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Category Archives: bird
Travel Tuesday: waiting for …
These 2 common black-headed gulls (Larus ridibundus) seemed to wait for something. During low tide I found them sitting on these piles of a Lahnung at the coast of Schleswig-Holstein.
In German the are called “Lachmöwe”, meaning “laughing gull” because of the sound of their cries.
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I’m back …
… from the Baltic Sea (again).
Those of you, following me on Instagram might have guessed I’m on a trip again, and they were right. For a few days the pendulum inside me as a nature photographer turned from ‘landscape mode’ to ‘wildlife mode’.
I was part of an excursion team for photographing the common cranes while they rest in that region and before they start to the second part of their fall migration. For the first days of my trip I started alone and got some amazing results. Cranes are extremely shy. They have a fleeing distance of about 300m (some rangers even said 900m – but, I can’t believe that). You have to avoid to disturb them. Every start to fly costs much of their energy. And this energy is needed for the migration. They have to eat much to have enough energy for the long and exhausting trip. On the second part they fly from north-eastern Germany to Southern France or Spain. The birds are big. They are about 120cm high (females a bit smaller) and have a wing spread of about 200 – 240 cm.
Most of them life in wet forests in Poland, Russia and the Baltic, but also in Scandinavia. They have only 1 or 2 eggs and each of the parents take care of one fledgling. Now, the fledglings are nearly as big as the parents. But, you can still recognise them easily.
With the excursion team, we got permission to enter some restricted parts of the National Park “Mecklenburgische Boddenlandschaft”. We observed the arrival of the cranes in their sleeping area and the morning start.
Another high-light was the morning trip on our last day: observing the deer rut. About 15 males bellowed in the huge lighting and trying to collect females. Nearly all of them didn’t have had a female, while one stag has had a harem of 21 females (just, like ABBA sang: the winner takes it all). Nevertheless the stags were comparing their strength in bellowing, walking and fighting. Amazing time.
During the excursion I got lent a f/5.6 800mm lens that I used on my APS-C camera (so, I got 1200mm). A very heavy lens, usable only with a tripod. Fortunately, mine was strong enough the carry that burden. My own longest lens is only 400mm. In combination with the tele-converter I also get 800mm, but with lower quality. That combination is less bright and thus less fast. While the 800mm lens does not have an image stabilizer (but a tripod), but I have a working AF. On my 400mm with tele-converter the AF only works under good light conditions.
Most of my images are taken with ISO 3200 and ISO 1600 at f/5.6 or f/6.3 at distances of more than 200 – 300 m. So, the 800mm lens was a necessity to get good images.
Don’t forget, to view the gallery below this post. I already developed a few images an attached them to this post in no particular order.
Help saving our environment and the animals to make this planet a good place to live in for us and the following generations. Also, keep this planet in good shape for your kids, so that the following generations are also able to gaze at the marvellous events and places through their own eyes instead of having to trust ancient documentaries.
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Travel Tuesday: Eurasian spoonbill
Eurasian spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) / Löffler also Löffelreiher
One evening I was on my way back to our apartment when I noticed a quite big bird flying slowly in my direction. As I saw on the flying style it was neither a goose nor any of the other birds I watched during the last days. I wondered, what bird was coming up to me.
While the distance shrank, I hoped it wouldn’t change its direction. It seems to me like a heron or an egret, but I was still unsure.
A few minutes later, I was sure to see a spoonbill in front of me, a member of the heron family. You can identify this bird easily on the very distinct shape of the spout.
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Travel Tuesday: Pied Avocet
Pied avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) / Säbelschnäbler
No, the spout of this bird isn’t broken 🙂 It’s really bent upwards. You can see them along the coast quite often, but only in areas without men. They are very shy in my experience. Go, where no men are, to see them. Sit down, and wait for them to come up to you. No quick movements.
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Travel Tuesday: it’s dinner time
Common Redshank (Tringa totanus) / Rotschenkel
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Wordless Wednesday: cormorant
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