Posts Tagged: rügen
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.
