March 20, 2021 – Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER

Just in case there is any confusion, the title has little to do with the Black Kite in early morning light

EE has thrown a fetlock.
Mr An Onymous wrote me a note and called for a new moniker, “#kneetoo”, seemed appropriate.
We have over the past few weeks been unable to enjoy any real field-time as #kneetoo’s fetlock has been getting more and more painful.

The pain in the leg, is now, after mri, X-ray, ultrasound, poking and pushing, and oh and ahh ing, identified as a damaged fetlock. Or in layman’s terms, a dicky-knee.

So it’s off the operating theatre for our heroine and a nice sparkling knee-replacement thank you.

She will be able to walk about before we all know it, and in conversations over coffee, exclaim, “Oh, yes, me too!” Hence, if you follow the somewhat obscure logic that occasionally flows from this blog, #kneetoo

Mr Slice and Dice is going to turn on his electric drill, angle grinder and sanding machine after a short wait of about 6 weeks, so it seems.

In the meantime a round of X-rays and mri’s should keep our girl occupied over the next couple of weeks.

Now you know.

We’ve survived a long covid lockdown, so have learned to deal with being house-bound.

A sunny morning promised some good photo opportunities and as we’d only had one brief visit to the Western Treatment Plant since this time last year, it seemed a good time to reacquaint ourselves. Working “The Plant” gives #kneetoo an opportunity to photograph from IamGrey, without getting out and walking about a lot.
So, as The Banjo said, ‘We went’

We timed our departure to coincide with sun rise, (about 7:20am Daylight saving time). Too early for light on the birds, but cleverly timed so that with a stop off at barista Steve’s for a morning cappuccino, #kneetoo would be ready for the day’s activities.

By the time we had opened the Point Wilson Road gate, the sun was streaming over the pines around the pumping station along Paradise Road.” As we headed past the pine trees on the road to Ryan’s Swamp, #kneetoo pointed at a Black Kite enjoying the early morning sunshine. The reason I’ve chosen this shot is it is the same tree that was in last weeks post. (#125) Now, I can’t claim it’s the same bird. So I won’t.

This time I travelled on past the bird, turned around and slowly drove back. Now the bird was on #kneetoo’s side of the vehicle and all I had to do was work the mobile camera platform (IamGrey) in position. “A little to the left, forward. Stop. No, just a bit further. Oh, the mirror is in the way, reverse a bit.” Etc ,etc, etc.

It might seem a complicated task, but as we used to photograph motorsport rallies and classic car tours using a similar technique— she photographing out the window—while I drove and navigated at the same time, together with having to watch for approaching or turning cars, made doing it at a sedate speed on an open farm road feel quite relaxed.

The gracious Kite was neither impressed or concerned.

However I thought the light on this particular one was as good example of how rich early morning light plays its own magic on the shape and form of the feathers. The golden glow of that low-Kelvin temp light also brings out the richness of the colours. Hard to believe they have the name, ‘Black’.

All in all a good start to the morning.