The Cat and the Hoopoe
On our travels walking the dog, it is always nice to see nature in action and when it is on your doorstep it enables one to easily return and study the habits of the subject. By observing one can choose when and how to approach taking a picture without disturbing the subject and sometimes the unexpected occurs, which is what happened with the Cat and the Hoopoe.The story starts by going back a few days when I noticed that a Hoopoe was entering a crack in the side of a stone barn. By watching over a few days I could see which approach it would take to get to the nest and then where the ideal place would be for the equipment to go, in this case behind a stone wall. Birds in general have a large circle of fear, so you, and your equipment need to be some distance from them, especially when they are nesting. Fortunately I have a zoom lens, tripod and a remote release for the camera that works really well and allows me to hide several metres away in fact so far away I cannot hear the shutter so I can only hope that a picture has been taken.
Whilst the Hoopoe was off fetching food for its young I set up the camera and tripod and sat waiting for it to reappear. I was able to get a few pictures of it hanging off the entrance to its nest, there is one of its crest up but in this instance it did not turn sideways so it is not easy to see. Do you think that wildlife does not always understand the concept of its best side.
Nature is always looking for opportunities, and the following day when I returned there was a feral cat sat in the opening adjacent to the Hoopoe's nest.
The cat had obviously seen the same activity that I had. The cat noticed my approach and was not particularly bothered as it had dinner on its mind. The Hoopoe on the other hand was not at all pleased with the situation as it was potentially the dinner.
Rather than set up the tripod which would have disturbed the scene, I snapped of a picture of the cat and then the Hoopoe which was sitting on a post beak full of insects.
The ending of the story is that the cat, not able to catch the Hoopoe left the ledge and probably went chasing mice or rats instead. The Hoopoe will, I am sure manage to finish off rearing its young and they might return again next year.
Nev
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