This morning, I got the short-term opportunity to go photographing wild flamingos.
Near the Dutch border some escaped flamingos found home a few decades ago. The first birds were seen here in 1970. Today, about 40 of these birds are living here, together with some geese, seagulls and other water birds. They even grow fledglings with some success. It’s the most northern breeding spot for them. You can find 3 species: Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus / Rosaflamingo),American Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber / Kubaflamingo) und Chilean Flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis / Chileflamingo). A few single sights even named a forth one: Lesser Flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor / Zwergflamingo)
The birds stay here for the summer months. During winter, they migrate to southern Netherlands.
Despite the huge distance of about 130 km, I was a 8 a.m. on location. But, you can’t come near to the water. In three different places they have set up observing booths. In one of the places I was lucky enough to get a good image of 5 flamingos while doing their morning routing 🙂 I guess, these are Chilean Flamingos, but I’m not completely sure. The color of their knees would be the proof for my guess.
The above image is taken by using my 80-400 lens extend by an 2x teleconverter attached to my DX camera supported by a monopod and ISO 400, f11 (because of the converter). So, the result is like I’d have used a 1200mm on my full frame camera. Using such a long focal length brings some problems: you must have an extremely high shutter speed (but how to do with f11 and a week sensor with ISO higher than 400?). The monopod helps ab bit, but it’s still like playing lotto. Thus I’m very happy with the result.
Stay tuned!
What a cruel summer! We have August 1st. That’s in the middle of the summer, the middle of the hottest days of the year. But, the thermometer says: +5°C at night and max. +15°C at day. We still get much of rain very often. Leaves are starting to colorize yellow and many of them have already fallen down. The plants behave like they are already preparing for winter. Mushrooms pop up and hazelnuts are ripe. Yesterday I’ve even heard the first group of cranes migrating to the south. Other birds are still growing their descendants. I also missed the swallows and the swifts chasing flying insects for some days. 
