Just Another Morning on the Meadow

Despite getting up at 5:30 the sun was already high over the horizon by the time I made it out to meadows.  I was obviously late, since there was so much going on everywhere I looked. Lapwings, skylarks and wagtails chasing intruders out of their territories; crows harassing a marsh harrier as it flew over with a newly caught rat or something with a long black tail. I always tell myself I'm going to get up earlier, but at 3:30 when I checked the sunrise seemed so far away...

A yellow wagtail doing her morning stretch

A harrier lifts off with her partially eaten breakfast, maybe a rat, it had a long black tail. Yumm!

A skylark is taking his morning bath in the sand

And a greater spotted woodpecker eats larvae and aphids off the tender new leaves of an oak. Hanging upside-down is no problem at all with this powerful claws.

Next Satruday I'm going to get up earlier...

The Early Bird Gets the Worm

Spring is now at it's best, trees and meadows have that lime-green shade that makes a perfect background for any shot.

The local pheasant cock is high on testosterone and fears no one, he has that look in his eye, "This is my turf, and I'm ready to fight anyone to prove it"

Meanwhile out on the meadows the curlews take turns sitting on their eggs and foraging. Their long bill is the perfect tool for finding earthworms...

Nearby the skylark is gathering material for its nest

And in the forest the woodpecker is staking his claim to a territory by drumming on the tree trunk.

The red kites are out in force, I counted ten sitting in one tree; a few at a time they fly low over the nearby meadows looking for their next meal.

It doesn't get much better than this...

Sunrise Birds in Bangalore

March 17

After a long flight from Frankfurt to Bangalore we finally landed around 12:30 in the morning, and then had to the queue to get into the country. Passports and visas stamped,  bags collected and loaded into the taxi we head for the Gateway Hotel on Residency road, a short walk from the office. 2:30AM and we finally make it into bed, thank heavens tomorrow is Saturday. The office is open, but not at full strength so after a few meetings in the morning our host Ravi takes us out for a bit of site-seeing. While visiting a nearby temple I see three lovely models in traditional dress posing for a photographer, I mount my Sigma 150/2,8 macro lens and stand a few feet behind him as he photographs. With no warning he simply gets into his waiting car and is driven away, before the girls have a chance to move I ask if I can take a few shots and they agree. Talk about Karma..

The next morning we see these ladies pictures on the front page of a Bangalore newspaper, wishing everyone a happy Ugadi (New Year).
We continue our site-seeing with a walk around Lal Bagh Botanical gardens and on crossing a bridge over one of the lakes we see the hungry carp competing for the crumbs being thrown by visitors. Armed for bird photography I get a close up shot with the 400/5.6

Since it's a full work day on Sunday I make arrangements with the front desk for an early morning photo excursion. At 4:45 a driver picks me up and drives me to a reservoir about 45 minutes away. It's pitch black and I see people sleeping along the road, while others have already begun making their way into town on foot, on bicycle or waiting for buses.
As we near the reservoir it begins getting light very quickly, and at 6:30 the sun begins its very quick ascent. The light near the equator deteriorates quickly, by 9AM it's just to bright. But we still have an hour or so of good light.

A little green bee-eater poses on a barbed wire fence and using my 500/4+2X extender I get close enough for a full-frame shot.

Closer to the reservoir a Brahminy kite is finishing up a fish it has caught and at 7:30 it is time to head to the office. .

The return trip takes 90 minutes and I make it into the office by 9AM. I give my driver a $5 tip and he is ecstatic, he asks if I will make another trip. "Tomorrow morning" I tell him and he says he will be ready.

On our return trip the next morning I have the good fortune to see a red-naped ibis who lets us get close enough to only need the 500/4+1.4X extender

In the shallows of the reservoir a little egret is having a feast on the many small fish.

While a short distance away a greenshank and his reflection break the mirror-like surface of the shallows.

It's 7:30 and time to head back, but a little ringed plover poses and allows me a few shots before head back into the noise and chaos of downtown Bangalore.

If you make it to Bangalore, don't limit yourself to the city, there is fantastic nature and landscapes to be seen within a short distance from the city. But remember to get up early if you want the best light.

Parting Shots from Svalbard

June 23

Our last full day on Svalbard, but who's counting. In  the midnight sun the days and nights run together and you lose track of time. We returned from our glacial excursion at 2:00 AM and it was 3AM before we finally fell asleep; so there were no suggestions to get up early and make the most of our last full day. Instead we slept in and made a lazy day of it. After lunch we made it down to some small ponds near the airport where gray phalaropes can occasionally be seen, and they did not disappoint. As we lay on the rocks they walked around us completely undisturbed by our presence.

Mrs. Phalarope waving us off.

Longyearbyen panorama.

Around the ponds by the airport carpets of tiny flowers announce that this is indeed summer. The Sigma 150/2,8 macro was the perfect lens for these tiny specimens.

A shot after taking off. The single road out of town running along the coast.

Longyearbyen was a great learning grounds for arctic photography. Where else can you go so far above the arctic circle and have wilderness so close at hand, in a fully functioning modern town? After our week here we had a much better idea of what to pack and what to leave, and our guide Jasper Doest taught us a lot of valuable lessons on nature photography and just as important, how to post process raw images to get the best results. His advice and guidance led to Johan placing in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year with this image:

And that alone made this an unforgettable trip.

Waiting for the Spring Thaw

Update March 23
Apparently spring has gone missing. Despite global warming, el niño and the spring equinox winter is not going out without a fight; at least it can look good in pictures...

In Southern Sweden the days are already 5 hrs and 30 mins longer than they were at the winter solstice. From 7:00 on Dec 21 we are now at 12:30. So things are quickly moving in the right direction. But since we did not visit Southern California for Christmas, I have to admit I am getting a bit tired of the cold and dark and the lack of interesting material to photograph. So as we wait for the spring thaw I took a few minutes at a nearby feeding station:

Gambia Birds; One in the Hand and Two in the Bush

During this long, cold and snowy Swedish winter I have been digging in my photo archives. That's what winter is for. If we had great weather year round like in my home town of San Diego I might never have time to go back and process my images. So this week we travel from the summer snows of arctic Svalbard to the winter heat of Gambia
In my previous post from our Christmas trip to Gambia I shared a few images taken on or around the hotel grounds. Those birds make wonderful subjects. They are used to humans and provide many great photo opportunities that most of us can just dream about.
But there are even more birds in the bush, countless birds just waiting to be photographed. The only problem is they are far less cooperative AND the light in Gambia gets to be too bright after about 9:00AM.m and it also gets too hot. For birders this is not such a big deal, but for photographers, it's all about the light. So we arranged with our guide that we would leave before sunrise and head out to his favorite birding areas while the light was still good. And Dawd Barry our guide delivered. He took us to several different habitats during the week where we were able to get close enough and with great backgrounds.

All shots taken with the Canon 7D and the 500/4 in most cases with the 1.4X or 2X extender.

A pied kingfisher hunting in the irrigation canals of nearby farming lands.

Little bee-eaters are everywhere, but they are still beautiful.

A pair of wire-tailed swallows mating at the end of December.

And in the bush a striped kingfisher spies after lizards and insects.

An amazing tail on the glossy starlings

The blue-cheeked bee-eater required a trip off the beaten path, but it also brought us out to the mangroves.

And I have to re-post the African pygmy kingfisher just because the colors are so amazing.

There are a number of reasonably priced hotel in Gambia and the local bird guides are generally very good. Bird photography a couple of hours in the morning and evenings  when the light is good and then lots of time to spend with the family for other activities. Who could ask for more.

Svalbard Summer Solstice Glaciar Excursion

June 22, Day 6 on Svalbard

The sun is now at its highest point in the sky for the year and in keeping with the midnight sun theme of our trip to Svalbard, today's main activity is an evening boat trip to the "nearby" glacial bay of Billefjord. So the first half of the day was quite relaxed, Johan and I spent some time in the harbor of Longyearbyen photographing the arctic terns who were just starting the courtship activities.

Male terns were catching krill along the shore and then offering their catch to the female who all the while sat perched on a rock on the shore. After a few hours of this the females were not able to eat another bite and just let the meal drop to the ground, after which the male would once again go and retrieve another tiny shrimp...

At 8:30 PM we met up with our guide Jasper Doest and suited up for the boat trip. There are numerous guides that make this trip from the local harbor and I think they are all quite competent. We were provided with insulated flotation suits just in case. At 9:00 PM we were underway and began the 20 km trip. The crossing took about 90 minutes and we passed numerous bird cliffs filled with guillemot, petrels and puffins on the way.

Johan waiting for something to fly by.

Once in the bay we slowed down and looked at the various ice formations, birds and seals...

Kittiwakes

You can see how fractured the ice is and there was some calving going on, but we never seemed to be fast enough to catch it on film.

As we cruised around the bay we enjoyed a hot meal that our guide had brought along. Midnight dining in a glacial harbor, the view was spectacular and thankfully since there were no winds the temperature was quite comfortable.

2:00AM we were back in the harbor of Longyearbyen, greeting by the local welcoming committee. Another wild and crazy night in the midnight sun.