ABC Wednesday: I is for Idle; Camera-Critters #154

Do you ever feel inferior, and a slightly guilty when photographing birds.  Why they always turn their back on us?  Are we so unworthy of their attention?

This Idling sea gull is Lesser Black-backed Gull (小黑背鷗), Larus fuscus.  Two-weekend ago, Grace went with her lady friends for a weekend trip to Southern Taiwan.  I got an Idle Saturday and went to Daxi Harbor at Yilan county.  Daxi always gave me some unexpected surprise.  The last time I saw some amazing demonstration of flying skill by Greater Crested Tern.  All sea gull (Laridae) are relatively rare in Taiwan.  The Greater Crested Terns are only seen occasionally in Taiwan during the summer when they migrates from the South Sea.  Lesser Black-backed Gull is even rarer.  Its normal habitat is at Northern Europe and migrates to North Afterica and Middle East for the winter.  

I was sure that it did not like me.  It only raises its head whenever I put down my camera.  Lesser Black-backed Gull looks very much like the Herring Gull that I saw on Cape Cod, but a lot smaller.  After much soul searching, I realized that the bird did not necessary dislike me so much.  It may all to do with the wind direction.  I repositioned to the upwind-side.  Now, they all are facing me!!

The younger sea gulls look completely different from the mature ones, much less colorful.

Also probably more playful, this one almost landed on an elder.

It is time for it to take to the air.  May be after all, I am too close to its confort.

The younger one also followed suit.  

The whole colony consists of several dozen birds.  After some idling moment in Taiwan, I hope they will make their way home safely.

Click on the images to see the detail of the birds.  I took the pictures with my Nikon D700 and the Nikkor 80-400mm VR lens.  It is the first time I really used a tripod for bird photography, but of course the pictures of birds in-flight were still shot offhand. 

To see more entries of ABC Wednesday click here.

To see more Camera-Critters from around the world click here.