Friday 28 January 2011

Away from the crowd

This month the Flevopolder was the bird photography hotspot in The Netherlands, with Hen Harriers (Circus cyaneus/Blauwe Kiekendief) and Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus/Ruigpootbuizerd) as the main actors. I went there too on this sunny cold winter day, and photographed the big two as well. But lining-up in a large car queue on a small road didn’t give my much joy. So I decided to try my own luck in the afternoon.
Driving along the Bovenwater lake, I spotted Smew (Mergellus albellus/Nonnetje) and Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula/Brilduiker) and decided to try my luck. I found a spot were I could lie down at water level. I camouflaged myself … and waited, hoping for an intimate low point-of-view encounter. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos/Wilde Eend) and this ♀ Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula/Kuifeend) came close. I especially like the 2-nd picture with the outskirts of Lelystad in the background; it tells something of wintering ducks in a densily-populated country like The Netherlands. After 2 hours in a strong eastern breeze I was almost frozen and got-up. At that very moment 3 ♀and 1 ♂ Smew were floating at close range just behind me. I saw them, but they saw me as well and flew off immediately. Next time I should withstand the cold a little longer.
On my way back home I passed the entrance of the nature reserve “Oostvaardersplassen” and decided to check out the famous hide close to the visitor center. Nobody was there. While I was enjoying sunset suddenly 2 Whooper Swans (Cygnus cygnus/Wilde Zwaan) appeared. At first I was taking pictures with a 1.4 converter, but then I was realizing what I was seeing: 2 lonely swans in a huge sheet of ice with pinkish-purple colors, and I removed it asap.

* Canon EOS 40D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f6.3, 1/800s; from beanbag.
* Canon EOS 40D with 500mm/f4 IS and 1.4x; ISO-400, f7.1, 1/640s, +0.3 stop; idem.
* Canon EOS 40D with 500mm/f4 IS; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/125s, +0.3 stop; idem.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Een verstandig besluit om de kudde niet te volgen, want behalve dat je met meer natuuurbeleving hebt kunnen fotograferen heeft het je een zeer aantrekkelijke serie opgeleverd.
Het lage standpunt komt heel goed tot z'n recht hier en met name de warme kleuren maken het een erg mooie, sfeervolle reeks.

Groet,
Roeselien

Jowan said...

Hele fraaie foto van de kuifeend in de golven. De lichtval bij de zwanen is ook erg sfeervol. mooie platen allemaal.

Jowan
http://kieknou.blogspot.com/