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Birds, Insects & Bats in flight (outdoors) Page 27

Image Taken on 31 May 2015 at 13:06    Image of day on 29 Jul 2015

A Heron is occasionally visiting the Duck-shaped pond. Here the bird is on the bank and taking off. The bird upper right should be roughly where the head of the middle image is, so we have moved it to make an 'impression'.


Ref: 20150729_d01_20150531_1306_013+16+17_fb6 heron spending a few minutes on bank of duck pond and takeoff 2-4 of 5 (impression montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg


Image Taken on 21 Mar 2008 at 13:31    Image of day on 11 Apr 2008

Heron(s) are still hunting in 'Round' pond and this one spent 30m wandering around. We caught the moment that it left, springing upwards before disappearing out of frame, something we hope this little montage expresses.


Ref: 20080411_d01_20080321_1331_018-021 heron take-off from round pond montage(r+mb id@1024).jpg


Image Taken on 17 Apr 2008 at 16:02    Image of day on 04 May 2008

Yesterday's newt eating heron finally got startled and took off. Fingers were not fast enough to catch the launch, but the wonderful wing shapes during lift-off do make a good sight. This image should animate showing about a second during the takeoff as 6 images.


Ref: 20080504_d01_20080417_1602_532-537 heron takeoff from duck pond anim.gif


Image Taken on 20 Mar 2009 at 14:59    Image of day on 11 Apr 2009

Herons are a great subject - majestic & ruthless killers. These two images are an accurate montage probably about 0.5 seconds apart of a heron lifting off almost vertically.


Ref: 20090411_dc1_20090320_1459_582+586 heron takeoff from round pond 04+08 of 11 (accurate montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 18 Sep 2014 at 12:45    Image of day on 27 Nov 2014

We photographed this Hobby flying by, but it was only later when the images were on our PC that we saw to our astonishment that this hunting bird caught an insect in front of us.
Read the montage left to right in 3 descending rows:-
    Image 1: The insect is about 3 bird lengths to the right of the bird.
    Image 2: The gap is down to 1 body length and the talons are swinging forward.
    Image 3: The catch!
    Image 7: Transfer to the beak.
    Image 12: All done and the talons start their way back to 'retracted'.
The whole sequence lasts just over 2 seconds.


Ref: 20141127_df2_20140918_1245_049-060 hobby catching dragonfly in flight 03-14 of 14 (montage @5fps)(r+mb id@1024).jpg


Image Taken on 18 Sep 2014 at 12:45    Image of day on 27 Nov 2014

Here are images 3 and 7 in more detail.
Don't get confused by the numbering - the 12 image montage starts at Frame 3 (Image 1) of the 14 image sequence we have on file.


Ref: 20141127_df2_20140918_1245_051+055 hobby catching dragonfly in flight 05+09 of 14 (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg


Image Taken on 27 Sep 2014 at 12:28    Image of day on 09 Dec 2014

The Hobby collecting lunch. The dot just below middle was in this position in the frame with the left bird, had just caught it about 200mS later, and was already moving it to the beak 200mS after that.
Life in the fast lane!


Ref: 20141209_df2_20140927_1228_133-135 hobby catching insect in flight @5fps 1-3 of 3 (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg


Image Taken on 30 Aug 2018 at 12:40    Image of day on 23 Oct 2018

A Hobby flying overhead, poorly lit underneath by the sun high in the clear sky.


Ref: 20181023_df3_20180830_1240_016 hobby flying overhead(r+mb id@576).jpg


Image Taken on 21 May 2017 at 17:51    Image of day on 11 Jul 2017

Our first definite sighting this year of a Hobby on 21 May 2017
This dragonfly predator only appears just before we can hope to see our first Odonata (Dragonfly family).


Ref: 20170711_df3_20170521_1751_011-013 hobby flying overhead 1-3 of 3 (approx montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 13 May 2013 at 15:07    Image of day on 25 Jun 2013

This somewhat tatty, but nevertheless welcome, Hobby made a single pass right over the house.


Ref: 20130625_df1_20130513_1507_192 hobby flying overhead 12 of 13 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 19 Aug 2011 at 11:10    Image of day on 09 Oct 2011

This Hobby made a flyover and opportunity for some photos. They mostly hunt dragonflies so will be having a hard time this year.


Ref: 20111009_df1_20110819_1110_241 hobby flying overhead 5 of 7 (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg


Image Taken on 17 Jul 2010 at 09:08    Image of day on 31 Aug 2010

This hobby did a nice flyover and circle. The first shot (poor quality not shown) suggest that it had just caught a dragonfly and transferred it from talon to beak, and was circling for a minute to see if there were any more.


Ref: 20100831_df1_20100717_0908_070 hobby in flight (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 25 Aug 2008 at 15:17    Image of day on 12 Sep 2008

The 2nd of two new raptor identifications over our patch 3 days later. This Hobby came over a few times in a few minutes, presumably circling round out of sight to the North and East. Spotted momentarily on the top of a concrete post supporting our mains cables the next day.


Ref: 20080912_dc1_20080825_1517_035 hobby in flight (web crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg


Image Taken on 23 Aug 2009 at 17:39    Image of day on 04 Oct 2009

This is only our second sighting of a hobby in flight, and interestingly just 2 days earlier in the year than the first & only time last year.


Ref: 20091004_db1_20090823_1739_078+079+090 hobby in flight (from frame rate est 5fps) 01+02+06 of 13 (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 26 Aug 2015 at 15:17    Image of day on 28 Oct 2015

3 images of the Hobby in flight picked from a sequence.


Ref: 20151028_df4_20150826_1517_207+210+212 hobby in flight (selected) 9+12+14 of 18 (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 26 Aug 2015 at 15:17    Image of day on 28 Oct 2015

The Hobby appeared again and gave us the chance of some more portraits. This is close to an accurate montage at 6 fps based on hazy clouds that don't show in this crop.


Ref: 20151028_df4_20150826_1517_170-173 hobby in flight 02-05 of 18 (approx accurate montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg


Image Taken on 26 Aug 2015 at 15:17    Image of day on 28 Oct 2015

Images about 2/3 seconds apart closely spaced. The blurred small birds were the House Martins that happened to be hunting higher in the sky.


Ref: 20151028_df4_20150826_1517_225+229+233+237 hobby in flight 04+08+12+16 of 16 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg


Image Taken on 21 Aug 2015 at 15:37    Image of day on 23 Oct 2015

The Dragonflies have arrived, and so predictably does the Hobby - a dragonfly catching specialist.


Ref: 20151023_df3_20150821_1537_028-030 hobby in flight 1-3 of 5 (close spaced montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 19 Aug 2014 at 13:30    Image of day on 30 Oct 2014

Now the Dragonflies are about, so is the Hobby - a specialist Dragonfly predator. We love the gentle twist of this unbroken sequence. With no clouds to accurately space the images they are undoubtedly much too close.


Ref: 20141030_df2_20140819_1330_693-698 hobby in flight 1-6 of 6 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg


Image Taken on 09 Sep 2020 at 15:51    Image of day on 21 Oct 2020

High overhead a Hobby wheels round in search of Dragonflies. We see this bird a few times each year when Dragonflies are about.


Ref: 20201021_d73_20200909_1551_031 hobby in flight 2 of 3 (crop)(r+mb id@432).jpg


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