Mr Hoot

I like Auto-focus.  It works very well most of the time.  Except today it was a complete and utter failure.  The subject was a bird (what else) called a Clamorous Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus stentoreus) and as you can imagine, they live in reeds.  They are very vocal little birds but very hard to see, especially when they are in a thick bed of reeds.  My camera didn’t like those reeds.  The focus went crazy.  So I flipped my switch to manual and actually got a reasonable photograph.
It’s funny how much you rely on automation when you probably most often don’t need to.  You can see what I mean in the following photo.

For a couple of months now a bird has been calling from the bush at the back of our house.  For a while I had no idea what it was, all I had seen was a tiny bird high up in the tree tops.  Last week I had a suspicion that I knew what it was but couldn’t confirm it without a sighting.
Then today I had a short walk in the forest to take a photo for my 365 day project and when I returned there was a tiny bird on the birdbath.  By the time I had realised it was there it had flown up into the trees.  I managed to glimpse a flash of yellow and then luckily got a reasonable clear shot with the camera.  My suspicions were confirmed when I checked my field guides; it was a Spotted Pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus).  They are extremely small and very pretty birds.