BIRDS

Bird photography

Photography fine art
Although I love birds, I’ve never been and I never will be a real twitcher / birder, it’s just not in my genes.
I sure love them, but I love them as every other creature and I couldn’t care less if they’re rare or not. When it comes to bird photography, I have two main interests:

 

1. The easygoingness of the bird

I use a full frame Canon 5D Mark III and Canon 300mm f/4L IS USM, which is way too short for photographing camera-shy creatures. Especially when you don’t like to wear camouflage gear either. Because of my very short focal distance I have to come pretty close and the last thing I want to capture is a disturbed, scared or angry bird. I like my models to be fully at ease 😉

 

2. The setting and light

Personally I prefer a very common bird in special light and beautiful setting above a boring photo of an extremely rare bird. Having said that, of course I do have my preferences, like utterly cute little owlets in fantastic backlight, Eurasian Bitterns doing silly walks, mating Kingfishers on a perch, angry swans, short-eared owls in flight, happily dancing White Throated Dippers, high speed mosquito chasing baby ducklings, god-wit silhouettes at sunset, elegant storks in the snow, imperturbable night-herons, or evil little goslings….
But I can get just as happy with a totally common starling feeding its youngsters or a sparrow enjoying its bath and hopefully this leads to beautiful bird photos with a personal touch…

 

Swan at sunset
Heron & cherry blossom
Dream Duckling
It’s actually a cute gosling….
I’m too Sexy for this Site
Wild Duck | Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)
F;ock of Starlings
Godwit Silhouette
Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa)
Gull in a Snowstorm
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Moody Robin
White on white
White Stork (Ciconia ciconia)
Little Owl in warm light
Blending Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus)
What Bittern, Where?!
Portrait of a Eurasian Bittern or Great Bittern (Botaurus Stellaris) using its camouflage technique in the snow
Serenity
Mute Swan (Cynus olor)
Heron and fall colours
Gotta whole lot of living to do
Wild Duckling (Anas platyrhynchos)
Eurasian Bittern (Botaurus stellaris)
Eurasian bittern participating Ministry of Silly Walks
“Reflections in Blue” There’s something so magical about swans. Their dignity, the serenity that surrounds them… Did you ever notice that even the water and the wind seem to hold their breath when swan swims by…
Robin in the snow
Empty spaces
Little Owl (Athene noctua)
Blue Heron, Red Tree
Blue heron on a beautiful autumn day
Cold Feet
European Robin (Erithacus rubecula)
Gotcha!
Wild Duckling (Anas platyrhynchos)
Swan Lake
Morning Magic
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Natural Born Killer Duckling chasing a mosquito
Starling murmuration at sunset
Bird Song
Common Starling ( Sturnus vulgaris)
Love from Above
Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)
PINKISH
Back-lit Little Owlet
Little Owl (Athene noctua)
Yellow duckling and its reflection
Cute baby bird
Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes)
Whassssuuuuup
Egyptian gosling
The Murmuration Makers Starling Murmuration
Little Owl with Mouse
Little Owl (Athene noctua)
Yellow duckling reflected in the water
Macro by Proxy White-throated Dipper (Cinclus cinclus)
Gosling at Sunset
Egyptian gosling (Alopochen aegyptiaca)
Geese in the mist at sunrise
Duckling silhouette reflected in the water
Early Birds
Geese at sunrise
Portrait of a young Western Jackdaw
Western Jackdaw (Corvus monedula)
Hidden Heron
We are Family…
Egyptian goslings (Alopochen aegyptiaca)
Pretty in Pink
Mute swan (Cygnus olor)
Backpack Quack
Black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)
FEED ME!
Common Starling ( Sturnus vulgaris)
Empty Spaces V – Heron silhouette
Swan in the Mist
Autumn Egret
Colourful Goose
Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca)
The March of the Goslings
Greylag Goose (Anser anser)
“Ode to Swans” Swans are SO strong. I have never seen them actually break an arm, nor do I believe that they would lower themselves to such a thing. But I do think they could…just in case. 😉 In springtime, swans look like dream boats; a floating suit of feathers, where baby swans can play til they drop in an endless soft feather bed …. how cool is that …?! This in contrasts with the sudden ferocity that arises when facing danger. (or a coot). Running over the water like consummate basilisks and flapping their wings as if they want to break the ditch in half! Swans are truly magical creatures, gliding over the water surface, as if controlled by something invisible. (which is actually the case) Pure dignity and calmness. Control to the max. That’s to say: until you arouse their anger. Do them injustice, you better hide! Nothing and nobody will stop them. That whiteness, that grace; almost supernatural purity. And at the same time there is this dark look; which unfathomable depths lie behind….? Swans; so soft and yet so strong, so loving and graceful, so ferocious and unpredictable …. Personifications of contrast. Never a dull moment with a swan. And sometimes I wonder … why did nobody ever get the idea to make the swan a symbol of feminity …?
Little Owl (Athena noctua) in a Tree

Mute swan (Cygnus olor) (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Bath Duck
Gull in the Snow
Flying short-eared owl (Asio flammeus)
Autumn heron
Blue heron on a beautiful autumn day
Long-eared Owlet
Long-eared Owl (Asio otus, previously Strix otus)
Geese silhouettes in flight
Short-eared Owl in Flight
Long-eared Owl (Asio otus, previously Strix otus)
Autumn heron II
Blue heron on a beautiful autumn day
Little Owl hunting
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Little Owl (Athene noctua)
Repetitions Greylag Goose (Anser anser)
The Thinker
Little Owl (Athene noctua)
Curious little owlet
Little Owl (Athene noctua)
Eurasian Bittern (Botaurus stellaris)
Eurasian Bittern flying from a reed bed
Blue Love
Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)
Easter Chick