when in the pines it was still for quite long periods quite as it searched for food. That's not to say you could get any pictures because most of the time it had it's head buried in a forest of pine needles but eventually it showed well enough:

It then moved into the ever-green oak and got very difficult to see and when it did come out it was in the bare trees and moved about very rapidly. After an hour of trying to improve on the shots I already had in the bag I gave up.
This was without doubt the dullest "yellow browed" I have seen with the wing bars and supercillium quite subdued. The wing bar on the median coverts is very small and the legs look dark - all of which is consistent with it being a Hume's......However the lower mandible is undoubtedly yellow - which is a feature of a YB..
On the call front it did sound less harsh than the few YB's I have heard and seemed to be consistent with the calls I listened to on Xeno-canto. Conclusion.....a strong maybe for a Hume's!

Next stop was Foreness and the snow buntings - these are a lot easier to id. As I arrived at the clifftop I could see Mike Hook stalking the waders. I scrambled down the cliff and as I was walking towards him I flushed the snow bunts from the grass whereupon they flew up to the clifftop.

Mike and I spent the next 15 minutes trying (and failing) to get close with the flock repeatedly flying from the clifftop to the grass and back again - most of the time without us moving!

Eventually we gave up and went back to the waders - ringed plovers, sanderling and purple sandpipers(5). These were a little more cooperative if you approached very slowly and on your knees -well the sanderling and purps were; the plovers had long disappeared towards the pump house..

Rimged plovers

Sanderling

Purple sandpipers

After this little session Mike went off for the Hume's (successfully) I went home via Restharrow where I saw (unsurprisingly) loads of teal and several gadwall....some of whom were getting very amorous.

Gadwall

Dungeness - Bird of the day was a newt

Today (8th Jan) I went to Dungeness. I was full of good intentions but as normal I got distracted and only visited the RSPB sites.
My day started at the ARC in the Hanson hide. From the hide I could see most if not all of the common ducks plus 6 goldeneye (3 males and 3 females) and 4 red headed smew.
In front of the hide, fishing, was the heron and 3 marsh harriers were moving about in the distance - one a really heavily marked female.

On several occasions one of the red heads looked as if it was going to come close so I waited, and waited .....and waited. It didn't. This was the best I managed.

Eventually I gave up and set off to the main site. There were about 20 tree sparrows around the farm and a couple of hundred yards further on a great white egret could be seen (the only one I saw today).

At the Firth hide I was told there was a goosander (female) patrolling between the Firth and Makepeace hides so I sat and waited, and waited.....and waited (there's a pattern here). This time it did get pretty close on several occasions but never actually coming in front of the hide so the views of it were always into the sun.

I did try for it  from the Makepeace hide but it never went down there. I also looked in on the Scott hide but other than a smew at 100 yards everything was miles away.
On the walk back to the Firth hide I found a newt galloping across the gravel path. This is by far the earliest (or latest) newt I have seen. I just hope we don't get a sudden frost. Rampaging newts on a coldish day are a lot easier to photograph than birds though a 400 mm is not the best kit for doing it.

Back at the Firth hide the goosander continued to tantalise but whilst there a goldeneye came within 50-60 yards and 4 chiffchaffs were feeding in the waterside scrub.

I was told by several people that a black necked grebe could be seen (at extreme range) from the Dennis hide but I ccouldn't find it, the only grebes I found were of the great crested variety.

By now it was around 1.30 pm (where had the time gone?) and it was clouding over so I gave up and went home. Not disappointed but not quite as elated as I was driving home on Monday.

Grey Phalarope at Hove Lagoon

Monday 6th January.
Sunday evening, whilst pondering just what to do on Monday, I found out there had been a grey phalarope at Hove Lagoon on the kiddies paddling pool. After a quick Google I printed off the details and resolved to go there Monday if the bird was still around. Since the weather was going to be poor until late morning and I didn't want to hit the M25 too early I was relying on someone informing Birdguides it was still there. They did and at 7.40am! - I don't know who you are but thank you, you made my day.
Half hour later I set off and I'm pleased to say had an event free journey.
It was just after 10 when I drove into Hove. The forecast suggested it should have been bright and getting sunnier - it had just stopped raining and was heavily overcast and looked like there was a lot more rain to come.
At the paddling pool I found John Stanton plus a couple of other photographers inside the paddling pool enclosure and laying on the wet ground clicking away merrily at the phalarope which was probably all of 4 yards away!!!! Needless to say I joined them.
Being a thinking man I had taken a sheet of plastic to lay on much to the disgust of the hardier soles already there who were happy to suffer for their passion. Down in position I started clicking away and as the bird moved off I checked my initial results....crap, delete, crap, delete, crap, delete .....I only had 1/150 to 1/200th sec on the shutter and the bird was spinning and dipping for food too fast for the shutter speed.
I continued clicking away hoping the thing would sit still for a moment then it started to rain - hard.

I saw a doorway and was about to take shelter in it when I saw the sign - Ladies!.... so I had to make do with standing in the lee of the building. I went though the picture I had taken....delete, delete, delete. mmmmm I was not doing too well.

One of the few I've kept from the initial session.

A quick description of the paddling pool - I suppose it was 20-25 yards long and where I was stationed it was about 5 yards wide. It was only a couple of inches deep so the phalarope was dipping its head down to the bottom to pick up blood worms. As normal for a phalarope it took no notice of anyone often coming within a yard or so of where people were laying.
It quite strange to see everyone clicking away then as the bird gets closer they stop and look up because the bird is now too close to focus on and/or get in frame.
At first as the bird got closer I tried to move the focus point so as to get the whole bird in frame but it was spinning so fast I was achieving nothing so in the end I left it on the central spot and hoped (but lost the rear end of quite a few decent shots).

Back to the bird. After a little while the rain stopped and the light improved - I was now getting about 1/500th.

Post rain - you can see the floor of the paddling pool.

And a little while later the sun came out. Great shutter speeds but now I had to worry about burning out the whites. I dropped the exposure to -1/3 to -2/3rds (should have gone lower) but with the help of Photoshop got some very pleasing images. Here are some results to go with those posted on Flickr.

One where the tail was out of frame because it was too close

The phalarope spend a lot of the time upended -I hadn't realised they had brown(ish) tail feathers. I also managed a few shots of it with blood worms - the source of food that has kept it there for 3 days now.

Photographic highlights of 2013

January
The year started with the black throated diver in Dover harbour, a few waxwings at B&Q and the peregrines on the cliffs but my birding and photographic month was dominated by Tobago. This was a family holiday so the birding was part time and whilst most of what we saw was common a lot of it was stunning. The star of the show was a rufous-tailed jacamar - though the red-billed tropic birds ran it very close!

Rufous-tailed jacamar

February
February for me was dominated by trips to the cliffs for the peregrines and to the woods for nuthatch and marsh tit but every time I went to the woods I spent some time searching for the lesser spotted woodpeckers.
I had a couple of sessions with the Stodmarsh penduline but it never came close enough for a good shot and I had a successful trip to Eastbourne for the Bonaparte's gull. Whilst not the best shot I took during the month (the Bonaparte's were better) the most satisfying was of the lesser spotted woodpecker.

Lesser spotted woodpecker

March
I managed a few decent shots in March - a nice male black redstart at Dungeness, more lesser spotted woodpecker at Bossendon but my selection has gone to a yellowhammer. I put in quite a few sessions with these before I managed to lure some close but was pleased with the final results.

Yellowhammer

April
Several candidates for April - a few firecrest shots, a black-legged willow warbler but the morning that got the blood pumping was when a drake garganey came onto on the bank in front of the hide at Restharrow and spent the morning swimming up and down the near bank - all in bright sunshine!

Garganey

May
Again several candidates but I've gone with the Restharrow little stint in (near) summer plumage though  some shots of hobby at Stodmarsh ran it very close as did the black-necked grebes at Marquenterre.

Little stint

June
June was dominated by our trip to Bempton. As normal Steve organised the weather to perfection and we enjoyed wall to wall sunshine. I could have chosen guillemot, razorbill or red grouse shots but my favourite was the preening gannet. For those interested this was taken in bright sunshine and it was deliberately under exposed to prevent blowing the whites and which resulted in a near black sea in the back ground.

Gannet

July
July was an appalling month with hardly a picture being taken.

August
August was dominated by trips down to Backsand due to the possibility of the lease on this facility being given up next year - an occurrence made all the more likely by the destruction of every hide down there by the tidal surge. As it happens there was a very ordinary wader passage this year with a poor green and common sandpiper showing. Reasonable shots of curlew sandpiper, little ringed plover and ruff were obtained  but pick of the month was another little stint - well 2 of them actually.

Little stint

September
This was a pretty quiet month punctuated by a family holiday to Rhodes. I managed some nice wader shots early in the month but the (local) bird and picture of the month goes to the jack snipe on Restharrow Scrape. The spotted crake at Oare posed pretty well as well.

Jack snipe

October
One of my better months with the camera but a pretty easy choice - the Pallas's warbler I found at Kingsdown. Pallas's and yellow-browed warblers are birds I see only rarely see so to find one a few hundred yards from the door and get a shot is one of the birding (and photographic) highlights of the year.

Pallas's warbler

November
Very little to choose from for November. A trip to Lac du Der provided some great views of cranes and great white egrets but everything was just a little too far off  so the choice is the Sandwich Bay snow buntings - for once they were approachable.

Snow bunting

December:
Considering how few pictures I took in December this was a quite a difficult choice with black-throated diver (Eastbourne), spoonbill (Newhaven)  and a great white egret (Dungeness) all in the frame so I've cheated and selected 2 - the egret and the spoonbill.

Great white egret

Spoonbill

This year I gave up on listing and even patch watching and overall I had my worse ever year for species and life ticks. Picture-wise I did a bit better than normal but my reluctance to twitch and join the crowds deprived me of a number of ticks and photo-opportunities. Where I did twitch (the Bonaparte's gull, the spotted crake and spoonbill) it was a week or two after their discovery and the crowds had subsided.
I have no idea what I'm going to do in 2014 though if it carries on raining I'll have to look for some more (sunny) holiday destinations or emigrate - I think my pension would go quite a long way in Gambia..