Roaming in Romania - Day 8 - Back seat Photographer

We tumbled out of the the hotel for our final evening session in Romania. It was announced that this session would be spent roaming along tracks in the minibus and photographing any birds we encountered. My internal groan must have almost been audible at the prospect, as I knew everyone would head straight to 'their seat' on the minibus which would leave me stuck in the very restricted position in the back corner. This seat allowed me to photograph nothing to my left as the was no window that opened and anything to the right would have to be photographed through the sliding van door between Rene sat on the middle bench and Hans sat on my right to the back. In hindsight I should have really just asked Zoltan to drop me off somewhere to try and do some photography on foot but fatigue and lack of sleep were well upon me by this phase of the trip. I was not expecting this van session to be particularly productive.

Before hitting the tracks around the wind farm and agricultural land we headed across to a couple of large lagoons where there was a large flock of white pelicans but the birds were distant and the shimmering haze off the warm salty water in between made photography pointless as achieving a sharp image would be near impossible. We had headed there on the outside chance there may be a wader or two to photograph but our trip was between the spring and autumn passage periods. The place was a wader desert. We left and drove up to the farmland and started our slow drive around the dusty tracks. A large white van is not ideal for sneaking up on birds especially when there are 4 photographers inside all suddenly wanting to point their lenses at a bird encountered at the side of the road.

The first bird we encountered that I could actually manage to get in the viewfinder was a Yellow wagtail of the black headed 'feldegg' subspecies perched on top of a sunflower. I suppose it was fortunate that the blooming of the sunflowers had been delayed by the cold spring across Europe otherwise it may have been very difficult to spot.

Yellow wagtails comes in many different sub-races across Europe. Some with grey heads, others with black or blue. I have seen several of these varieties in my travels around Europe but still find the yellow headed 'flavissima' race that visits the UK to be the most beautiful.

A short distance further down the track we came across a Calandra Lark, again perched on top of a sunflower and peeking out from behind one of the broad leaves.

Our journey along the dusty tracks continued and we came across more larks in the shape of the Short-toed variety, stood on the track, and another stocky Calandra lurking amongst the sunflowers.

A brief encounter with a male Ortolan Bunting which burst in to song lifted the spirits and we finished this session by finally coming across a Black-headed Bunting (albeit not a particularly great looking one) at the side of the track. All these birds we had seen previously had been perched up high on the telegraphs wires that followed some of the tracks.

As predicted, before we had headed out of the hotel car park, this was not the most productive session but we did encounter some interesting birds that included a couple not previously photographed on the trip.

We were soon heading back to the hotel and decisions needed to be made on our final session in Romania the next morning. I felt the need to finish on a flourish, and after the trawl around the dusty track, was in need of both some colour and action. There was only one answer, a return to the Bee-eater colony with my main objective being to concentrate on some flight photos rather than perched or landing images. Hans and Rene decided they would join me at the Bee-eaters the next morning while Michael headed off back along the dusty farm tracks looking for more larks and buntings to photograph.

A Taste of Spring

As the autumn winds start to swirl outside and the chlorophyll drains from the leaves turning the trees to their rusty and golden hues, my thoughts go back to the Spring. I love Springtime, a time of renewal and hope for the warmer months to come after the long dark days of winter. However, this year the UK climate had other ideas and cool days and torrential rain predominated and nature's calander was perturbed. The usual arrival of migrant birds seemed to be delayed by about a fortnight and then all the summer visitors suddenly seemed to arrive at once. So this post is about some of those Spring birds, the photographs of which have sat on my hard drive gathering dust.

One of the first arrivals each year are the Northern Wheatear, usually touching down around the end of March. They are welcome addition of warm colour against the be-draggled vegetation ravaged by the winter weather. An energetic bounding bird species that pause briefly along the local coast as they head northward during their journey from Africa to northern breeding areas.  The females are attractive but for the photographer the male birds in their smart and bolder spring colours are the real prize

Amongst the Wheatear, the Skylarks battle it out for breeding territories. Many fast acrobatic chases between males occur low over the rough grassland before one of the birds will soar upwards in liquid song until it becomes a mere speck in the sky.  There it will hang in fluttering flight, often for many minutes, before rapidly descending back towards earth.

For those of you who have never had the fortune to be very close to one.

They will also occasionally sing from low perches on the ground. This bird would often use a particular boulder.

However, it would take exception to any other bird landing on its rock. This was the response received by a House Sparrow that landed just out of frame.

During mid to late April the scrub, reedbeds and low lying bushes come to the life with the churring, click, grating sounds of warblers. First the Grasshopper Warblers but closely followed by the Sedge and Reed varieties and the Whitethroats. Not wishing to become too anthropomorphic but Common Whitethroat always seem to be a slightly 'angry' and 'impaitent' bird. They are always fun to photograph and relatively easy with the right approach.

At the beginning of May Yellow Wagtails arrive brought, on the warming winds from the south. A brilliant splash of yellow and green amongst the rapidly growing vegetation. The first encounter with one of these birds each year always brings a smile.

You normally hear the birds before you see one as their characteristic high pitch 'jeet' calls emaniate from a field of low crops and penerate the dawn chorus. They absolutely glow golden when hit by the early low sun.

This bird caught by a sudden gust of wind from behind was having a 'bad feather day'.

Much as I like the Spring, I always look forward to the winter. The daylight may be limited but when the sun does put in appearance the low light can be just stunning. Lets hope we are not in for a gloomy wet winter.

Searching the Farmland

The end of April always triggers an internal alarm that its time to go and look for some Yellow Wagtail on an area of local farmland. Timing the visit is important as I want to try and catch the birds just as they arrived from their migration and are still busy trying to establish the territories they will use for the few months of their annual visit to the UK. The timing is essential to try and catch these birds in 'song', which in itself is not particularly pleasing to the ear as it tends to be a series of repetitive high pitch 'peeps'.

I tend to photograph these birds from a farm track and try to catch them as they land on field side fence posts. The light direction is not ideal at this site, as it quickly swing round to side lighting, but it is the only place locally that I know that they can be reliably found. As usual an early set alarm clock is essential and on this session I arrived just as the sun was creeping upwards over the horizon. En route to the particular field that the wagtails have used consistently for several years, I was slightly distracted by some Meadow Pipits perched on some fence posts and bathed in the warm glow of the early light.

The birds were calling an occasionally launching vertically upwards in to fluttering song flight.

I decided to quickly move on having taken a few photographs of the Pipits, to try and find the Yellow Wagtails before the sun had arced too far round. As I arrived at the field I was greeted with a familiar call and saw a flash of yellow as male briefly flitted upwards and disappeared back in to the low crop. At least they were here and a female was the first to appear on the fence line.

A promising start but it was really the more colourful male I was hoping to photograph and had to wait a while before one put in an appearance. There are many different races of Yellow Wagtails which are generally distinguished by having different coloured heads. Regular readers will know I encountered the grey-head race (see here) that is typical of Spain on my recent trip to Mallorca. I have encountered some of the other races on my travels but still believe the race that is unique to the UK with its light green colouration on the head and back to be the most attractive.

The yellow colouration of the spring male bird is incredibly bright and you would think they would be an easy target for any passing predator. However, they can be surprisingly difficult to spot even where I have seen them in areas of short grass.

A short while later another male appeared and landed on the barbed wire and started to sing, allowing me to capture a few of the photographs I was hoping to get from this pre-breakfast session.

Balearic Spring Day 3 - Into the Farmlands

Another day of clear blue skies dawned as we packed the kit in to the car to head south towards the centre of island. Our aim was to travel around an extensive area of farmland to see what species could be found next the tracks with the car providing us with a mobile hide. As we arrived you already feel the coolness of the morning burning away under the rapidly ascending sun.

The first species we encountered were a small streaky warbler with an impressive and very apt name, the Zitting Cisticola who seem to have adapted well to a life amongst the arable crops. These are the only representative of a group of African warbler species that are found in Europe.

We did manage a couple of closer encounters that morning. Unusually the lining of the male mouth is pitch black and they look very odd when in full song.

On our journey along another track, we located a pair of Short-toed lark gradually working their way across the sun baked soils.

Another track, another species. This time it was the Iberian race of Yellow Wagtails with their grey heads. Personally I prefer the looks of our yellow headed UK race.

By this point the light was getting harsh and the autofocus crippling heat haze was building. The last species I photographed before we left the farmlands was a Corn Bunting, my first image of this species, and one I was hoping to improve upon before the end of the week.

We decided to stop for a bit of lunch and then headed back up to S'Albufera. The daily outings were starting to take on a bit of a pattern with a trip out exploring a new area in the morning and a return to the Marsh for the mid afternoon and early evening. As I said in my first post you could easily spend a week at S'Albufera Marsh alone.

Another of the S'Albufera conservation efforts was the introduction during the 1990s of the endangered Crested Coot. I remember these birds from when I visited a few years, with each sporting a large identification neck ring. As the numbers have increased so has the chance of finding an unringed bird. A number of birds were present each day around the main bridge that crosses the central canal. Photographing from the raised position of the bridge did not offer the greatest perspective and we located a small area off one path were we could get to water level with the birds. Coots under harsh sunlight is not a photographic pursuit I would recommend for those who do not like an exposure challenge!

It is good to see these birds flourishing in their new home.

Just around the corner from the bridge, the Bishop Hide was in good form with plenty of Black-winged Stilts feeding at very close proximity.

The Stilts were occasionally joined by a Purple Gallinule that would boldly march, between the bordering reedbeds, across the front of the hide to the accompanyment of camera shutters.

The bird shown below was particularly impressive in its colours.

We decided to move to another hide for the end of the day light. Kentish and Little Ringed Plover foraged with their stop and go movements along the lagoon edge.

The only distraction being the very pleasent sight of passing Purple Herons or Marsh Harrier in the softening light. I can think of much worse ways of passing time.

The following day we would be heading to the mountains but that will have to wait until the next post.

Bleary Eyes

No matter at what time I set my alarm clock the internal one always seems to go off about 15 minutes before hand. So it was bleary eyes that I pulled myself out of bed at 4:45am to head off in search of yellow wagtails. The reason for the very early start is that I wanted to be on site for first light as the photo situation means the light quickly swings round and makes for some difficult lighting.

An hour later and I was in position but had already had an encounter en route with a Whinchat despite the light at that stage being a bit limited. They really are such attractive little birds but this one proved typically tricky to get close to.

Th yellow wagtails at this site are a game of patience. They inhabit a large agricultural field and the only chance of photographs is when they land on the field fence line or an adjacent track. I could hear the birds calling and see the occasion one flitting up in to the air out of the crop to catch a passing fly. So the wait began. Eventually a male bird flew across and landed on a fence post. The first encounter with a male yellow wagtail each year is always a moment of pause just to admire their vivid yellow.

The bird disappeared back to its field and I was forced to wait once more. However, it was an enjoyable wait in the still early morning as the sun rose and with a mixed dawn chorus of song for company. Another male appeared or maybe the same one.

There are many different races of yellow wagtail which are mainly distinguished by the different coloured heads with the UK version being unique with its yellow and green. After some more waiting another bird appeared and this time landed on the barbed wire between the posts.

This bird stayed for a while and hopped up on to a post and started their distinctive high pitch call.

His efforts had the desired effect and a female quickly appeared nearby before they flew off together across the field at which point I decided it was time to make a move.

Before heading home I had a quick look around to see what else I could find but this only produced a Meadow Pipit.

and a hovering male kestrel on the look out for a rodent breakfast.

This was a good reminder that it probably time for me to head home for some cornflakes and cup of tea after a very enjoyable session. After breakfast It was then back to bed for an hour to rest those bleary eyes and ensure some functionality later in the day after the early start.