Bird photography with a personal touch.

Bird photography

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…

Little Owl Athene noctua Bird photography prey mouse

Little Owl with Mouse
Little Owl (Athene noctua)

Cute Baby Gosling nature photography fine art

Dream Duckling
It’s actually a cute gosling….

The Murmuration Makers Starling Murmuration

black-crowned night heron,Nycticorax nycticorax,night heron,portrait

Backpack Quack
Black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)

Wild Duckling Anas platyrhynchos mallard duck cute insect Bird photography

Gotcha!
Wild Duckling (Anas platyrhynchos)

Wild Duck | Mallard Anas platyrhynchos flowers fritillary Bird photography

I’m too Sexy for this Site
Wild Duck | Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

Little Owl (Athena noctua) in a Tree

The Thinker
Little Owl (Athene noctua)

Repetitions Greylag Goose (Anser anser)

Short-eared Owl in Flight
Long-eared Owl (Asio otus, previously Strix otus)

Godwit Silhouette
Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa)

Curious little owlet
Little Owl (Athene noctua)

Portrait of a young Western Jackdaw
Western Jackdaw (Corvus monedula)

Starling murmuration at sunset

Easter Chick

Geese silhouettes in flight

Swan at sunset

Empty spaces
Little Owl (Athene noctua)

Natural Born Killer Duckling chasing a mosquito

The March of the Goslings
Greylag Goose (Anser anser)

Flying short-eared owl (Asio flammeus)

“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…

Back-lit Little Owlet
Little Owl (Athene noctua)

Heron and fall colours

Love from Above
Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)

Empty Spaces V – Heron silhouette

Cute baby bird
Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes)

Duckling silhouette reflected in the water

Eurasian Bittern (Botaurus stellaris)
Eurasian Bittern flying from a reed bed

Whassssuuuuup
Egyptian gosling

Blue Heron, Red Tree
Blue heron on a beautiful autumn day

Yellow duckling reflected in the water

Swan Lake

Moody Robin

Autumn heron
Blue heron on a beautiful autumn day

Long-eared Owlet
Long-eared Owl (Asio otus, previously Strix otus)

Blue Love
Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)

Hidden Heron

F;ock of Starlings

Gull in the Snow

Gull in a Snowstorm
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)

Early Birds
Geese at sunrise

White on white
White Stork (Ciconia ciconia)

Geese in the mist at sunrise

Pretty in Pink
Mute swan (Cygnus olor)

Yellow duckling and its reflection

Autumn heron II
Blue heron on a beautiful autumn day

Cold Feet
European Robin (Erithacus rubecula)

Colourful Goose
Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca)

Gotta whole lot of living to do
Wild Duckling (Anas platyrhynchos)

“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 …?