Posts in Category: fauna

blue tits bad feather day

Weather is a changing and it feels like april already. Lots of wind, tons of rain and constant chasing light. I love this, although my lens seems to have some issues since the last rain shower. I looses contact with the camera, resulting in an error. Have to check the bionette which seems to be a little loose. A slight turn and it registers again, but already cost me two shots. Birds don’t seem to care much about the conditions… how could they? Although these blue tit had its bad feather day, after the shower. Kein Drei-Wetter-Taft in sicht. 😉

 

 

fieldfare

A new bird that I saw a while back but had no clue what it was as it was always too far away of me too slow. A Wacholderdrossel as they are called in German. Lucky me met took my chance and went out as soon as the rain stopped for a couple of minutes. The whole family consistent of a couple that is building a nest right across the street of my rehab was very busy in collecting material like grass, sticks and hay.  Once new material is dropped into the nest, the whole buddy is used to shape up the interior making the bird sometimes look like its back is broken and you can only see tail and head sticking out.

a moment with robins

First day of my rehab gave me time to explore the woods around Bad Nauheim. Skiwiesen is a lovely spot and next to it the NABU had taken reign over some old “Streuobstwiesen” and the whole spot screams Owls and it is a paradise for most birds. Here are some pictures of robins that showed as much interest in me, as I had in them. Don’t ask me what happened to the one with its beak on the wrong side of its head. Guess it was shaking hard, as it was raining a bit prior to this shot.

woodpecker

Same day on which I had the luck to meet both relatives of the woodpecker family and this fellow was sitting quite low on trunk. Doesn’t it look very stern?

Light was not the best so I had to crank up the ISO and used some tools to make those images look nicer. Location: somewhere between Maunzen- and Jacobiweiher.

 

mr. green

They are quite a common guest in the woods around here and they are not even hard to track down once you learned about their call; it sound a little bit like a high pitched laughter. The hard part, is to get a decent shot of the green woodpecker. Quite shy, it stays in the upper reaches of the trees, despite hunting for insects on the ground. So it would take patients and time to get this right. I am not at the point where I am ready to spent a day in a hideout and wait for the bird to come into my viewfinder. All these images here are more or less drive by actions and so this one is shot from below, while it was climbing up a tree and singing… eh.. laughing at me, when on top. 😉

This was taken at the Jacobiweiher.

canadian goose

This was an early trip to Maunzenweiher mostly due to the time change – summer time, although it is still freezing at night. I sadly missed the dispute between two goose couples. Basically they were fighting for being close to me, as I was having a croissant for breakfast. They had been lamenting and shouting at each other for minutes when finally one took off darting at the other couple. Lots of spray and splash and then they went off the other direction, leaving me with my croissant on the muddy floor and this one shot that depicts one goose approaching and shouting for the third attack.

Afterwards the couple that was already close to me came by and started shouting and head banging at me. Probably this is how they beg for food – they got none!

buzzard

Taking a longer walk from the Schlosspark Rumpenheim back home this buzzard was waiting on a tree besides the dam. I was on the dam and on the perfect eye level – sadly it was facing the wrong direction and the sun was right behind it. Too late I noticed that is was actually a couple, but having Spike on a leach dragging me away it is wonder that I even captured it. A lot of retouching later…

White heron

We got quite used to the grey herons. In the last ten years you can find them around almost every billabong, but the white ones, especially the bigger ones, I did not encounter the frequently. This one was very shy and when I crushed into the scene with my bike and its screeching brakes, it was clear that he had a keen eye on me. Half the way on the ladder to the nearby perch it flew off and left me with at least two nice images. Need to learn how to approach shy animals.

 

 

nuthatch

The big advantage of living in a metropolitan area is that you basically are never alone, even in the woods. With the Frankfurt airport nearby and big autobahns like the A3 crossing our region it is even never really silent and so the animals adopt to people and noise and sometimes are not shy at all. I passed this nuthatch on my bike and when I turned and unpacked my camera it was sitting there, just watching me as I was aiming and shooting a it. Truth to be told… this does not happen this often and I spoil and do scare away more birds than I like to admit. Improving my fieldcraft is probably the next thing to do. But this shot made my day, right at the beginning of my trip.

 

mandarin duck fight

Ahhh mating season! Although these shots were from last weeks visit to Maunzenweiher where it was still freezing cold (see the ice the birds sit on?) the first spring feelings among the mandarin ducks were already sensible. There was a lot of pushing, shoving and fighting going on among the colourful drakes. It was almost noon but sun was weak and hanging low, if at all. Most of these shots are retouched and still are far from perfect, but they tell the story.

 

Karbenmoran

I’ve been working at the Dögelmühle in Karben for more than twenty years, crossing the Nidda almost every day. It had been a more or less straight channel, with trees and vegetation cut back in order to provide unhindered flow. The effect of this is that you hardly could see any water birds that usually show up such places. Luckily a certain area had been renatured a few years ago and those measures seem to show effect: ducks, coots, swans and cormorants I found. One of the latter was resting in the middle of the stream on a sunken tree and was not so shy as it siblings I encountered elsewhere. Spent a good hour with it and although I missed the shot I was hoping for – it taking off and flying away – I got some really decent pictures.

 

nut crow

Crows are everywhere in Offenbach. They are smart, get quite old and tend to rummage through waste bins. This fellow found a peanut on the ground. No time to observe it any further, as the Spike was running ahead, while the kids were heading in the other direction – photography takes time and patients…

 

Zoo Frankfurt

The kids got their school reports and as a tradition we as a family do something special on that day. We went for a nice asian buffet (we ate far too much) and headed for the Frankfurt Zoo. When we arrived, it was raining and only about two hours left before it closed, so not the best signs. The images you see here were all shot with high ISOs and were partly very noisy. I had to push them through a few tools and so they are all heavily altered.

The all new enclosure for the penguins is great. All my life, I saw them in the Exotarium, living in that tiny space behind glass. Now they got their new home right next to the seals – outdoor and a much bigger basin to swim in with a viewing area for the visitors. Great! The old reigns has yet to be redefined, as many of the penguins uttered calls to mark their territory.

The humidity was so hight that I could not get my lens clean, when entering the ape house (Borgori-World) – next time.

Cormorants

Cold and slight sleet showers were not the ideal weather to go for a shoot, but I needed to get some fresh air and went for a walk to a nearby lake called Maunzenweiher. Usually there are a lot of ducks and a few herons around, but this time I even noticed two cormorants. I wrongly took the grey feathered head for a sign of age, but it is just the opposite: this one is young fellow – and although a lot of people were hiking, jogging and walking around the lake, it was again me stopping and pointing a big lens (eye) at it, that made it play hide and seek with me. At some point I got a few decent shots of him sitting and cleaning his feathers, but I missed his flyoff, touching the water with his feet, the first few swings. Crap!

Cormorant was NABU bird of the year 2010. Another German name for it is “Berufsfischer” (professional fisher) and indeed fishermen don’t like them very much. They are good divers and and their main dish is fish. Since a couple of years the population seems to grow  again constantly after they were consequently hunted throughout the first half of the last century.

A walk in the ISO-park…

… well, actually it is called the Fasanerie in Auheim (near Hanau) which is a wild park. Took my new Nikon D7200 for a walk, along with the family. No sunshine, low clouds and my trusty old Sigma 150-500mm that tends to be not the sharpest at 500mm. Usually I dial it down to 400-450mm and it will go up to F 5,6 or more. Bad conditions that would have been for my D90, but the D7200 cranks up the ISO on its own, when set to auto-ISO and that was the right day to test how far I can get with this setting. Turns out the images look far better than those out of the D90 with a quarter of the ISO – non the less there is big loss in sharpness, texture details and light.

Saviour was Topaz Labs duo of Denoise AI and Sharpen AI. Results are far from professional, but good enough for me. Usually most of these shots would have been no-photos and end up in the trash bin. I count this as a good exercise on how to deal with bad weather, unsharpened lens and high ISOs. Now you can polish shit and make it shine like gold.. at least a bit. 🙂

Robin

May I introduce you to one of the my beloved bird friends. This is Robin or Rotkehlchen, as they are called here in Germany. They are very common and are all but shy. Quite the opposite: they are very curious and are not afraid of getting close to you. Whenever I come across one of them, if feels like it is rather watching me instead of me watching it.

This little fellow didn’t even move when I approached him with my bike and stayed when I hit the my squeaking brakes and stopped a few meters away from it. He took notice of me, fiddling with my gear and the big lens,  was so curious and came closer. In the end, it even sat on my bike, right beside me as it wanted to have a nice chat with me. Love it!

 

Impact

The rooftop sides of our house are pure glass with wooden frame structure. I remember, as a kid, when birds would try to fly in not noticing the glass and ending with a loud thump on our balcony. Depending on the speed and the angle they hit the glass front they ended up in a wide range from broken neck and dead to just dazed. My parents had those stickers of large birds of prey silhouettes on every big window and they helped a lot. About 10 years ago they were coming off and I replaced them with Space Invaders …. off course! 😉 A few birds still don’t seem to notice and so we do have impacts from time to time.

The most prominent was a woodpecker who’s brain is luckily made for taking a hard bang. He was just dazed and when he regained his consciousness back poked me right in the hand – completely different type than those pigeons that do it usually. Pigeons tend to give in to their fate and once you got hold of them don’t seem to fight. Guess this one had a hard time recovering, if it did at all. There was the whole head, body wings – you could see every wingtip) on the window. I had a hard time capturing it and only partly succeeded, but will probably try it again.

 

Dexter gone

I don’t have words for this kind of incidents: death belongs to live and without it there would be nothing. You know that a lifespan has and end – sometimes very abrupt sometimes you see it coming. In case of Dexter there were signs. During the last half year he went from old but active to very old and somehow sluggish, though he took his duties in ernest: barking at the postmen, looking after the kids… he was brave and never complained. The cancer won over and raptured his liver, so it was time to see the doctor for the last time. Another empty spot on the sofa and and in our hearts. We miss you, old friend! Say Hello to all that went before and are waiting in doggy heaven. Love and rest in piece.

the storks of Werben

Werben is called the city of storks and this is not without a reason. While stroks appear more and more around here in Offenbach, they are still not a common view. Werben, with its vast, lush Elbauen right in front of its gate is a feast for storks and so they come to raise their breed; every year and they go back to their old nests sometimes not without the trouble of fighting off some new occupier. There are more than a dozen nests on roofs and poles around Werben.

 

along comes molly

Together with my sister, we visited the Wildpark Schwarze Berge and they do have flight show, sporting a range of birds, from owls to birds of prey. This is Molly an almost adolescent eagle, a really impressive animal. Light was gone due to some upcoming clouds but Molly was on the slower side of things and gliding majestically over our heads.

 

Jerry

I don’t know what it is, but I really like owls. Jerry was the first on the flight show in Wildpark Schwarze Berge, that showed off his talents. No noise, when he flies, and look at those eyes…. they will find you even in the darkest, moonless night.

Kestrels in the fields

We spent ten days at Hilgernriedersiel and our appartment was located right behind the second dike with a roof window that gave view towards the meadows. Everyday I saw a couple of Kestrels hunting in the fields and I tried a few times to get close enough to get a decent shot.

Than, after a lot of misses and fences that I was not alowed pass one Kestrel sat down right at a pole, a couple of meters away from us while we were going home. I tried to calm the kids and told them to stay silent, duck down, put my 500mm lens on, looked up  and it was gone. Cursing lound and stuffing my gerar into my camera bag, I finally stood up again, just to see the bird again…still sitting at the very pole, looking in my direction. I had looked looked at the wrong pole! He seemed to have pray lying at he bottom and so he stayed. Lucky me, lucky kids and very decent shot, that I usually wouldn’t have deserved to take. Was our last day at this spot, so probably gift from the Kestrel to me? 😉

 

black squirrel

One week off, with friends and kids in Schwarzwald. This did not sound like I would have time nor the chance to shoot wild animals at all but these images tell a different story. Fortunately this squirrel was as curious as our kids are and so I had some time to frame the shot. It was used to people and came quite close. The next day, we returned in order to meet it again and we were not disappointed. Besides, squirrels don’t like eating apple that much. 😉

One week off, with friends and kids in Schwarzwald. This did not sound like I would have time nor the chance to shoot wild animals at all but these images tell a different story. Fortunately this squirrel was as curious as our kids are and so I had some time to frame the shot. It was used to people and came quite close. The next day, we returned in order to meet it again and we were not disappointed. It was curious as the day before… at least for half a minute and then started collecting moss for its nest.

Besides, squirrels don’t like eating apple that much. 😉

great crested grebe

The second time this year that we attended a Landal Park in the Netherlands. This time it is Esonstad, which is right beside the national park Lauwersmeer – a huge inland lake that once was derived from the north sea. We had been here before, almost ten years ago, in winter and I could only imagine what its fauna and flora will look in early summer. The resort is not only a place for families with kids – it is also a habitat for a big range of birds living in all the “Krachten” (water channels that run through the park and between the houses).

Here we got a creseted grebe. When the kids finally had gone to bed it was the ususal 10 minutes too late and the sun had already sunk behind the dike, so high ISO and a coupld of shots it was to get this picture. I had to go knee deep into the sea to get close enouth to it. Like the outcome as the water is almost white and nicely washes off after the subject.

gold pheasant

Right at our arival at Landalpark Port Greve, I could hear the scream of a gold pheasant. One of those really colourful birds used to live at my workplace and after I started to fead him, he came back day after day for a couple of month – so I could tell it was one of those. What I didn’t know is that around the park seemed to live more than one couple. We spotted them everyday and could hear them from far away. The one on the picture used to live around our house and in its garden and was not so shy as the others. Thanks for posing Mr. P.

meditating heron

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Browsing through my old pictures, I came across this neat shot of a heron warming his chest in the midday sun, while the moon is already looming over him.

alien lizard

Taking pictures of my kids and old computers has become the major part of my photography and to tell the truth: all pictures are taken with the iPhone camera. The quickness of pulling it out of my pocket and having it ready within seconds is key to freeze the right moments with your kids – shooting with one hand only, while holding back my daughter from hazzardous traffic with the other is another big point why my trusty D90 is covered with dust.

Marie discovered a lizzard today and it vanished into a gap, between two stones. The gap was shallow and so I gave my iPhone cam a try. Take a look… I am very pleased with the result and it looks really good, as long, as you don’t start to zoom into the details with lighroom, where you can see the algorithm of noise reduction and balance struggle with the nature of this tiny sensor chip. Let’s see how they will improve the next cameras.

pleasing pheasant

Two years ago I had to move my office, out of the main building to the remote house a little set back on the companies property. The house was pretty run down and I was told to have office of my own. At first I was really shocked and kind of felt left alone, but it did not take long to get accustomed. The really good thing at my new spot is the window grants a view directly into the little woods. This area has been left alone for quite some time and so the nature and its inhabitants spread out. Daily visits from blue jays, squirrels and rabbits are a fine way of distraction from the daily routine.

For three weeks now, I have a new guy on the stage: Please welcome the pheasant. He had been around for quite some time, as I could hear his scream prior to spotting him. But the last two weeks, we kind of made friends. I had some birdseeds lying around, that I forgot to take home, so I pooped some out of the window, while he was down there. This had become some kind of ritual. He shows up, screams and I open up the window and feed him a little. Today the weather was finally good enough to bring my camera to take some pictures. I didn’t expect it to be that hard to get a decent shot. Belonging to the chicken race, this fellows head seldom stays in the same spot for more than a couple of milliseconds. These are the best shots of today and I hope there are more to come.

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Gull

St.Ives is very touristic and around the harbour you find a lot of food shops, cafes and bars, where you can sit and eat or take away your favs. Also you will find many seagulls that team up in gangs. One or two start pulling the attention towards them and a third fleis by and steals your meal. We withnessed it a couple of times, while sitting in a restaurant…. under the sunroof, off course.

starling posing

There are so many different bird species but when it comes to food, you can devide them up into two categories. The ones that vanish as soon as you appear and those that approach you when you have something to eat. Starlings belong to the latter kind.

Grey heron

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Meet my new friend! This really big grey heron can be seen in the Vogelpark in Niendorf. He has one crippled claw and his nostrils was jammed with dirt. Obviously his ability to fly away had been disabled by cutting his feathers on the left wing. Sitting in a rather dull spot at the farest end of the park he reminded me of an old captain, stranded, with no water and chance to ever get away. He seemed to have some story to tell and was absolutely not shy, which is usually the case with herons. Whenever they see you with a lens pointing at them with no cover at all they fly away. I spent a few minutes with him, waiting at the fence that kept him from getting away by feet. We stared at each other and than he made a step towards my position, picked up a tiny branch and tried to move it my direction. I try to think that this was some kind of inviational gift and this gesture really touched me. I will post another picture of him right away as he is actually a good looking bird, at least from the side.


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Here he is with the tiny branch that he tried to throw in my direction. I really felt sorry that he got caught, but his behavior, his broken claw and him not beeing shy of people at all made me believe that he actually was lucky stranding here. Who knows: perhaps he was found with his claw crippeled and got a second chance to live on thanks to the people in the park.

lynx

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Majestic lynx patrolling along his compound. I really do dig this big and elegant cats. Shot in the “Alte Fasanerie” near Hanau.

moose

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I really feel kind of lucky to have natrure around me, and even parks that are nearby and are build very well. Together with Claus and Michael I went to the “Alte Fasanerie”, an ancient park near Hanau. It was a bright day and all the animals seem to enjoy it even more than we did. Here’s a youg moose posing in the bright midday sun.

swanlake

A small trip to the Grünen Seen (green lakes) last weeked to catch some fresh air. The sun had dissapeared for… well I don’t know excatly, but it felt like forever…. and now it was out the first day. Till we reached the lake, it already was about to vanish again, but none the less, I caught some swans going after their business in the partly frozen lake. Like the composition and texture of of this, so I share it with you.

common buzzard

Around the Grüne See (green lake) there are alway alot of birds of prey. Usually they are far, up in the sky and if you are lucky and find one on a tree it mostly spots you first and flies off. Not this time. This one turned out to be a very very patient object to shoot. The sund had alrea

big wader

…or “großer Brachvogel” as this one is called. Shot at the Zuiderzeewerke/Ijselmeer/Netherlands. A great day, with great animals. Enjoy!

duck studies #1

Happy new year everyone. We spent our new years eve in Makkum/Netherlands which is kind of surrounded by nature parks with lots of birds. Ducks used to be quite common in my hometown, too. Lately the egyptian goose has concoured their resorts and ducks had to move. I was quite happy to see them again, even though far from home.

tiger moth baby

Yes… this caterpillar is actually a moth baby and was about 10cm long. We found it the meadows between Munkmarsch and Kaitum, along with many others. Brauner Bär (brown bear) is the German name and I think it fits quite well.

kite fight

Our last stop of our trip was in Goa. Right the first day, when we arrived and stepped out of the airport I noticed flock of huge birds in the sky and they where everywhere else to be found as well but in Goa I finally had the time to sneak by and take some shots; not without fretting about leaving my big lens in Germany. Anyway here you can see two young black kites practicing some dogfight maneuvers.

Hoopoe

Our second day in Hampi we descided to shift back one gear and have a relaxing day by strolling around, visiting the places we missed the day before and stay longe in one spot. First animal of the day that we noticed was this hoopoe, passing us by couple of times at top of the virupaksha temple. Nice catch, isn’t it?

macaque #3

He was the most curious of the bunch. He came down the tree and sat a few meters away from us.

New macaque

Here we got a tiny macaque, a new one, if you will, staring after his pears who where bussy breaking a jack fruit.

Toque macaque

The old world monkey, as it is calssified. Our first day in Kandy we went to the botanical garden and althoug quite impressive it was the monkeys that cought my eye. After one of the elders tried to ripp of our bananas from Nadines bag, we choose to follow them to their spot. After a couple of minutes they almost ingnored us and we could observe them quite well. This one reminds me somehow of Bob Marley…

Indian Woodpecker

You could find woodpeckers all over the world. There are about 200 known species and non the less, I was surprised to find it in the Indian jungle. The best part about it is that indian birds are not shy at all. So I could get quite close and som decent shots. Not that it uses its tail as tripod… a camera and we would probably be really good friends.

Smaragdspint

…or green p, as they are called by the natives. It is not very shy, rather curious and so you find it flying around you almost everywhere. Mostly they tend to seat on a low tree or cable and catching insects out of the air. Green-Bee-eater, so hi sofficial name in the rest of the world.

Kingfisher

Despite beeing a very tasty beer of India (and an Airlines as well) they are to be found everywhere. Very, very shy, I had to improve my sneak up techniques. In the end I found this guy who was not so shy at all.

mudskippers

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Half fish, half reptile they are somhow arkward creatures. They can breath through their skin as well ais their mouth, depending if they are in the water or on land. This cutaneous air breathing functions much like a skubadivers system. However their gills have to stay wet and so you mostly find them on the rocks along the shore. Flexing their body they can jump uo to 60cm in one leap. Be sure to stay calm and do not move when you want to observe them – their eyes are really good.

old varanus

On our second day in Hikkaduwa/ Sri Lanka, Santa took us to a nearby lagoon and the first animal we met, was this old, big varanus, about 2m long and really looking hazardous. They are known to be very clever and can count up to number six, which is quite big thing for animals from the times of dinosaurs. Now I am frightened.

the krestel and the jay

This weekend was nice weahter. i had an appointment in Mainz, to pick up a new/old treassure for my computer collection – a sought after Commodore PET. Nadine joined me on the trip and the plan was to enjoy a walk in the sun, along the Rhein. The guy who sold me the PET was already waiting for us and I asked him if he knew some nice area to take a walk. He said we should go and try right behind some buildings nearby… so we did and found a nature reservoir, between the motorway and the city. A rounte went through the reservoir and due to the nice weather, a lot of joggers and other people were around… and birds. This amercian krestel was hunting together with an eurasian jay… I couldn’t believe it, but they really did. Evidence will come in the next pitcture.

neighbours

We really enjoyed the nature, the slow pulse of France everything and so did the animals as well. A stork visited the crane and… nothing happend. Looks like they seem to have enough food around to not go wild on each other.