Long Tailed Bushtits in the bushes

I’m looking over the beautiful green treetops and palm-tops in Parco Villa Gregoriana in Tivoli:

Parco Villa Gregoriana - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

There’s a flock of Long Tailed Tits Aegithalos caudatus passing through. I first saw them over 40 years ago and noted it down in my nature notebooks:

Long-Tailed Tits – forty years ago in my nature notebooks

They’re interesting birds because they never stay in one place for very long; they’re constantly on the move. That’s a problem for me as I haven’t got my telephoto lens on. I can hear them long before I can see them, going ‘tsurp tsurp’ in the treetops.

Long Tailed Bushtit - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

I dump my bag, get out the telephoto, remove my current lens, swap the lenses on the camera body, place the rear cap back on the unused lens and focus. Yes!

Long Tailed Bushtit - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

I manage to get a photo:

Long Tailed Bushtit - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

And then another.

Parco Villa Gregoriana - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

And then they’re gone.

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