Siberian Rubythroat - capturing the ultimate shot of the ultimate sibe!
Across the years there are certain rare bird images that stick in the mind.
For older readers, the rarity photos of the legendary duo J.B. & S. Bottomley may come to mind. For a different, slightly younger generation, images such as Robin Chittenden’s flight shot of the first-ever Cliff Swallow, perfectly in focus and very much left-of-centre may strike a chord. Likewise Tim Loseby’s super flight shot of the Berry Head Gyrfalcon fizzing past against the stone brown quarry and deep blue sea still resonates while Robin’s stunning capture of the gorgeous Quendale Pallas’s Sandgrouse remains as a classic of its time.
The years and decades that have seen rare bird photography soar to new, sublime, dizzying heights ~ each squeeze of the shutter button giving the photographer that split-second chance to deliver an image that could live long in the memory…
Last year, Chris Bromley managed what could well have been a once-in-a-lifetime shot of the Tarbet White-throated Needletail, a magnificent capture of a truly magnificent bird.
Now, just over 12 months on, Shetland photographer Rebecca Nason has managed the definitive shot of yet another much-dreamt of Far Eastern long-haul traveller ~ an image that has prompted Tweets, re-Tweets and online admiration in abundance ~ deservedly so.
Rebecca takes up the story of just how the ultimate shot of the ultimate “Sibe” came to be…
Siberian Rubythroat was not a British tick, having seen a 1st year female on Fair Isle in 2005 ~ at one point I had photographed it on a large fresh cow pat and I even got to see it at very close quarters in the hand as it had became self-trapped in garden shed at Quoy. The last male on Mainland Shetland, seen in October 2011, arrived a few days after I had left the islands to return home after a two week birding trip to the Isles and finances did not make it feasible to bolt straight back up, even for a male Rubythroat.
I observed the subsequent images of that bird with awe and envy but equally decided not to be too down-hearted, there would be another one. Fast forward to October 2014, now a Shetland resident and nearing the end of my first full year living a bird-filled life in Lerwick, a welcome grapevine message came through, after several days of fabled strong south-easterly winds - a male Siberian Rubythroat had appeared in a small garden at Levenwick on 3rd October.
The initial site where Dan Pointon found the bird had a well established small garden of mainly dense fuschia bushes which surrounded the house, itself set back on a slope next to a single-lane “B road” at the north end of Levenwick, South mainland. The orientation of the garden layout made for very difficult viewing from most external angles, and this, coupled with the skulky nature of the usually forest dwelling subject and, for Shetland, quite a good crowd of birders, made for a frustrating and lengthy wait. It took me 2.5 hours to get a glimpse of this stunning bird, only when the best viewing spot had reduced from six people deep to two and I managed to squeeze into a favoured spot where a small area of lawn and some concrete steps could be viewed. Once I was in position it took only about a minute before I had a 10 second view of the Rubythroat as it dashed between fuschias, stopping briefly on the lawn before disappearing. The daylight dwindled and dusk set in, that was to be my only view & there had been no photographic opportunity at all or me. I left deflated, though pleased to have seen it.
On 5th October Phil Harris and I collected two University student AFON birders from the ferry terminal who had won a birding trip to Shetland with Shetland Nature. We were guiding them for their first day before depositing them with Brydon Thomason on Unst. Within an hour of getting off the ferry, the four of us were enjoying good views of the Rubythroat and our young student guests had an enviable British tick. The Rubythroat was now in a new location further into Levenwick, a short tarmaced drive up to house, the drive lined with well established shrubs, trees and a low canopy where the Rubythroat spent most of it's time. However, it would occasionally pop out from either side of the drive to pick up or chase small invertebrates. We made sure we had all got good views and continued north, again without any shots.
I returned briefly on 7th October. The driveway was viewable with ease but due to the height and density of the surrounding vegetation was mostly in shadow and poorly lit for photography. Either kneeling down or sitting at the entrance to the drive I took a number of shots as the Rubythroat came into view, mostly half way along the drive and showing for (mostly) just seconds at a time. I had other commitments and left with only record shots, but decided then that I would put more time in on the morning of the 8th, now the bird was showing more regularly and the crowds had dispersed.
I arrived on 8th around 10:30am, it was a reasonably bright day but there had been no news of the bird. I was the only person at the driveway and within a minute spotted the Rubythroat in undergrowth a lot closer along the drive. I sat down on the drive and to my disbelief the bird hopped along, partially obscured, but down to within a few feet of me. Too close for shots, I raised my bins and got cracking head views.
A few minutes later is popped out half way along the drive again and I got a series of shots, mostly side poses or back-on as it headed away from me, amazing to have a bird of such magnitude to myself! Over maybe a 30 minute period the bird appeared for brief spells from both sides of the drive before I was joined by Jim Nicolson and then a number of other birders and photographers. Other the next 1.5 hours the bird showed on and off very well, sometimes less than 5 metres away and delighted the crowd. I knew I had got a couple of good sharp shots but it wasn't until I got back home that evening after birding elsewhere on the mainland, that I noticed the full front on shot - my favourite by far.
As a very keen birder as well as a photographer I have developed a set up over the years which works well for me and enables me to do both without compromise. A Nikon user, I used to carry around a 600mm then a 500mm prime lens with Wimberley head and tripod for bird photography. However although the gear was superb, it was heavyweight and did not enable me to bird at the same time, it was one or the other. With long spells birding on Shetland and Fair Isle, sometimes covering long distances and being out for many hours looking for rares, carrying heavy gear was not an option and I didn't want to miss out on quality birding time.
Enjoying opportunist bird photography as well as specific target species photography, I needed equipment I could carry out in the field all day and still stand a chance of getting cracking shots. I opted for the 200-400mm Nikon F4 VR. This lens coupled with a 1.4 converter and the superb D3s became my favoured equipment compromise in 2007 and I still use this set up regularly today. It's not lightweight by any means but I do manage to cart it about all day and 90% of my photography is done hand-held, tripods only now used for hide work.
The shots of the Rubythroat were taken in less than favourable light conditions, being dark and with patches of dappled light along the driveway. The various camera bodies handle ISO's very differently, the Nikon D3s I find works very well with hardly any noticeable grain at IS0 1600 and this is a setting I use a lot on Shetland with more than our fair share of poor light conditions!
I sometimes used Aperture priority, normally at a low f4 or f5.6 to keep the subject sharp but the depth of field low, enabling my favoured clean, clear backdrops. However most of the time I achieve this manually, I guess I am used to just manually exposing for the majority of my shots. The conditions at the time I took the Rubythroat shots meant I was shooting at ISO 1600 to maintain a high enough shutter speed to operate hand-held with an active subject, manually exposing at 500th second at f5.6, underexposing for the conditions to bring out the full Rubythroat colours from the dull shadows it kept appearing in.
As well as this autumn’s stunning Siberian Rubythroat capture, Rebecca has been on hand to enjoy several memorable Shetland megas over the past decade, two of the most famous are shown below…
One of the biggest surprises of last autumn on Shetland was the discovery, on Unst, of a first-winter female Cape May Warbler, present on Shetland’s most northern island from October 23rd to November 2nd. Plenty of cracking shots were taken of this surprise British second-record during the bird’s eleven day stay and some of the sharpest undoubtedly came from the lens of Rebecca Nason.
Arguably vying for just as many of the well-deserved plaudits garnered recently for Rebecca’s breath-taking Rubythroat shots are these two rarely seen images of an even bigger, even more highly prized Siberian ultra-vagrant…
Towards the end of her second season (in 2004) as Assistant Warden on Fair Isle, Rebecca was in place on the island on October 23rd to capture, in the most dazzling style, the first British record of Rufous-tailed Robin. Present for less than a day, only a handful of birders managed to marvel at this extreme rarity ~ including some of Shetland’s listing elite (who travelled over on the Good Shepherd, expecting to see a Hermit Thrush) ~ few people have seen the two images you see here.
Images which ~ in every respect (composition, clarity, “mood”, pose of the bird and, of course in this instance, the incredible rarity value too) ~ surely remain two of the very best rarity photos ever taken here. They have everything. Put simply, Rebecca’s two Rufous-tailed Robin images are as good as it gets.
Eastern Bonelli's Warbler on Shetland.
Rebecca not only takes some fine rare bird images but also has a particularly good track record of rarity finding, having spent two years as Assistant Warden on Fair Isle in 2003/4. Still one of very few rarity finding female birders, some of her more notable finds have included White's Thrush, Blyth's Pipit, Arctic Redpoll, Yellow-breasted Bunting, Citrine Wagtail, Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler & Black-throated Thrush ~ and her British list edging towards the 450 mark..
…and last year, Rebecca made a significant life-choice…
I made a massive decision to move to Shetland from Suffolk permanently last year with my partner Phil Harris, leaving behind family and friends in pursuit of a life full of rich birding, bird photography & bird ringing in arguably Britain's best birding hotspot. I am a freelance ecologist, wildlife tour-leader (for Shetland Nature & The Travelling Naturalist) and photographer and, more recently, have started running our home in Lerwick as a part-time B&B.
An impressive Georgian property in the conservation lanes area of the town, overlooking the harbour, our often sheltered, well established garden, hidden behind high stone walls has already brought in a wealth of good birds. Our relatively new garden list stands at 102 with highlights being Citrine Wagtail, Olive-backed Pipit, Hawfinch, Ring Ouzel, Waxwing, Yellow-browed Warbler, Wood Warbler, Barred Warbler to name but a few. Already our garden in Britain's most northerly town has surpassed our expectations, here, it feels anything is possible!
Mark Golley and Rebecca Nason
15 October 2014
