Puffin

Taken for the Saturday Self Challenge "Birds"

 

We are lucky enough to have a few breeding colonies of these comical birds in Scilly but each of them is on an uninhabited island where it is either illegal or impossible to land. As a result the only photographic option is from a boat. The challenges being very different to that if you are lucky enough to visit a colony on land. The light was lovely last Saturday evening after the challenge was announced but the sea conditions were less than ideal being a bit choppy in the cold easterly winds. Having reached the small island of Mincarlo there were plenty of Puffins on the water and having secured some shots of sitting birds I upped the challenge to myself in an attempt to capture an acceptable flying bird shot. These are surprising quick and erratic little birds and capturing a bird in flight, standing on a rocking boat with a long lens is not easy. I am pleased with the end result though and it was an added bonus that this bird had a beak full of sand eels as it returned to the nest.

Done