Vanishing Wildlife

Well there I was the other day, out the garden taking reference shots of leaves and branches for a little owl commission I'm currently working on, when an unexpected wildlife close-up presented itself. I had all the images I needed (there's only so many angles you can frame a leaf from), with just one pic left on the memory card, and was on my way down the garden path to the front door when the one of the local male blackbirds flew past my head, landed literally no more than three feet away from me in the crook of a willow tree, and posed there collins bird guide style ready for painting.


Never one to pass up a chance of a nice composition - especially one with no need of a zoom lens - I carefuly removed the camera from it's case, and moving silently like a ninja slowly assembeld the tripod, all the while keeping a beady eye on the blackbird. Then with SAS-style stealth I flicked the camera on, waited for what appeared like hours while the damn thing powered up, carefully muffled the beeping with my hand, focussed the viewfinder, and ....click


The blackbird emptied his bowels, and within a second vanished laughing into the trees, leaving me with a lovely close up of another branch.


Still, it is a very nice branch.

Insert blackbird here