Well, At Least There Were Crows
Crows Lots of Crows at the Shogunzuka Overlook (将軍塚), Kyoto Japan -- Shogunzuka Overlook (将軍塚) -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 86mm — 1/200 sec, f/7.1, ISO 2800 — map & image datanearby photos
Crows
Lots of Crows
at the Shogunzuka Overlook (将軍塚), Kyoto Japan

After posting The Hope Imbued in a Dull Sunset the other day, I decided to pop on up for that evening's sunset even though I knew it would be completely dull, out of a sense of irony and because I was going to be in the neighborhood anyway.

As I walked up, there was more color than I had expected...

As Good as it Got -- Shogunzuka Overlook (将軍塚) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm — 1/640 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100 — map & image datanearby photos
As Good as it Got

Whatever flash of color was waiting for my arrival faded in the time it took to change lenses, and that was that.

The crows, however, often active at dusk, were in prime form.

Shogunzuka Overlook (将軍塚) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 155mm — 1/320 sec, f/7.1, ISO 4500 — map & image datanearby photos
Shogunzuka Overlook (将軍塚) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm — 1/160 sec, f/5, ISO 900 — map & image datanearby photos

They accumulate in the trees near the top of the small mountain, sitting more or less quietly until all at once in a sudden cacophony caws and wings the sky erupts in crow, and they fly way out over the eastern part of the city as a big expanding mass that, if viewed on a bird-by-bird basis, has no apparent rhyme nor reason of purpose. After a minute or two, they start to trickle back until at some point you notice that the sky is bird free, or just one or two....

Shogunzuka Overlook (将軍塚) -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2013 Jeffrey Friedl, http://regex.info/blog/ -- This photo is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (non-commercial use is freely allowed if proper attribution is given, including a link back to this page on http://regex.info/ when used online)
Nikon D4 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — 1/50 sec, f/10, ISO 3600 — map & image datanearby photos

And then a few minutes later, it starts over, repeating itself perhaps half a dozen times over the course of the fading light.


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