Nuthatch photography

I've always wanted to photography Nuthatch, but rarely had the opportunity. Usually the best opportunities are at feeding stations, and it's difficult to get a natural-looking perch - I certainly don't want a photo of a bird on a peanut feeder! And typically it's quite dark as well, set low down under a thick canopy. Add that to the fact that you often have to shoot through glass, and it all adds up to why I've rarely bothered even pressing the shutter. Today though I finally got the opportunity I had been craving, and locally too! I found a bird completely out in the open that seemed to have little if any fear of people. I took hundreds of images, but have only time to show three.

The first is the classic perched shot, of the bird horizontal on a tree trunk. This view is rarely seen, usually it's of a 'classic' bird vertically against a trunk, so this was nice to capture.

The second shot is of course the afore-mentioned 'classic'. Bird creeping vertically down a trunk, with the front half of its body peeling away from the tree. There are some that say there is no point trying to take the same photo that hundreds of other people have taken, but I reckon this particular pose is one that you can never tire of. Believe it or not the bird rarely adopted this posture, but evetually I saw my moment and took it.

The final shot is of the bird in flight. You don't see many of these at all for some reason, so I was really pleased to nail it. Very tricky indeed - timing was everything, and it was only on about my tenth attempt that I managed to lift the camera to my eye quickly enough. Nuthatches move incredibly quickly - thank God for autofocus!