Posts in Category: birds
Red-breasted Mergansers
I first spotted a flock of red-breasted mergansers at Cape Arkona. They were moving rapidly through the water in a chaotic formation, taking turns diving. To me, it looked like the whole group was hunting together. They were too far out for my camera, and—as always happens on vacation—it was the middle of the day, meaning the light was coming straight down from above.
I took these shots a week and a half later at the start of the Nordperd, where the beach becomes harder to access. The time of day was similar, and that harsh overhead light cast heavy shadows on their faces. I was being lazy; I really should have cycled back there in the evening and done some scrambling, but hey… it was a vacation.
Yellowhammer
Not only am I colorblind, but I also often have “scales over my eyes” (or just a bit of poor eyesight); I stood for a good five minutes in front of the bush where this yellowhammer was trilling its little tune. It must have been sitting right in front of my nose at eye level—and as you can see in the photos, it wasn’t hiding in the dark thicket but sitting quite out in the open. With plumage and a song like that, you *want* to be heard and, above all, seen! I crept closer, and then—as so often happens—I got too close; I only spotted the bird when it flew up into the tree above me. Well, that means I ended up with shots from the “cheap seats” (10 meters further down) instead of nice portraits, but you do get to see another resident of Rügen: mosquitoes… they are everywhere in droves. A nuisance for us, but surely a tasty snack for some birds.
Fun fact: In English, the bird is called a “Yellowhammer”! Was Arnie along for the birding trip? “Dis iz a Yellowhammer!” — or did we in Germany just lose the “h”? 😉
Sand Martins
In the past, if sailors spotted them from their ships, it meant land was near. On Rügen, the sandy cliffs provide the perfect habitat, so they can be found on many beaches—in this instance, we found them at the northern beach. Since we had gone there for a swim, the timing was naturally far from ideal for good photos. The sun was high, though I did find an overhang that provided some shade. The odds were stacked against me—the swallows themselves are tiny and incredibly fast… well… lots of photos, a few nice snapshots capturing the lively activity around the burrows. Funnily enough, they seem to do a lot of things in unison; at times, the burrows appeared deserted, until the entire flock returned all at once, and the chattering, fluttering, and digging started up again.
Cormorants at sea
I don’t know what it is that keeps drawing me to these birds. They actually look quite clumsy when flying. Aerodynamically, their wings seem too small for their long bodies, forcing them to flap constantly—which consumes a great deal of energy. Underwater, however, they are incredibly agile. Somehow, I like them. Here by the sea, the wind catches their wings; when they glide just above the water’s surface and the sun hits them just right—even though noon is technically the wrong time of day, it lends a wonderful texture to the water and their feathers—they look truly graceful. A few impressions. Hunting and with prey… that will be the next photographic goal.
Raven Parents
On our way into the city center the week before last, we had to wait at a traffic light. I can’t even remember why I had lugged my camera along, since there really wasn’t any time for wildlife or photography. In any case, a trio of carrion crows—consisting of one parent and two offspring—came along Feldstraße. The two youngsters followed their parent, squawking, begging, and jostling the adult bird as they moved down the street; the parent, visibly exhausted, took turns feeding the pair. I can sympathize with that adult bird—I know what it’s like to deal with hungry, demanding youngsters.
Mr. and Mrs. Red-backed Shrike
You can rightly call yourself lucky when you deliberately return to the same spot—hoping to get a good shot of a bird you’d previously only seen and photographed from afar—and manage to capture it without any special preparation or time to spare. I had spotted the Red-backed Shrike near the Reiningishausen ruins a good two and a half weeks ago. I finally made it back there the day before yesterday, but at first, there was no sign of him. There were swans, ducks, little grebe chicks, and the stork family I’ve been watching for a while up in their nest—but the bird with the “Beagle Boy” bandit mask was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, I found him and his mate on the other side of the water. I had actually just wanted to see if the light on the stork nest was better from that angle, but unexpected things often happen… he was far away, sure, but at least the Shrike family was still around.
Yesterday, I met up with two of my best friends there—we planned to cycle a bit further—so I had very little time or hope of getting close to him, given the entourage and the lack of time for photography. As fate would have it, he flew right in front of us—from the field, across the path, and into the trees—and sat there patiently until we had all stopped and I had managed to fish my camera out of my backpack. Thanks for posing, Mr. Shrike—next time I’ll call ahead, I promise.
Sooo hot!
When the first hot day arrived a good three weeks ago, I came across a few house sparrows at the Kellerhof in Hainhausen. After brief flights spent hunting insects, they perched in the shade, panting heavily and holding their wings away from their bodies. It was hot… for me, too.
One for the record
It’s just fun to be out and about—camera at the ready in the bike basket—and simply go with the flow. What goes around comes around, and on some days you encounter so many new things that you can hardly keep up. I’d caught a glimpse of this fellow flying off a few times before, but I was always too slow. Then, last week, he turned up at the old mill ruins in Heusenstamm; he was quite far away, and I had no idea what had just flown into my lens, but there he is: Mr. Red-backed Shrike—one for the record. I’ll likely lie in wait there again soon to get better shots.
Feet as big as the guy himself…
The newly restored Friedrichsweiher in my neighborhood has turned out beautifully. While I still mourn the turtles—which presumably didn’t survive the renovation—the water is clearer than ever, and I’ve known this pond my whole life. It’s also busier than I’ve ever seen it; children are even swimming in it! I’m all the more delighted, then, that the waterfowl have returned and already have offspring. The moorhen family has two or even three chicks, though one of them is always the odd one out—or perhaps actually belongs to a different pair. The best thing about the little ones, however, is their feet; apparently—much like with dogs—they reach their full size right after hatching, revealing just how big the bird will eventually grow to be. Aliens, I tell you!
Hornbill
… or more precisely, the Von der Decken’s hornbill—named after its discoverer, Karl Klaus von der Decken from the 19th century. You can find them in East Africa and at the Vivarium Darmstadt, which we visited again just under two months ago. Always worth a visit.
When a colleague recently introduced me by saying, “This is Falk—he photographs birds,” I briefly wanted to object; yet, in truth, it is indeed my feathered friends that captivate me most. So, I simply carry on, peering through the viewfinder with the same cheeky, spirited look that this wonderful bird gave me as it stared into my lens. They say these birds often team up with mongooses: the mongooses flush out the insects the hornbills love to eat, and in return, the hornbills sound the alarm if danger threatens. Clever and beautiful.
Little grebe offspring
I love the new ponds and pools at the Fechenheimer Mainbogen. The renaturation project began back in 2015, and I first heard about these new bodies of water from Dirk, who gave us a big hand with the renovations at the Digital Retro Park in 2018. “It’s a great place to unwind.” Yep, it certainly is. When I first made a point of cycling past these ponds four years ago, the area was still quite bare, and beavers were gnawing away at the young willows. But year by year, I’ve watched the flora and fauna flourish and new species appear. This is the second season I’ve spotted the little grebes, and I managed to make out two chicks.
Lapwings
I had spotted them in a field in Someren (NL) two years ago, but I couldn’t get close enough to identify them. Yes, I do own a hefty pair of binoculars, but they always stay at home—after all, how much gear can one person lug around?
They spotted me from afar, and one took flight, circling noisily around me. Once I’d hidden in the ditch for a while, things quieted down, and the bird landed back at the exact spot where it had taken off. I suspect there’s a clutch of eggs there, or perhaps even chicks. In any case, it was right in the middle of a cultivated field—so it wouldn’t be great for the animals or the farmer if I went marching in there—though I *was* nearly run over by a quad bike as I climbed out of the ditch. Ultimately, it’s all a matter of getting used to things, and in my case, a question of needing more focal length and/or higher resolution. Teleconverter… yes, pleasexq.
It was great to find them in the same spot after two years; I counted at least six to eight birds in the area. According to Wikipedia, they’ve been on the Red List since 2015!
P.S.: I’m pretty sure that thing coming down in one of the shots is a blade of grass, not the “other thing.” 😉
Puddle as last resort?
House martins and swallows are, generally speaking, incredibly fast aerial acrobats. This—combined with their small size—makes it extremely difficult to photograph them in flight. Fortunately, I discovered a puddle where they were evidently gathering nesting material; consequently, they arrived in droves—lingering briefly before taking flight again. Unfortunately, this puddle is located on private property, behind a fence, which meant I had to shoot from a higher vantage point and from a distance. This was far from ideal; despite having good lighting and a fast shutter speed, an ISO setting of 3000 proved too high to capture fine details. As a result, I ended up with nothing but heavily cropped images of small, noisy birds. I plan to stop by again today to see if I can obtain permission to enter the grounds, allowing me to work from a closer distance and capture better perspectives.
Uproar in the Woods
Today, during my morning walk through the woods with Spike, the alarm was raised. From a distance, I could already hear the call of the Black Woodpecker, but the crows, a Eurasian Jay, and the titmice were also making quite a racket—thanks to a bird language course with Wurzeltrapp, I now pay attention to such things. Unfortunately, due to the dense canopy, I couldn’t make out who was responsible for all the commotion, but it must have been something dangerous.
At any rate, the young Black Woodpecker perched on the exposed branches of a dead tree, allowing me to snap a few pictures. Beautiful? The bird, certainly; the perspective and lighting, definitely not—but then again, I have only ever seen a Black Woodpecker on the forest floor once before, and it was back up in the treetops faster than I could even raise my camera. A treehouse in the canopy and a boat for the lakes… now that would be a dream come true.
Robin the Daring
A family of robins is currently fluttering about in our garden. The “little one”—which, truth be told, isn’t really all that little anymore and is already flying around—is still being fed by its parents. Cheeky and uninhibited as they are, they were constantly right around us while we were doing our gardening chores. I’m not sure how I managed to end up with such high ISO values in broad daylight; it was likely due to the contrast between the bright background and the bird sitting in the shade.
What do you do when your supposedly great shots turn out noisy? “Let’s make them birds…”—as the good Bob Ross always used to say whenever he had random blobs on his canvas. I’m going to do it the other way around this time and turn them into art. 😉 It’s a quick and somewhat rough PWL job, but I’ve now found some inspiration for how to frame the next robin I catch looking downwards. Hopefully, the resolution will be spot-on next time, because the details of their plumage are simply stunning.
BARVO* Bird Love Story
This really requires no words at all (“…they can only do harm!” 😉 ). Just one brief remark: Do you really believe that this creature feels nothing? After all, there are movements afoot to authorize the culling of pigeons…. I certainly don’t believe that! — and mind you, at one point I had 13 pairs living and nesting on my balcony, making our lifes a living hell.
*BRAVO is/was a German youth magazine that postet so called “Foto-love-storys” – a comical approach with real fotostorys about teenager love topics.
