Okay, I think my title gave it away but, for context, this was a bird I have known about for a very long time but had never expected to see. After all, nightjars are nocturnal and I am very much diurnal. Not only diurnal but sun loving. Why should I expect to see a nocturnal bird?
Just a bit of history, I first learned about nightjars when I came across an illustration of one when I was probably in secondary school. There was large poster/folder of birds you could see in the botanic gardens and a nightjar was among the illustrations. It caught my eye for being so unique. It had an unusual shape and nests on the ground. However, right from the name, I never expected to see one and so I just filed it away under 'unusual birds'. That was over ten years ago.
Fast forward to today. I was taking a morning walk around my estate's garden and was about to head back home when I decided I wanted to do a half turn more. Now the only way to do a half turn in a circular path is to walk back along the path you'd just taken and then turn around and walk it again.
And that was when I saw the nightjar. I recognized it at a glance. "Is that a nightjar?!" I exclaimed and, thankfully, as there was no one near me, I wasn't troubled with a response. I was almost sure but not entirely sure. After all, it was just sitting there on the fence, sunbathing. I hurried over and whipped out my phone and took a - okay, I confess, many - pictures. I searched it and yes! It was a nightjar!
I was over the moon! A nightjar! A real nightjar! To be precise, a large tailed nightjar (See it here), and it was just sitting there! Sunbathing of all things. I had seen a nightjar!
If you read this blog, how can you doubt what came next? My phone was already in my hand and here are the results. By pure chance the nightjar was located near a housing block and that meant I could get to the void deck and take a variety of shots from different angles. Just a tip if you want to do the same; however happy you are, try to be quiet when taking the shots and move slowly. No point scaring away the bird in the process of enjoying it.
Of course, if I gave this tip, I did not scare away the bird and look at the results! Boy it was hard keeping quiet though.
First glance
A shot from the back! Look at its lashes in the sunlight!
I think it sees me
Yup, it sees me. Hello!
No worries, we didn't trouble each other and it was still there when I left
Ahhh, I'm over the moon, into the sky, and up to the stars. Who cares about the rest of the day or even the rest of the week? My day and week are made!
Don't fault me for dancing,
May
No comments:
Post a Comment