What's Up?

Another weekend with grey and drab weather. A typical Dutch transitional period between winter and spring. I spent some time checking out possible photo locations for when spring finally arrives in full swing. I installed a nice perch at a nesting site for Kingfishers (hope they have survived the fierce cold of winter) and made a nice walk at a local reserve with several ponds. I came across a foraging bittern and found many interesting animal tracks.

Lots of new plans for spring, let's see which ones will become reality and which ones will remain mere illusions.

Of course I brought the camera with me on the walk, inspite of the bad weather, strong winds and hard rain. Not much to photograph, until I sat down against a tree to rest for a few minutes. When I looked up, I noticed the threatening sky and the strong shapes of the leafless trees. Together, I think they make for an interesting composition. It also reminds me to look up every now and then. You never know what you may see.



Gloomy Sky and Winter Trees; Canon 1D Mark III w. 12-24/4.5-5.6; 1/100s at F11 and ISO200; Handheld.

Breaking the Habit

Last Friday, I decided to try my hand at the Shrike again. I spent 5 hours in the hide and could see the bird patrolling the perimeter of its territory. But of course, it was not willing to land on the perch I had aimed the camera onto. Even if it had done so, I would not have been able to press the shutterbutton, as I needed both hands to keep the flimsy hide from being blown all over the place because of a very stiff wind. So again no image: time for a different approach.

So Sunday I set out to a local lake with no specific species or image in mind. The idea was to see if there were any aquatic birds or ice structures to be photographed. The lake was still partly frozen and all the birds (many) had gathered in the center at the only stretch of open water. Too far away. And because of a week of meltdown, the ice no longer showed the beautiful structures and captured air bubbles it had done for several weeks. I did find, however, a very interesting little path with lots of evidence for the repeated presence of fox and wild boar. I'll definately check it out again.



On the way home, I passed several open fields that were full of Fieldfares. We appear to have an enormous invasion of these trushes this winter. I even found one in my city garden, which is very unusual. I chose a field with only few birds, as more individuals means it is more likely that one is startled and will scare the rest too. After a while, I had sneaked up on an individual. Although I have shots with the bird larger in the frame, this image shows the behavior of a Fieldfare in a much better way: they hop around the grassy fields all day long, and stop every few seconds to listen for any invertebrates moving under their feet.

Fieldfare in field; Canon 1D Mark III w. 500/4 and 1.4x; 1/400s at F5.6 and ISO 400; Beanbag from ground.

Bad Karma

It's been a while since the last blogpost. To be honest, that has to do with the fact that I didn't take a single image for two weeks. Although I did not spend a lot of time outdoors, the main reason seems to be bad karma.

Do you know the feeling of being in the wrong line in the supermarket? Or of taking the wrong way home and end up in a queue? Or of planning a photography morning on Saturday, only to find out that the weather on Sunday is much nicer? Well, I've got that feeling for three straight weeks now.


Last week, I spent ten fruitless hours with a Buzzard that only showed up after I left the hide at dusk. This weekend, I spent a morning with a Shrike that did not show up at all. And yesterday I found myself waiting for the Harriers in vain for over four hours. Even worse: the friends I was with stayed for an hour longer and they got to see and photograph both the male and female. Must be very, very bad karma from my side. Even this little Dunnock tried to hide from my camera underneath a car. I'm glad I could surprise it by laying down on my belly behind my own vehicle, otherwise I would still not have a photograph to show here.

Dunnock in snow; Canon 1D Mark III w. 500/4 and 1.4x; 1/800s at F6.3 and ISO400; resting on ground.

Great Grey on White

The first time I tried my hand on a Great Grey Shrike was also the last time. In early 2008, I spent many hours in a tenthide to photograph this wintering species. During all these hours, it landed exactly three times on the little spruce I had in mind. However: the first time, a car drove by and chased the Shrike. The second time, a man and dog walked by and chased the Shrike. The third time, a fierce windblow moved my tent and chased the Shrike.

There seemed to be a curse on the combination of the Shrike and the photographer.


You can imagine I was thrilled when a friend offered me the opportunity to go with him to a spot that was visited by a Shrike every single day at about the same time. So I joined him. After only 20 minutes, the Shrike appeared. My friend happily snapped away, but my camera only produced an error. By the time the camera had reset itself, the loud click that goes with that process scared the Shrike and I was left emptyhanded (or emptycarded) again. I was still in shock about the misfortune when the Shrike returned some 30 minutes later. This time, everything worked out fine and I got the shot I wanted. The Shrike even returned two more times in the next two hours.

With the story above in mind, you may understand that I did not trust my luck at all. Therefore I was very, very careful with the CF card and checked every setting three times before downloading the images to the computer. Well, here's the result, another little piece of bad luck beaten. Thanks Jos!

Great Grey Shrike with Mouse; Canon 1D Mark III w. 500/4 IS; 1/320s at F5.6 and ISO250; Gitzo tripod from hide.