The Gape

This lady blackbird has featured in this journal before. She is the Boss, dominant over both male and female blackbirds visiting the garden. She is the first to appear when the bird food goes out in the morning, she's usually there waiting for its arrival.

She was collecting nest material this morning before this was taken. It looks like the nest is in dense ivy in the hedge on the opposite side of the lane. It is one of three blackbird territories that appear to include part of our garden. There's a lot of clucking and squabbling now between them, much more so than during the winter when they tolerated each other and the visitors from overseas. The Boss is much more recognisable (because of her size and markings) than her mate. While she was posing for the camera, he was in the bay tree emitting the blackbird's odd high pitched seep.

I've been practising taking photos of Bob the Cat, mindful of Bethanne Elion's challenge for tomorrow. I have the same type of camera as Bethanne, but I can't get the same sort of results when it comes to cats. She really has purrfected the art. Bob has a lot of character, and to some extent it does show in the pictures. I struggle with the exposure because he's black, and somehow his eye colour never matches up either. The results are workmanlike at best. Bethanne has lately been consistently posting sublime photos that capture the very feline essence of her animals. I'll try tomorrow, but I may revert to type and post something else. We'll see.