Chiffchaff - Phylloscopus collybitta
I know Chiffchaffs from the UK but when they are not singing on passage in the Middle East it is very difficult (for me at least) to tease them out from the other warblers that we have pulsing through the region. This bird was stalked by me for an hour in the small wood in the middle of Safa Park.
I m going to "benchmark" this as a Chiffchaff from the broken eye ring, fainter supercilium, yellowy tinge to underparts and general tumbling mouse like skittishness. I have a crick in my neck and 40 shots produced 4 that were liveable but that's the beauty of a digital camera.
It is satisfying when you catch a difficult bird with the lense. These birds are skittish and don't sit still or perch to order. They are in the canopy of the Tamarisk trees and obscured most of the time by the weave of branches. I am starting to think that it is better to find a decent space in the canopy and wait for the bird rather than chase the birds around the wood firing off blurred shots. The auto focus doesn't work in this enviroment because of the profusion of branches that it can attract to putting the bird out of focus. Equally holding up a heavy telephoto lense and turning the manual focus ring at the same time is quite an effort.
I have avoided warblers to date for the very reason that they are tricky to identify and difficult to photograph. I am just going to have to learn some patience and some fieldcraft - and get used to staring into the tops of trees for hours on end !
Chiffchaff, Phylloscopus collybitta
Safa Park, Dubai, UAE
7 April 2012
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