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.