The European Bee-eaters in Hungary

The first day of the Bee-eaters workshop here in Hungary has now ended. And it has been hugely successful even if the weather has been against us.

Zoltan picked me up at the house at 5:45 and then we drove off to the Bee-eaters site. Once there we surveyed the area and decided which of the sand walls we should photograph at. It was some water here because there had been thunderstorms and rain during the night but a little water wouldn´t hinder me.

Once the hides had been raised and the camera and tripod had been set the waiting game began. I could hear them but for a couple of minutes no Bee-eaters were sighted. But soon they started to appear in the trees and once they were sure we meant no harm they went down to the lower branches a couple of meters from their dug-out nest holes.

I am not sure how long we stayed here but I started to raise the bar as soon as the action began to unfold before me. First it was more or less just portrait photos but when I felt that I couldn´t make them better, because we had overcast and no direct sunlight, I started to try more action oriented photos. I feel that I got many good once but there is a huge possibility that I´ll want to come back here during the week because I would have like to have better ISO on most my of my photos. Like this one for instance.

European Bee-eater in Hungary — European Bee-eater take off 120610

I would say that it was a tough start as I had to try to use slow shutter speed and not being able to set the aperture like I would have wanted. Not easy but it is often good to start with some tricky condition so you get to work for your shots. The Bee-eaters behaved more than nicely so I see a good potential of getting the results that I want if we go back here when the conditions are better.

A good start I must say that continued with other interesting birds and even some ground squirrels. Just look at the gallery and you see them there. The day ended with a Marsh Harrier just passing by.