... with one eye open.

By Chamaeleo

Robin Redbreast: Spotlit

Better detail in large ("L"); it seems to be almost spherical!
I've blipped this particular robin twice before (here and here); it is easy to find and it has a lovely character (very engaging, but still slightly timid), and I enjoy tiptoeing after it to hear it sing up close...

I almost didn't blip a bird at all (having taken photographs of blossom in the beautiful spring light), but then saw a special bird, and thought I'd illustrate my birdy commentary with a birdy photograph! The sun came out this afternoon so I stopped at Wandsworth Common on my way to meeting a friend for coffee; I'd just parked and was on my way to the common when I spotted a tiny movement in the blossom above my head. It was a tiny bird, our tiniest in fact: a goldcrest! I've not seen one before, and it was right above my head... The photographic conditions were not ideal: it was in the (dense) blossomy branches above my head, and the sky behind the branches was incredibly bright, leaving the bird very backlit. I got some well composed and crisp shots, and a few well exposed shots, but none were both... I've put the least unsatisfactory one on blipfolio (here) but it doesn't give much of an impression of the actual bird's shape, and I was below it so its gold crest is not visible. Otherwise it's fantastic...

A friend recently told me something curious about robins: they used to be called just redbreasts, and acquired the name "Robin" when people took to giving familiar birds nicknames: Robin redbreast, Jenny wren, Willie wagtail... Whereas other species retained these human names just as nicknames, robin has come to be the common name of the bird, with redbreast now only added affectionately as a sort of nickname. It's funny how some names stick.

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