Wow. I really got him good this time. Fantastic images, probably the best I’ll get. (Not to mention a sound file and a movie!) I got back from work early yesterday, arriving back in town a little past 4:00. I figured I’d stop by to see if I could catch Howard, seeing as how the light was very good. I went to the usual overpass and looked in the usual places in the little valley underneath, but I didn’t see him. I saw some Oriental Greenfinches, a few wagtails, some House Swifts (more on them later), and even heard a Zitting Cisticola, as I’ve seen (but not been able to photograph) along the Tama River. But no Howard, nor his mate, Henrietta.

And then I heard him. I’d never heard Howard calling before. It sounded like a timid Rooster with a hesitating call; one sharp cry, followed by another, followed by a double cry. Like, “ka! … ka! … ke-ka!” I caught it on digital audio; here is an mp3 of the call.

I looked over in the direction of the call, and there he was! I was on the wrong side of the sun, so I didn’t get a good shot at first…

Howard seemed to be milling about in just one place, kind of on a ridge. It was in an area that was laying fallow for future construction, with levels along a gentle slope flattened out and ridges along their edges; Howard was along one of those edge ridges, above me. I was outside this area; from where I was on the regular walking areas, there was just no way to get a better view of him. So I climbed over a small, waist-high fence and entered the area. The idea was to walk around Howard so I could get a shot of him with the sun to my back, to get better colors. Then I’d close in, getting as near as he would let me. As I walked around the ridge area, I saw Howard’s tracks:

Then I climbed up a ridge above Howard, and snuck up behind some tall straight bushes, between which I got what I considered to be a good shot (click to see 1100 x 700-pixel version):

“Not bad!” I thought; it was about as good a shot as I had ever gotten of him. So then I figured I’d see how close I could get. I walked out from behind the bushes and snapped some more pictures; Howard just sat there, watching me. I climbed down the ridge to be at the same level as him; he didn’t seem to mind. Oh, he was cautiously giving me a good look-over, but I wasn’t making him nervous enough to leave yet. So I carefully walked not towards him, but more alongside him–and he let me get to within about 20 feet! That’s when I got these fantastic shots:

Click the above photo for a 1280 x 854 wallpaper image, or click here for a giant, full-sized 1800 x 1240 version.

Here’s detail on Howard’s head from a different shot:

To continue…

Click the above photo for a 1280 x 1000 wallpaper image.

Click the above photo for a 1000 x 700-pixel image.

Here are a few cropped 450-pixel close-ups of the above photo, focusing on Howard’s head and back to show feathering details:

Needless to say, I was very pleased with the quality of shots I got. I don’t think I’m ever going to get better shots than that, not without a much better camera and a big zoom lens.

I even took some movies, full-size and full-frame video. Here’s an iPod-ized version of 12 seconds of that video:

It might play with iTunes; if it won’t play, or worse, gives you a page full of junk characters, then just download it (right-click and save target file) and see what media player can handle it. I know that QuickTime and VLC can, but I don’t know about Windows Media Player (I’m guessing that recent versions can). Sorry if the video wavers around somewhat–it was hand-held, fully zoomed-in, and I was a bit shaky from trying to hold really still in general.

Note that Howard is panting in the video quite a bit; it was hot out, and I was sweating a whole bunch too, mainly because I kept my leather jacket on as it had a pocket I could put my camera in if I needed to use my hands for something else. When I got home, I was soaked, but it was well worth it. I certainly had come a long way in getting to know Howard since I first spotted him a month and a half ago.