23 July 2021

Fabulous Friday at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden

A morning of Small Birds and Flowers at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden

Bird Life Photography at Kirstenbosch

Swee Waxbill Bird in Bush Kirstenbosch Photographer Vernon Chalmers
Swee Waxbill Kirstenbosch Garden Cape Town

Friday Morning at Kirstenbosch: Small perched birds and a Garden full of Peace

I expected a lot from this morning. I did not get it in the form of many small birds, but a peaceful walkabout around Kirstenbosch on a fabulous Friday morning.

Again, after quite a few rainy days in Cape Town, I returned to Kirstenbosch with my Canon EOS 7D Mark II camera / EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens to fine-tune this new genre of small perched birds.
 
What I am learning is the shutter speed relationship between the small perched birds and when some of them take flight during one continuous burst. Working with a non-IS lens, I shoot with a shutter speed of 1/1250s at Kirstenbosch which is fast enough for this purpose, but not fast enough for their incredible fast in-flight action. For this I will have to increase the shutter speed to a minimum of 1/2500s - 1/3200s - and find a balance between perched and in-flight action.

My photo of the morning was the swee waxbill touching down close to me - so small and I'm happy to get this semi in-flight image at a shutter speed of 1/1250.

Kirstenbosch birds photographed during the morning:
  • Swee waxbill
  • Southern Double-Collared Sunbird
  • Swee waxbill
  • Upside down Sunbird portrait
  • Dusky flycatcher
  • Cape bulbul

Canon Camera / Lens: Birds and Flowers Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
  • Canon EOS 7D Mark II
  • Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Lens
  • Manual Mode: 400mm @ f/5.6 / Auto- ISO (Various) / 1/1000s - 1/1250s shutter speeds
  • No Lens IS / Handheld

Post-Processing: Adobe Lightroom 

Kirstenbosch birding photography training also offered as Photography Training Gift Vouchers

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