A Flycatcher in November

Nov 12 2016 Gray Avenue and Dyke Road, Glen Valley Abbotsford.

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon. There I sat, sinking deeper and ever deeper into my comfy chair. On a whim and during the half-time of the World Cup soccer qualifiers I decided to check birding.bc.ca. I'm glad I did because only twenty minutes away in Glen Valley well known valley birder John Vooys had located a gray flycatcher. He's master of finding good birds. It would be a lifer if I could only make it before darkness.

By the time I arrived clouds were rolling in and the light was failing. A few other birders were already there so with their generous help I was onto the bird almost immediately. The light was so low that even ISO 3200 gave me a very low shutter speed so I pumped it up to ISO 6400, something I haven't done before. The bird was hawking insects near a compost pile but it always landed on a branch that either had a branch in front of it or a cluttered background, neither ideal.

Gray flycatcher...a lifer!

 I had to be patient and hope it would land in the open. Eventually it did with the setting sun hitting trees far off in the distance. That created a beautiful Bokeh or an out focus background. I used a blur tool to take out digital noise in the background. Apart from that there is no other manipulation.

Location of bird.

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S32521264

"It's never too late to start birding"

John Gordon

Langley/Cloverdale

BC Canada