Fantails are my unicorns. The creature impossible to catch... in pixels.
Although they are difficult to photograph ironically they are not hard to find. They are a very common bird in New Zealand, and to top it off they are completely fearless around people. Often they will follow you through the bush, dancing in the air just an arms reach away. Its almost like they taunt the photographer. They are such accomplished aeronauts that are almost impossible to predict their flight as the flit and dart around. The photographers best bet is to try and predict where they will land (hint: it's usually the perch where they can get the best view of you), then focus on the branch and wait for them to land. Even then you'd better be quick... they seem to sense the camera shutter precognitively and break their pose at just the right nano-second. To add more difficulty they usually hang out in dense bush where the low light requires slow shutter speeds. Any fantail that remains motionless for half a second is probably dead, and using a flash, in my experience, just ruins a closeup bird shot (I usually lose most of the fine details in the feathers from the flash highlight).
I have spent considerable time in pursuit of fantail shots. I could count the 'keepers' on one hand out of literally thousands off frames.
Then there is the Black Fantail. Unlike the Pied Fantail, the Black Fantail is only found in the South Island, and it makes up just 10% of the Fantail population here. Because their feathers are all dark they are even harder to photograph.
This afternoon I stopped down at the beach to walk Kaycee. This pair of Black Fantail came from the dunes and stayed with me for a good 10 minutes. They seemed as interested in me as I was in them and graciously allowed me to take their portraits to share with you.
8:46:58 PM 
|
