Thanks for your comment!
I really like to read comment from experts because I can learn more every time!
First of all, the photo and the video is 100% “natural”. No bait, no call, no disturbance to environment and other people is the number one principle to my bird watching and photography.
May I ask the following:
“The bird sang half-heartedly”. When I compared with other videos and what I heard in May, this bird sang with shorter and lesser notes. Is it a song not for mating?
Also near the end (1:15) of the video, another singing pattern which is different. What is the meaning?
I always be alert to make no disturbance to birds, environment and other people. I use mirrorless camera in silent mode so that no shutter sound can frighten the birds (even in Mai Po bird hide).
Back to this HBF, let me describe this close encounter in detail. (Although you may not interest in it)
On 10th June, a cloudy day with frequent showers in the morning but not in the afternoon. It was “dark” in the forest. Not many birds can be seen or heard. (Plain flowerpecker(heard) was the best)
At around 4:20pm, when I was walking around the trail, I heard clearly the bird’s song. Then I stopped behind a tree and searched the bird using my binoculars(because it was dark). It was very close. I took some photos(camera silent mode as usual) and found that the bird sang continuously without noticing me. Then I moved slowly and sat down on the trail. The bird definitely saw me but it seemed welcome me very much and gave its performance without stopping. I took many photos. Then I switched to video mode and recorded a few minutes video. Then I put down my camera as hand held for a few minutes was too tired. (Although the whole camera set is just 2.7kg, EM1X+300F4+1.4 TC). The bird flew away because someone was walking towards.
Then I checked my photos. Shutter speed 1/320 s turned out a whole black photo(as I set fixed iso at 3200). I was lucky to have enough time to use different shutter speeds, 1/160, 1/80, 1/60, 1/25 and even 1/20s can give tack sharp photo, IBIS is extremely powerful. The video was taken at 1/80 shutter speed.
Surprisingly, after a few minutes, the bird came back again at the same position. I enjoyed his singing for about 20 minutes in total for two sessions. This was the longest and closest encounter with HBF and so want to share with others. (Sorry for the long passage)
