Chimango

An early morning visitor, scavenging I think for worms which the rain will have brought up. It's been raining pretty much all the time for a couple of days now. My bird Bible (Narosky y Yzurieta) tells me the Latin name is Milvago chimango and that is is common in all parts of the Republic. The English name is Chimango Caracara, and it seems to be one of a number af members of the Fam. Falconidae, although more of a scavenger than a hunter. I was chuffed to read that it occasionally catches fish out of the water.

Well, you have to start somewhere, and this was shot under difficulty - early morning, rain, 300mm telephoto with 1.4 extender, and a novice photographer. I shot in RAW which at least gave me the chance to up the colour a little as it really was an overcast morning.

I'm beginning to realise that shooting birds [with a camera] is not a trivial task. This grainy shot took me about an hour to set up (I actually shot it from inside the house through an open door). But I hope it will be the first of many birds, and that as time goes by I can blip some more exotic and better quality shots. My next task is to attempt a decent shot of a humming bird (they are native to this area), but that may be a big wish.