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Birds, Insects & Bats in flight (outdoors) Page 4
Image Taken on 19 Sep 2014
at 15:53 Image of day on 29 Nov 2014
Another Cranefly goes down the throat of an ever hungry Black-headed gull.
The third image just shows one of the wings hanging out of the
beak - enlarged at the bottom right.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20141129_df2_20140919_1553_748-750 black headed gull catching crane-fly in flight 1-3 of 5 (downwards montage @5ps with insert)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 19 Sep 2014
at 15:52 Image of day on 29 Nov 2014
With the air full of various insects, especially the
juicy Craneflies (Daddy Long legs for the uninitiated) we discovered that
Black-headed gull can catch & eat them in flight.
This bird almost stopped horizontal motion as it swung up to catch
the insect, so the vertical positions of the bird are arbitrary,
but the horizontal positions are approximately right. We were
fortunate that the wing positions of the last 3 images almost fit
together like a jigsaw for a nice compact presentation!
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20141129_df2_20140919_1552_635-638 black headed gull catching crane-fly in flight 3-6 of 8 (top to bottom montage @ 5fps)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 15 Sep 2014
at 15:28 Image of day on 25 Nov 2014
This montage from the same set of originals is at the camera's resolution.
Look carefully to see what we described above.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20141125_df2_20140915_1528_157-160 black headed gull in eclipse catching fly in flight & swallowing 5fps 2-5 of 9 (detailed montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 15 Sep 2014
at 15:28 Image of day on 25 Nov 2014
We noticed that many of the gulls were jinking about in flight,
and wondered why, so spent several hundred frames trying to catch
the behaviour. This one event really surprised us - chasing and
catching a small insect in the tip of it's beak, then opening the
gape and letting the breeze of flight blow it in.
Subsequent photos show that this is not typical - gulls catch crane-flies
and similar in an open beak - perhaps this was a bee that it needed
to subdue first.
Read this montage left to right - that black dot really is the
insect which is in the beak tip in the second and third image and
is in the gape in the last.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20141125_df2_20140915_1528_157-160 black headed gull in eclipse catching fly in flight & swallowing 5fps 2-5 of 9 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 07 Dec 2015
at 15:00 Image of day on 17 Jan 2016
A Black-Headed Gull in Eclipse flying by (close spaced for detail).
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20160117_df3_20151207_1500_105-107 black headed gull in eclipse in flight 1-3 of 3 (close spaced montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 21 Jul 2012
at 15:10 Image of day on 24 Aug 2012
6 days later several hundred Black headed gulls flew over in
about 15 minutes in all stages of moult. This bird with fully
developed head plumage (actually 'chocolate' colour rather than
black) was too busy scratching the side of his beak with his left
foot to notice the photographer. This is just before the foot
reached the beak.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20120824_df1_20120721_1510_171 black headed gull in flight wiping beak with foot 1 of 5 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 07 Dec 2015
at 12:58 Image of day on 17 Jan 2016
Fields to our North are being ploughed this year, and flocks of
gulls arrive for the bounty uncovered by the blades. This Black
Headed Gull is moulting his black head back to what will become
the single dots behind the eyes for the Eclipse (winter) plumage
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20160117_df3_20151207_1258_009-1259_013 black headed gull moulting into eclipse in flight 1-5 of 5 (approx montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 22 Aug 2006
at 20:08 Image of day on 28 Aug 2006
A first sighting for us of what we think is a Female Black
Redstart. We have a more conventional view, but this shows the
glowing orange tail to good advantage.
 in flight(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20060828_d3e_20060822_2008_166 fb1 black redstart female (q) in flight(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 08 Sep 2021
at 07:29 Image of day on 20 Oct 2021
A Black Backed Gull flying past.
.jpg)
Ref: 20211020_df3_20210908_0729_020 black-backed gull in flight(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 29 Nov 2016
at 13:06 Image of day on 09 Jan 2017
The unusually slow progress of the Black-headed Gull against the
wind means that this has to be alternate frames which still
didn't avoid some overlap. The background here is accurate.
 in flight 08+10+12+14+16 of 24 (accurate montage alternate frames)(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20170109_df3_20161129_1306_119-127 black-headed gull (eclipse) in flight 08+10+12+14+16 of 24 (accurate montage alternate frames)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 29 Nov 2016
at 13:06 Image of day on 09 Jan 2017
This Black-headed Gull is taking off into a strong wind (from the right here).
These first 7 images were mostly a vertical climb we have spread out
horizontally. The background relates to one of the earlier of the frames.
 take-off 01-07 of 24 (horizontally spread montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20170109_df3_20161129_1306_112-118 black-headed gull (eclipse) take-off 01-07 of 24 (horizontally spread montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 22 Sep 2014
at 12:49 Image of day on 30 Nov 2014
The next frames (adding nothing to the action) reveals no fly -
it went in the beak of this Black-headed gull!
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20141130_df2_20140922_1249_619 black-headed gull catching insect in flight 1 of 6 (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 22 Sep 2014
at 12:49 Image of day on 30 Nov 2014
In this montage the fly is still visible just above the left wing of the
middle image of the Black-headed gull and it is visible in the beak of
the bottom frame. For once we actually got the whole thing!
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20141130_df2_20140922_1249_641-643 black-headed gull catching insect in flight 1-3 of 5 (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 13 Sep 2016
at 11:02 Image of day on 31 Oct 2016
Black-headed Gulls (in eclipse so no black head) were swooping about and jinking
in mid-air, obviously catching insects 'on the wing'. This bird has just caught
something which went down the throat in about 300mS.
Read this bottom right moving upwards
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20161031_df3_20160913_1102_073-075 black-headed gull in eclipse swallowing insect caught in flight 1-3 of 3 (close spaced montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 30 Jun 2015
at 12:34 Image of day on 31 Aug 2015
The air was full of tiny fragments of fluff that allowed us to
accurately position these 4 images - a sort of 'join up the dots'
exercise! We have left in the white specks.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20150831_df3_20150630_1234_279-282 black-headed gull in flight 1-4 of 4 (accurate montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 30 Jun 2015
at 12:34 Image of day on 31 Aug 2015
In the hot midday sun a couple of Black-headed gulls went
wheeling overhead with the high sun shining through their
feathers. Here is an impressions arbitrarily placed against the bland sky.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20150831_df3_20150630_1234_272-275 black-headed gull in flight 1-4 of 4 (impression montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 27 Sep 2018
at 12:27 Image of day on 18 Nov 2018
Several Black-headed Gulls (in eclipse with just a black spot) were feeding on
the recently seeded crop fields. This one almost hovered as it landed, so we
have spread the images so you can see it. We tidied up the repetitive
background, but left in the bit of vertical stem at the bottom each time so you
can see that the bird actually moves very little during its delicate landing.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20181118_df3_20180927_1227_008+1228_009-013 black-headed gull landing on disturbed soil 2-7 of 7 (horizontally stretched montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 14 Dec 2016
at 14:01 Image of day on 20 Jan 2017
Best effort so far at catching a Black-headed gull landing and taking off.
This is a single sequence at about 7 fps (so here about 2 seconds of action) as
this gull touches down, presumably to pick up an invertebrate, and take off
again with the wings never coming close to the ground. This is probably a
necessary technique when picking up items from water.
The first 3 frames (left) are accurately positioned, but we have then had to
spread the images thereafter to make any sense. The bird was in contact with the
ground for about half a second.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20170120_df3_20161214_1401_202-216 black-headed gull touching down to pick food & immediate takeoff 01-15 of 15 (impression montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image of day on 07 Feb 2005
Hen Blackbird just taken off from the log feeding area.
.jpg)
Ref: 20050207_d3e_09270 fb1 blackbird female in flight 2005feb04_07-53-40(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image of day on 08 Jan 2006
By chance the next batch of photos caught the (probably the same)
Female Blackbird landing at the same site (4 days and 142 frames
later in real time - hurray for digital cameras rather than a
roll of film a day).
.jpg)
Ref: 20060108_d3e_28750 fb1 blackbird female landing 2006jan06_07-51-34(r+mb id@576).jpg
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