Thirty-second encounter with the Spotted Dove

I was waiting with a camera at hand and this Spotted Dove came. It stayed no longer than 30 seconds and I had to work very fast with the camera. Perhaps it was afraid that I steal its beautiful diamond necklace.

Bee eaters and others

I had not intended to take photos of anything. I was just lazing on a beanbag and then I happened to look out of my window across to the TV antennae of my neighbour's house and saw a bird perching on it. I left the room to get my camera half expecting it to be gone by  the time I returned. It was a joyous surprise when I saw it still there and with my Canon Powershot at maximum zoom power  I took as many shots as I could before it decided to take off. This looks like a bee-eater but I am not sure of its name. Anyway it was a beautiful creature and I was glad to have seen it.

When the bee-eater flew off another bird came by to perch. These were not very good shots. Still I got to see the colours of its feathers .

Next, this spotted dove stopped by for a while and this time I got a clearer picture because I decided to use the Canon DSLR with the zoom lens.

Lastly a black bird came by and by then I was getting a little tired.

Spotted Dove in my Garden

I was minding my own business when suddenly a flutter of wings caught my attention. I looked up from my netbook and there it was this handsome spotted dove.

I used the word "handsome" because I have no idea about its gender. There was something about the way it strutted around my backyard that made me perceive it as being of the male specie.

It was not looking for anything in particular and it appeared to be rather aimless as it walked in measured steps to the right and then to the left, to and fro as if in a parade.

I picked up my camera and stretched the zoom to the maximum and using the auto setting as these birds do not hang around long enough for anyone to start fiddling with the manual features of the camera. Experience told me so and I was right.

Just look at that elegant long tail and the beak in perfect alignment with the eye.

It then turned around to show of the wing feathers. They were simply gorgeous.
See perfection in every curve and angle.
It was walking out of my range. I sat as still as I could and the good thing is, I think this bird's eyesight is about the only non-perfect feature of its whole being.
It decided to hop onto the low wall of my flowerbed. I am not sure if the reddish tint of its feathers was natural or if it was the result of the camera's auto settings.
Just look at those feathers. One would think that this bird was given clothing by an Emperor or Empress.
Contemplating to jump or to fly.
On second thoughts, I'll hang around a little bit more.
Hey pretty lady (spots another of its kind flying by) do you need some lunch?

Hmm, I think I should pursue her.
At this point, this handsome dove turned and faced me and bobbed its head a few times before flying off. I actually recorded a video of it doing this but sad to say, I accidentally deleted it!

Birds that I saw this week

There was no time to adjust the camera settings nor could I move closer to the bird or change my position to get a better shot. So the best I could get was a silhoutte of a green-coloured parakeet perched high on a twig above me at the Hortpark.

At the Singapore Botanical Garden I had the luxury of sitting on a bench amidst the lush greenery of my surroundings. A Spotted Dove came by and did nothing but pecked at the ground incessantly making it difficult for me to focus and especially so when I was trying out the manual adjustments of my Canon SX210IS Then something made me look up and then I spotted this jewel amongst the mesh of branches of this tree. It was a colourful and wary Stork-billed Kingfisher and seconds after I pointed my camera at it, this suspicious bird took flight.

Spotted Dove

I spotted this Dove from afar and even with the stretching of my Olympus 84.2mm zoom lens to the maximum, I only managed to bring it this much closer. Not good enough and really I should have used my Canon 400D with the more powerful zoom. If only! Since I happened to have in my hand the Olympus with its frustrating slow response to anything, I had to make the best use of it because birds are such restless creatures - even this spotted dove that was walking along the edge of a retaining wall. It was pecking at bits of the plants apparently having its breakfast. Conscious of its highly exposed position, it constantly looked up and down and around before taking a cautious peck at the plants.

Frustrating moment - The spotted dove flew off before the shutter of my camera was activated.