Gadwall beauty

Gadwalls are medium-sized ducks, the ♂♂ are characterized by a general lack of bright coloration (in contrast with other drake ducks). Although they might be known for their dull gray-brown appearance, close-ups reveal beautiful feather patterns. Below are a few examples. The photos are taken in pretty rough weather, showers interspersed with sunny spells; note how this influences the tone of water.

* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f6.3, 1/1250s; from beanbag.
* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f8, 1/500s; from beanbag.
* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f8, 1/320s, +0.3 stop; from beanbag.

Dancing on water

Not walking, but dancing on water. That's what these Little Gulls (Larus minutus/Dwergmeeuw) do, with unparalleled elegancy. Today I was a happy spectator of this wonder of nature. Place of action: The Dutch coast! How on earth is it possible that these birds, breeding near quiet inland lakes in Finland, winter on this rough, open and windy North Sea?

* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-400, f6.3, 1/2000s; from tripod.
* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-400, f6.3, 1/2000s; from tripod.

Deep purple

A very reliable coastal winter visitor. I like the yellow-orange legs and bill of these funny little Purple Sandpipers (Calidris maritima/Paarse Strandloper). The real tasty stuff is always hard to get!

* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-400, f6.3, 1/2000s; from tripod.

Fog explosion

The last couple of day’s conditions are very misty in The Netherlands. Except for this Sunday morning when I got up early to photograph foggy landscapes :-(. However, the end of the day more than compensated this small sacrifice. I have never seen ground fog coming-up so fast, quite impressive!

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 100mm/f2.8; ISO-200, f8, 1s; from tripod.

A touch of frost

The first frost of the year; I can’t wait for the winter to arrive …

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 17-40mm/f4 @ 33mm; ISO-400, f9, 0.3s; polarization filter and 2 stop ND gradient filter; from tripod.

Alien between lichens

One of those grey autumn Sundays. I went with Jarno van Bussel to the Strabrechtsche Heide to search for Jack Snipes (Lymnocryptes minimus/Bokje), which we did not find. There was not much to do. When we were about to go home I saw a trunk covered with Lichens (Cladonia cf./Bekermos), the ones with red caps (here just tiny spots) are also known as British Soldiers, and decided to try some macros. I bend over to take a closer look, and then I saw this Common Newt (Lissotriton vulgaris/Kleine Watersalamander). I choose a wide aperture (short DOF) to emphasize the E.T. look of this amphibian, and of course to have a shutter time that is fast enough to shoot without tripod. After the photo session the newt crawled under the trunk, probably to winter there.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 100mm/f2.8; ISO-800, f5.6, 1/100s; hand held.

Vortex

And now something completely different! It was a big honor for me to join Andrew George, one of the winners of the “BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award 2011”, to the Ardennes, Belgium. We hoped for an explosion of color in the trees. Unfortunately almost all leaves had already fallen and so we had to deal with autumn colors in this torrent.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 17-40mm/f4 @ 26mm; ISO-50, f16, 15s; polarization filter, 3 stop ND filter and 2 stop ND gradient filter; from tripod.

Amsterdamned I

This afternoon I had an appointment with these 2 Snipes (Gallinago gallinago/Watersnip). I enjoyed a nice cup of coffee; they probed now and then in the ground looking for a delicatesse. It was cozy and very quiet … until this ADHD Waterrail (Rallus aquaticus/Waterral) appeared on the scene and disturbed our high-tea party.
Ton Döpp many thanks!

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-400, f6.3, 1/200s; -0.3 stop; from beanbag.
* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/500s; from beanbag.
* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-800, f5.6, 1/400s; from beanbag.

Feet of floor

At the pier of IJmuiden you can always find interesting birds at this time of year. Checking out the beach revealed a few groups of foraging Sanderlings (Calidris alba/Drieteenstrandloper). This time I managed to capture the characteristic feet-of-floor shot! As you could see I could not keek-up with its speed. Later on the day I saw o.a. Red-throated Diver (Gavia stellata/Roodkeelduiker), Gannet (Sula bassana/Jan-van-Gent), Arctic Skua (Stercorarius parasiticus/Kleine Jager), Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla/Drieteenmeeuw), and Guillemot (Uria aalge/Zeekoet) around the pier.

* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-400, f6.3, 1/2500s; -0.3 stop; from beanbag (in frying pan).

Orange in green

Today my wife celebrated her 48-th birthday. A good reason to take a day off. In the late afternoon I could ‘escape’ from the party for an hour. The local forest offered a few Saffron Parasols (Cystoderma amianthinum/Okergele Korrelhoed) in a bed of mos.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 100mm/f2.8; ISO-400, f4.5, 1/20s; from beanbag.

Undutchable

Terschelling offers more than shore birds. This photo was taken last sunday at sunrise. The view from this high dune top on the ‘Zeereep’ was magical and quite undutchable. Enjoy! I created a panorama of 5:2 out of 2 overlapping exposures (the size of the composed image is 8425x3370 pixels!).

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 100mm/f2.8; ISO-200, f16, 1/50s (2x); from tripod; panorama stitch.

Tiny beach-runners

From September 30-th till October 2-nd the traditional Birdpix weekend on Terschelling was organized. A good opportunity to extend my Sanderling (Calidris alba/Drieteenstrandloper) collection. I like these funny, social, fast and tiny beach-runners. Birding-wise the absolute highlight was a Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus/Velduil) that approached the island from the sea; it flew over the beach, mobbed by gulls and crows, and landed exhausted in the very first dunes.

* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-400, f7.1, 1/1600s; -0.3 stop; lens leaning on a small plastic water bottle.
* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-400, f6.3, 1/1250s; idem.

Strabrechtse Heide

Moments before sunrise on the good-old “Strabrechtse Heide” (somehow I end-up here 9 out of 10 times for landscape photography; next year I definitely go for the purple flowering heath). As the night was relatively cold I expected more ground fog, but nevertheless I had a good time while being-out-in-the-field this morning.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 17-40mm/f4 @ 40mm; ISO-400, f10, 1/80s; hand held.

Fishing tactics: Solitary or communal?

Last Saturday we had a sunny and warm day (one of the first this summer). But ... for the early birds, the day started grey with thick fog. An impression: Communal fishing of Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo/Aalscholver) and a lonely Great White Heron (Egretta alba/Grote Zilverreiger) on “Het Beuven, Strabrechtse Heide” around 7h00 AM.

* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/160s; +0.3 stop; from tripod.
* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f6.3, 1/1250s; +0.3 stop; idem.

Surrounded by curious cows

Last weeks I spent many hour’s lying on the ground covered with a camouflage cloth hoping for close encounters with Snipes (Gallinago gallinago/Watersnip). Until now no success. But today I was rewarded with this beautiful Shoveler (Anas clypeata/Slobeend).
I suspect that it is a juvenile bird, because the feathers are very fresh.
When I wanted to get up and go home I found myself surrounded by grazing cows. When they noticed something strange that was raising in the bog, they even ran towards me and surrounded me, curious as they are. A serious drawback of this location.

* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f6.3, 1/1000s; from bean bag.

Insatiable

Who doesn’t know the story: The Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus/Koekoek) is a brood parasite which lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, particularly of Dunnocks (Prunella modularis/Heggemus), Meadow Pipits (Anthus pratensis/Graspieper), and Reed Warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus/Kleine Karakiet). At the appropriate moment, the hen Cuckoo flies down to the host’s nest, pushes one egg out, lays an egg and flies off. The whole process takes about 10 seconds. A female may visit up to 50 nests during a breeding season!
In this case the stepparents were Meadow Pipits, when they flew over the young Cuckoo automatically opened its mouth, eager for food.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-400, f7.1, 1/320s; from tripod.

Darter in gold

This morning (my last day of the summer holiday) I got up early to search for dew-covered darters after a relatively cold night. This Banded Darter (Sympetrum pedemontanum/Bandheidelibel) was warming up on a perfect perch. The bright washed-out spot is the reflection of the sun in a small pool. It doesn't bother me; there is simply no sensor today with a dynamic range that is large enough to capture this.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 100mm/f2.8; ISO-400, f7.1, 1/640s; +0.3 stop; from tripod.

Cornwall rock

For the second week we booked a cottage in the hamlet Carnhill Green, Cornwall. I walked every day a part of the 630 mile SWC path, a perfect way to enjoy the scenery, coastal wildlife, and heritage (from stone circles to 18th century copper and tin mines) of the wonderful Cornish coastline.
Many rocks along this coast have names, here two from St. Ives Bay: Strap Rocks (top) and Magow Rocks (bottom). The last picture, with Godrevy lighthouse in the background, is taken 45 minutes after sunset. They say the light in St. Ives is different, that’s why this little town attracts so many artists. I fully understand and agree.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 17-40mm/f4 @ 17mm; ISO-200, f10, 1/100s; polarization filter; hand held.
* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 17-40mm/f4 @ 20mm; ISO-100, f10, 20s; from tripod.

Avalon

This year we went to England in the summer holiday, somehow the ancient mother of West Europe. The first week we stayed in Glastonbury, visiting a girl friend. I spent quite some time in the Sommerset Levels (a.k.a. the Avalon Marshes), a vast area of low lands comprised of Shapwick Heath, Ham Wall and the Westhay Moors. This picture is taken in Ham Wall; the cone-shaped hill in the background is Glastonbury Tor. Somewhat later this evening I observed a hunting Barn Owl (Tyto alba/Kerkuil) for about half an hour, catching a vole just 10 meter in front of me (unfortunately I took only a wide-angle lens this evening grrr $%@#*).

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 17-40mm/f4 @ 30mm; ISO-400, f9, 1/50s; 2 stop ND gradient filter; hand held.

Newborns

Nightjar ♀ keeping her 2 one-day old chicks (not visible) warm. The partly closed eye shows that the bird is at ease; it enhances her camouflage even further. At 22h30 PM ♂ and ♀ start to feed by turns; while one parent is out, catching moths, the other parent keeps the pulli warm. (A colleague nature photographer told me that 10 days later 2 healthy juveniles left the nest site).

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-800, f7.1, 1/60s; in hide, from tripod.

Eifel butterflies

I joined Arie Ouwerkerk, Kees Ouwerkerk, and Iolente Navarro on a short butterfly trip to the Eifel mountain range in western Germany. Besides many Blue-spot Hairstreaks (Satyrium spini/ Wegedoornpage), shown above, we find a.o. a few worn Apollo’s (Parnassius apollo/Apollovlinder) of the subspecies vinningensis.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 100mm/f2.8; ISO-400, f6.3, 1/200s; -0.3 stop; hand held.

Latecomers

Photo 6: Such an action shot is what I longed for. All is well that ends well. The breeding bird of photo 5 is now feeding one of the chicks.
Together with these 2 latecomers, 6 pairs produced an offspring of 14, all-in-all not a bad result.

* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f7.1, 1/800s; -0.3 stop; from tripod.

Growth

Photo 4: Although some offspring is airborne (previous upload), others are still bound to the nest platform, unable to fly. Compare this upload with photo 1 (see June 10-th, 2011) and notice how both the juveniles as well as the Water Mint (Mentha aquatica/Watermunt) have grown in 2 weeks.
Photo 5: There was even 1 bird that was still breeding, probably a second attempt. The vegetation is Water Dropwort (Oenanthe aquatica/Watertorkruid).

* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/250s; from tripod.
* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/250s; from tripod.

Airborne

Photo 2: Adult Black Tern (Chlidonias niger/Zwarte Stern) hovering above the platform, encouraging her (or his) youngsters to do their wing exercises.
Photo 3: “Hey watch me, I can fly!” First flying exercises of a juvenile Black Tern (Chlidonias niger/Zwarte Stern). It was a privilege to witness this magical event in the last Summer Solstice (longest day of the year) sunlight. Stay tuned, there is more to come!

* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/640s; from tripod.
* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/500s; -0.3 stop; from tripod.

Hooding in the rain

This month I fully focused on the breeding behavior of Black Terns (Chlidonias niger/Zwarte Stern).
Photo 1: Hooding mother. She protects her 2 pulli against the rain; this way she prevents them to cool off too much. Note that the father, sitting at the right-hand side of the platform, already starts to molt. To be continued …

* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/250s; from tripod.

Ascension Day

A couple of days ago I explored this field and already selected this group of Heath Spotted Orchids (Dactylorhiza maculata/Gevlekte Orchis) as the main subject for a wide angle shot. For this Ascension Day morning the weather forecast predicted ground fog after a calm and relatively cold night (± 5°C). This is exactly what I was waiting for. The only thing I had to do was to be at the spot before sunrise (which is at 5h30 AM!). But I was rewarded; if there is a heaven out there it may look like this.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 17-40mm/f4 @ 17mm; ISO-200, f13, 1/15s; -0.3 stop; 2 stop ND gradient filter; from tripod.
* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 100mm/f2.8; ISO-200, f8, 1/200s; -0.3 stop; from tripod.

De Wieden

Today Ronald Messemaker, warden of “De Wieden”, and I criss-crossed these beautiful marshes by boat. Despite some heavy rain in the morning we had a very pleasant day. A few photos: 1) Black Tern (Chlidonias niger/Zwarte Stern) catching insects above Tule (Schoenoplectus lacustris/Mattenbies), 2) Scaffolding silhouette with Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo/Aalscholver), and 3) Upcoming fog after sunset.

* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-400, f7.1, 1/1000s; from tripod.
* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-400, f7.1, 1/250s; from tripod.
* Canon EOS 5D Mark II 100mm/f2.8; ISO-400, f7.1, 4s; from tripod; HDR processing.

Home-made mud

House Martins (Delichon urbica/Huiszwaluw) breeding at a farm near Olen (a hamlet between Nuenen and Lieshout) were very glad with my home-made mud. Here is the recipe: Take some sand, cow shit, and straw. Mix this with water and spread it out.

* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-400, f7.1, 1/400s; -0.7 stop; from beanbag, lying on the ground covered by camo cloth.

5D: Superb image quality

The image quality of my new Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera is superb. Vivid colors, well-balanced contrasts and a very low noise level. Moreover, the 17-40mm/f4 wide-angle lens (that I already bought in 2009) now pays off in combination with a full frame sensor for which it was designed. I also have the impression that ND gradient filters work out better in full frame.
The closeby “Kamerven” surrounded by flowering Common Cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium/Veenpluis) is a nice subject to work with.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 100mm/f2.8; ISO-200, f5, 1/125s; from tripod.
* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 17-40mm/f4 @ 17mm; ISO-400, f14, 1/80s; -0.3 stop; 2 stop ND gradient filter; from tripod.

Upcoming thunderstorm

It is very dry for the time of the year. No wonder, the last couple of weeks we had sunny days with blue skies. The drought build-up (= precipitation – vaporation) since April 1-st is already -75 mm, a value that is usually reached at the end of the summer. But today, in late afternoon, you could sense a change in the air.
My daughter has just passed her driver’s license exam (a miracle has happened!) and after diner we made our first test ride in my car with her behind the wheel. In the distance I saw heavy weather that was approaching fast. To make a long story short, 15 minutes later I arrived (safely!) at the “Mosbulten”, an open marshy area. Ideal to test the real capabilities of the 17-40mm wide-angle lens with my brand-new 5D Mark II camera. The ditch with flowering Water Violet (Hottonia palustris/Waterviolier) was an unexpected pleasant surprise.
So today’s events confirmed what I already knew. For landscape photography you have to be fast as well (seconds after I took this picture it was raining cats and dogs) and you need just that bit of luck that everything fits. I forgot my tripod, but luckily switching to ISO 800 is not a problem with a full-frame sensor.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 17-40mm/f4 @ 20mm; ISO-800, f9, 1/50s; 2 stop ND gradient filter; hand held.

Texel terns

A midweek Texel is a good way to enjoy life. At the margins of the day I spent quite some hours to test my new Canon EOS 7D camera. I fully concentrated on flight shots of terns. Little Terns (Sternula albifrons/Dwergstern), foraging above the sea near the lighthouse in the north, and Common Tern (Sterna hirundo/Visdief), breeding on shell beaches in small pools just behind the Wadden dike, proved to be nice subjects. But Sandwich Terns (Sterna sandvicensis/Grote Stern) were the absolute stars; here a fly-by almost at eye level (the strong NE wind helped me a bit). The caught Sandeel (Ammodytes sp./Zandspiering) plays an important role in the courtship rituals. Conclusion: The AF system of the 7D works fine and is fast, however the images are a bit noisy.

* Canon EOS 7D with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-400, f7.1, 1/2000s; from tripod.

Singing in the Zeereep

This weekend I visited my friend Arie Ouwerkerk on Terschelling. My best picture is this Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus/Fitis) in Sea-buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides/Duindoorn) taken in the ‘zeereep’, a nice Dutch word indicating the first row of dunes bordering the North Sea beach, of the nature reserve “Boschplaat”. The wintering Merlin (Falco columbarius/Smelleken) was gone but the confiding ♀ Peregrine (Falco peregrinus/Slechtvalk) was still present in the polder. You can check Arie’s P-base site for nice pictures of these falcon species.

* Canon EOS 1D Mark II with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-200, f7.1, 1/500s, +0.3 stop; from tripod.

Into the meadows

Today I went again on ‘expedition’ with wader specialist Astrid Kant (she just wrote an excellent book about it). This year we concentrated on Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa/Grutto) in the meadows. Of course as a member of the wader family they prefer to have their feet in the water, but this rather dry area is the place where they breed and guide their chicks, and thus by necessity spend most of their time in the coming 2 months.

* Canon EOS 40D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f7.1, 1/640s; from tripod, in a hide.

Garganey festival

Again I got up early this morning and drove off in the dark to my local lake; somehow I felt that changes were good for an encounter with Garganey (Anas querquedula/Zomertaling), a scarce migratory bird, wintering in Africa south of the Sahara. The pictures with which I came home (especially the first one) surpass the ones I had pre-visualized. What an adrenaline moment. In the excitement I left a box with CF cards (16Gb in total) at the waterline. Those who know me are probably not surprised. I shall never forget this beautiful spring day (and this is not because of today’s ever-high temperature record of 25°C). Later in the afternoon I came back and found my CF cards, guarded by a territorial Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus/Kievit)!

* Canon EOS 40D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f6.3, 1/800s, -0.7 stop; from beanbag.
* Canon EOS 40D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f7.1, 1/1250s, -0.3 stop; idem.
* Canon EOS 40D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f8, 1/1000s, -0.3 stop; idem.