Reed specialists

The Oostvaardersplassen is always rewarding for bird photography; 2 specialists of this important wetland:
The colored Bearded Tit (Panurus biarmicus/Baardmannetje). In winter they feed on reed seeds. What an acrobatic posers are they.
The Bittern (Botaurus stellaris/Roerdomp) is seldom seen, as it leads a retiring life under cover of extensive reedbeds. Its presence is usually only revealed by a conspicuous call, resembling a foghorn. When ditches and lakes are frozen, hunger drives them to the few scarce places with open water. The first photo freezes a catch action. On the second photo the Bittern adopts the characteristic camouflage posture. Note that especially the dark breast markings work well.
I spent about an hour with it and shot over 4Gb of images … and then drove home with a very smugg grin on my face!

Dunnock & Wren

Dunnock (Prunella modularis/Heggemus), Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes/Winterkoning), Robin (Erithacus rubecula/Roodborst), Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta/Waterpieper), and Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea/Grote Gele Kwikstaart), and even a brave wintering Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita/Tjiftjaf) were all catching insects at the banks of a running stream. I like the delicate subtle plumage of this thicket-loving bird.

Winter continues

Today I made a birdwatch tour in Zeeland together with Arie Ouwerkerk and his father. At 8h AM sharp we had an appointment on the dike near the small village Den Bommel. I could not resist the temptation to photograph the icy ditch at the foot of the dike, just before the cold sun-rise while waiting at the rendez-vous point (they were stuck in a heavy traffic jam).
Kestrels (Falco tinnunculus/Torenvalk) are better approachable because of the cold weather. This perching ♂ was photographed from a mobile hide (Arie’s car).

Winter in Holland

The winter started early this year. A short overview: On December 14-th it started to freeze seriously. The cold weather continued the entire week and on December 19-th the temperature stayed even at daytime below –10ºC (see also my previous post). On December 20-th heavy snowfall swept the country. A soft white blanket covered everything, and as usual the whole public transport system collapsed. A few days later temperatures already went up above zero.
As usual I really got nervous and wanted to photograph everything at the same time. By now I know that especially in these situations it is important to focus and to draw up a plan (make sure that you can take a few days off!). I decided to do forest landscapes in the neighborhood directly after the snowfall, and to spend the rest of the time to bird photography. My favorites:

• A high key exposure of an inquisitive Nuthatch (Sitta Europaea/Boomklever) at a feeding station in the forest. She behaves in worst Rambo style (fits well with its Zorro mask), chasing off all the tit species and scattering seeds in all directions.
• A line of poplar silhouettes mirrored by the Dommel river. I like the tight maze of dead branches; 3 months from now the sound of drumming woodpeckers is all around at this place.
• I like to capture simple things with my camera, such as this plain water-through for the cattle with a snow-covered bald corn field in the background.
• The title of this photo “Blue Cathedral”. I showed the same forest path (which is very close to my home) also in autumn colors on October 28-th 2009 on this blog.

Partridges in white

A few days ago the first snowflakes of this winter came down in The Netherlands; in my home village this resulted in a thin broken layer. But some 30km to the west, in Tilburg, there was a snow cover of almost 10cm.
There I found a convey of 6 Grey Partridges (Perdix perdix/Patrijs), in search for food. They are amazingly hardy, and endure much snow and cold weather.

Wet embrace

This morning I witnessed the courtship play of Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos/Wilde Eend). A few stages are shown in the following screenshots.

• 3 excited ♂♂ surround a ♀. They all try to isolate her by chasing away the other ♂♂.
• The dominant ♂, busy to make an impression. The ♀ seems not really interested.
• But sometimes appearances are deceptive. A few seconds later: Intimate duck embrace.
• Overview of the playground. I like this ‘bar-code’ image with just a few pixels in focus.

November twitch

Somehow, I find November a good month for twitching. Today, I went to a 1-st winter Grey Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius/Rosse Franjepoot); some years autumn gales bring singles or small groups inshore. This small wader breeds in the Arctic on coastal wet tundra. Sex roles are reversed; more attractively plumaged ♀♀ gather in flocks to compete for ♂♂, which tend eggs and young. They winter in the Atlantic off the African coast.
It was also a nice opportunity to test my 500mm lens, which has just been repaired and calibrated (the lens was heavily damaged when I tumbled over a stone after photographing Avocets on August 21-st, 2009). The bird was very tame and most of the time within the minimum focal distance. However, when it was not too close, I could take some photos. They were razorsharp. Test passed!