Nice afternoons

Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator) male in some nice evening light, Norway
Canon EOS-1D Mark III, 500mm f/4 and 1,4x, 1/1250 sek @ f/5,6, ISO 250

There’ve been a couple of nice days lately, weather wise. Therefore, I’ve spent some time in afternoons stalking wildlife, hoping to get some nice lighting on them. As the wind has been pretty calm, I’ve been able to photograph waterfowl at the sea with a nice calm surface, reflecting colour and structures. The other day I was quit happy to get some close-ups of a Red-breasted Merganser searching for a mate along a sandy beach. I could lay down flat on the sand, isolating the bird against the background. It’s nice laying on the beach at this time of the year, not bothering about the sun block.

About luck

Common Shelduck, Tadorna tadorna, lifting from the water, Rogaland, Norway
Canon EOS-1D Mark III, 500mm f/4, 1/160sek @ f/4, ISO 200

Finally I struck luck. I’ve been out three nights in a row hoping to get some decent shots of the Common Shelduck, but it proved a real challenge. I’ve seen the birds every night but they are quite elusive and approach my hide with great caution. As the last light of the beautiful evening coloured the reed strong orange a Shelduck came swimming towards me. I was hoping for some pretty portraits in the low light and had the Mark III on ISO200 and One Shot mode. Without warning the bird lifted from the water, straight at me. I waited for a short second before I pressed the shutter twice. As the duck passed me on only an arms length I started wondering; “how are they?” Honestly, I wasn’t very optimistic, but I was proved wrong. The first shot was sharp! Usually I’m struggling to get sharp images with AI-servo mode at this shutter speed, but patience was rewarded with one good picture. Hours of waiting was forgotten.

12 000 opportunities in 2 days

My stay at Horborgasjön in Sweden surely was rewarded. With more than 12 000 Cranes in the area both days I was in the hide there were plenty of opportunities to take all different images of these fascinating birds. The flightshots proved challenging as the windows in the hide was rather small for the 500mm, but fast autofocus was very helpful and gave me a couple of sharp images.

Common Crane (Grus grus) lifting at Hornborgasjön, Sweden
Canon EOS-1D Mark III, 500mm, f/4, 1/400 sek @ f/9, ISO 200

Common Crane (Grus grus) in flight, calling, at Hornborgasjön, Sweden
Canon EOS-1D Mark III, 500mm, f/4, 1/2500 sek @ f/5,6, ISO 200

The morning light is always fun to work with as scene after scene is emerging as the light gets better. It also seemed the birds were more active in the morning.

Common Crane (Grus grus) flying in at Hornborgasjön, Sweden
Canon EOS-1D Mark III, 500mm, f/4, 1/125 sek @ f/5,6, ISO 200

Descent lighting during the day gave me some good opportunities for the classic Common Crane portraits as well.

Common Crane (Grus grus) preening at Hornborgasjön, Sweden
Canon EOS-1D Mark III, 500mm, f/4 and 1,4x, 1/1000 sek @ f/5,6, ISO 200

Unfortunately I missed the good sunsets this year and the evening light was very poor. This forced me to think in other ways and I spent the time following moving subjects, hoping for the best. By selecting low iso values a ensured long shutter speeds, and blurry subjects.

Common Crane (Grus grus) in flight at Hornborgasjön, Sweden
Canon EOS-1D Mark III, 500mm, f/4, 1/10 sek @ f/7,1, ISO 100

Something else

Common Crane (Grus grus) resting at Hornborgasjön, Sweden
Canon EOS-1D Mark III, 500mm with 1,4x, f/4, 1/320 sek @ f/8, ISO 200

I was quit optimistic going to Hornborgasjön in Sweden to participate in the annual arrival of thousands of Cranes. Optimistic because I knew there would be plenty of birds to photograph, but still a bit nervous because I’d told some friend that my goal was to take a picture that still hadn’t been taken of these birds. It would be hard, knowing that most of the wildlife photographers with respect for their profession had already been there. With more than 12 000 Cranes feeding in front of the hide both days I was in there, I surly had my chances. Now, I haven’t seen all the images taken at this location but I believe this one picture stands out as something else. The bird was resting at noon and the sun was behind the clouds bringing detail and colour to the feathers. I put the 1,4x converter behind the 500mm to better frame the head. Luckily another Crane was preening behind my subject adding grey to the background. Out of several thousand images I took, this stands out as something else. More images from Hornborgasjön will come soon.