Monday, April 21, 2008

ODD SHOTS - A BIRD IN THE HAND

This is a chafinch that flew straight at the window of my house. I went out, put him back on his feet and sat trying to coax him round for hours. Eventually, he jumped on my hand and wouldn't go away. I already had the tripod set up, so I used the remote to snap him. I had to run round the garden flapping my arms trying to get him to fly off. The neighbours really thought i'd lost it this time.

Finally he left, finding the courage to take flight. I feed the birds in the back garden, so I quite often spend hours warding off cats and sparrowhawks, but this is the only one who jumped onto my hand. I hope this one qualifies for an odd enough odd shot for today.

For more odd shots see KATNEY

Katney's Kaboodle is also the place to join odd shots monday.

38 comments:

Dragonstar said...

Lovely shot!
But even better is my mental picture of you flapping round the garden!!!
This used to happen at our previous house, only mostly with greenfinches (don't know why)

Anonymous said...

He looks very much like our American Gold Finch. I am glad you were there to work with him until he recovered. His headache must have been monumental.

Gaëlle said...

Lovely little bird. Hopefully you were there to help him recover!

Claire said...

I have just wandered into your blogs - have browsed both.What fun your wee character your chaffinch is. Glad the flapping was successful.

mrsnesbitt said...

Rightplace,righttime! Excellent Stuff!

Anonymous said...

that is a lovely bird, but I would rather of seen the odd shot of a Babooshka preparing for tajke off! :)

Thank you for your kind words today.

Raquel Sabino Pereira said...

LOL! When I read your name, I thought you were Russian!
Wjat a lovely blog you have here!
Wonderful shots!!!!!!

Jane Hards Photography said...

Qunitarantino,
I have flown a plane, but can't dive a car. My take off is like whirling dervish. Maybe for TT I will take into orbitas the Red Arrows will not be flying this year. I do hope you are enjoying your birthday.

iBlowfish said...

That cracked me up, and must be interesting experienced you got there to try coaching bird to fly away form you. This is good post, thank you.

Destitute Rebel said...

wonderful shot of a lovely bird, I'm glad you were able to help.

Kyanite said...

I think that's a btill Odd Shot'
I too feed my garden birds but with the 'demon' twosome of cats as neighbours my birds are very wary so I can't get close...

Re my 'Odd', morris doesn't come from Moorish, its more old English Myore, can't quite remember!

The D in D & T said...

How cute! Poor little fella. Glad he recovered though! Your description of the flapping made me smile :)

Unknown said...

Now that's pretty odd, great catch.

Lilli & Nevada said...

What a beautiful bird it is, it feels very safe with you.Very nice odd shot

Olivier said...

cette photo est superbe. Ce petit oiseau est très mignon.

This picture is superb. This little bird is very cute.

JAMJARSUPERSTAR said...

Aw, thanks so much for the lovely cmments you made about my KB review! I did embarass myself so much because I had a sore throat at the time as well (oh, "Suspended in Gaffa" was a distaster on my part).
Your comment made my day. How did you manage to get such a clear shot on this chaffinch anyway? All the birds in my garden (of which there are only really 3 types) just run away!
Ciao!

Scarlet,
http://scarletsculturegarden.blogspot.com
http://jamjarsuperstar.blogspot.com

Pernille said...

Very nice shot! Beautiful bird. I wish I was in the garden at that time and could shot a photo of you;)

smilnsigh said...

Hello and welcome to CDPB.

What a precious photo!!!! He must have been very dazed to do that, hu? But what a sweet experience for you. :-)

I love your Net Name! To me, 'babooshka' means a bandana for the head. Annnd, do I remember it also being a 'name' for Grandmother? Or am I all wet, with that?

Anyway, nice to meet you. And thank you for your kind words, in your comment, on my leaving CDPB post. I'll still be having fun with my photographs, on my blog. And still visiting people I've met.

And I'll try to remember to put the link to my blog, after my signed name.

Mari-Nanci
Photos-City-Mine

Jane Hards Photography said...

Babooshka. No, just a Kate Bush fan ands an easy name to remeber.

Anonymous said...

Lol, thanks for the chuckle... the bird is so cute but imagining you running around trying to teach it to fly is priceless.

Welcome to Odd Shots!

pierre l said...

That is indeed magnificent, Babooshka. It is very lucky for us that your camera was set up, and you happened to have a suitable glove handy.
As others have said, it is sad that there is no video of you running around the garden trying to get the bird to fly.

Anonymous said...

What a great story. Next time you'll have to get your other half to take the picture so we can see you flapping round the garden :)

Ming the Merciless said...

That is an amazing photo. It's not every day one gets a bird in hand (instead of two in the bush). :-)

raf said...

Beautiful in every way! A perfect odd shot, Babooshka. Hey, I've heard that flapping around is good therapy. Thank you for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jane,

If it's Ok any band from the festival will do.I will leave the Band choices to you.

The photography is sensational.I want a copy of the bird on hand. Keep up the good work.

Take care,

JacquiXXX

Katney said...

It is a wonderful image of the chaffinch, a bird I have not seen before. But the image of you running around flapping your wings and the neighbors watching is the oddest shot of all, even if we must develop it in our imaginations.

Anonymous said...

Wow!! What a wonderful experience! I'm glad the little thing is OK and I'm sorry because it had to be traumatic for him. But how lucky he was that you were there!

Lynette said...

That little beauty was so lucky that it was your window he flew into and not some heartless, uncaring individual. Great photo.

dixymiss said...

The wee birdie is adorable, but the word picture you paint of "odd" arm-flapping garden antics makes the shot hilarious! Well done.

Rhea said...

Adorable little bird! Love the odd shot and the story behind it.

Bergson said...

You are right to protect yourself the hand the greenhouses of this "eagle" are very dangerous

Lara said...

what a great photo - gorgeous colours!

vero said...

Oh, beautiful, little bird!!

Kim said...

What a unique opportunity you had with that little bird! I've looked over your blog after seeing your posting at other sites, and love your style of photography! Great job!

 gmirage said...

I love the contrast of the bird's color against your gloves and the background.

About 'being mad' taking photos of a certain kind, just let it...its our job to take a chunk of reality through our cameras =)

I added you to my bloglist and don't forget to join I spy Sunday ok? I think this 'odd shot' meme is cool!

Rob said...

Amazing how he looks so similar to our goldfinch. You must be a gentle person, he knows he is safe with you. He may visit you more and be less shy now. Darn cats, last spring, I had to save a finsh from the cat's jaws. He survived, had a short tail and flew funny, but was at our feeder all summer.

ptowngirl said...

That's a great shot! I can't imagine getting a bird to stay on my hand for a photo, or even it all for that matter -- they seem to fly away when I just look at them and THINK about capturing it!

ptowngirl
HamptonRoadsDailyPhoto.com

Mike G said...

Sweet of you to nurse him back to health. A very beautiful bird too, for some reason I thought Britain only had crows and pigeons, til I saw this.

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