Highway to the ocean

Highway to the Atlantic, paved by the ocean itself. The south-west coast of Portugal is surprisingly rough. I did not plan to do a lot of landscape photography, but when I saw these rocky outcrops, I had to return to this scene around sunset. At high tide the rocks submerge.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 17-40mm/f4 @ 17 mm; ISO-100, f16, 2s; -0.3 stop; 3 stop ND hard gradient filter; tripod.

Masonry

Some highlights from my summer holiday in the south of Portugal. Wonderful place to relax and enjoy nature, some sunshine, southern hospitality, the Atlantic, and good food! Here is one of my birding highlights: Red-rumped Swallows (Cecropsis daurica/ Roodstuitzwaluw) building their nest bit-by-bit with small bolts of mud. Photo is taken near Monchique on the highest mountain top of the Algarve.

* Canon EOS 7D, 300mm/f4 IS; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/800s; +1 stop; bean bag.

Soft sunrise

The soft sunrise of this morning. I used the pine pollen in the water to create some foreground interest.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 17-40mm/f4 @ 17 mm; ISO-200, f16, 1/5s; +0.7 stop; 2 stop ND hard gradient filter; tripod.

Little Grebe

This evening I brought my 500mm lens to my local patch and left my landscape gear at home. Here is a Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis/Dodaars) in its habitat. I often saw or heard them, now it is time to photograph them. No spectacular action but I hope you like the colors (at least I did when making this photo).

* Canon EOS 7D, 500mm/f4; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/640s; -0.3 stop; bean bag.
* Canon EOS 7D, 500mm/f4; ISO-400, f5, 1/160s; bean bag.

Big stopper

The weather of yesterday afternoon: Clouds and windy. I like it when there is turmoil in the air. Ideal circumstances to experiment with long exposure times (91 seconds in the photo below, Lee big stopper filter used).

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 17-40mm/f4 @ 17 mm; ISO-200, f16, 91s; 2 stop ND hard gradient filter; tripod.

Plover turnaround

 Result of my close-to-home Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius/Kleine Plevier) project: ♂ making a nest hole in the sand. This is done by scratching the soil with his longs legs and turning around. Several nest holes are prepared this way. In the coming days I expect the ♀ to pick her favorite location to start breeding ...

* Canon EOS 7D, 500mm/f4; ISO-400, f5, 1/125s; frying pan groundpod.
* Canon EOS 7D, 500mm/f4; ISO-400, f5, 1/125s; frying pan groundpod.

Spring flowers IV

Nature explodes, busy times for nature photographers. As you have probably seen in the previous uploads I focus more on flowers this year. It is a lot of fun to capture all these colors in and around the village where I live. Here is Water-violet (Hottonia palustris/Waterviolier) against the sunset reflection and Common Cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium/Veenpluis) just before sunrise the next day.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 300mm/f4; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/640s; -0.3 stop; tripod with beanbag.
* Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 17-40mm/f4 @ 17 mm; ISO-200, f16, 1/2s; 3 stop ND hard gradient filter; tripod.