Back-light Godwit

Together with Jos van de Kerkhof, I spent the night in a hide on the small island of Marken in the IJssel lake (less than 25 km from Amsterdam) amidst Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa)/Grutto), Redshanks (Tringa totanus/Tureluur), a few Spotted Redshanks (Tringa erythropus/Zwarte Ruiter), and Dunlin (Calidris alpina/Bonte Strandloper), Lapwings (Vanellus vanellus/Kievit) and Oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus/Scholekster). I did not sleep a wink. These waders have a continuous quarrels and other social interactions in the night, and they are above all noisy! But it was a great experience and we were rewarded with a magnificent back-light scene in the early morning. If you are also interested in such an adventure, check out www.photohide-marken.nl. When you want to book please mention my name.

* Canon EOS 7D, 500mm/f4; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/4000s; -0.3 stop; bean bag.
* Canon EOS 7D, 500mm/f4 + 1.4x; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/800s; bean bag.

Fair trade

He got sex, she was rewarded with a self-caught fish. Good deal, isn’t it? I see far more Kingfishers (Alcedo atthis/IJsvogel) this spring. Their population was decimated because of the hard winters of 2011/2012 and 2012/2013. But I guess their numbers increase rapidly after this mild winter.

* Canon EOS 7D, 500mm/f4; ISO-400, f5.6, 1/200s; -0.3 stop; bean bag.

Mid-March Morning

Photo 1 – Low Visibility: It is really great to be in the field early on such a exceptional morning. Photo 2 – Into the Void: By creating a small world, mist makes a composition powerful and simple. I have noticed these Willow bushes may be over a hundred times, but never the way I saw them today. Photo 3 – Here comes the Sun: All good things come in threefold.

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 70-200mm/f2.8 @ 70 mm; ISO-100, f16, 1.3s; +0.3 stop; tripod.
* Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 70-200mm/f2.8 @ 70 mm; ISO-400, f14, 4s; +0.3 stop; tripod.
* Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 70-200mm/f2.8 @ 80 mm; ISO-400, f7.1, 1/160s; +0.3 stop.

Gran Canaria

A holiday week on Gran Canaria. The weather on the island had 2 faces. The north was cloudy and windy, the south sunny and calm. The first photo features some houses of local fisherman on the north, facing the Atlantic. The second photo shows the arid and dry south. After a climb uphill from our appartment in Puerto de Mogán, you enter an area of vulcanic rock with some sparcely populated bushes. Ideal terrain of Southern Great Grey Shrike (Lanius excubitor, race koenigi /Klapekster), Canary (Serinus canaria/Kanarie), a few dark-headed Blue Tits (Parus caeruleus, race teneriffae/Pimpelmees), Kestrels (Falco tinnunculus/Torenvalk).

* Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 70-200mm/f2.8 @ 80 mm; ISO-50, f9, 1/40s; bean bag.
* Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 70-200mm/f2.8 @ 100 mm; ISO-400, f9, 1/8s; ND3 hard gradient filter, ND2 soft gradient filter; -1.3 stop; tripod.