More pictures to the Bird Portfolio

I went to Getterön, Halland, Saturday this weekend with 2 goals in mind. I wanted to take better picture of the Water Rail but also of the Bearded Reedling that might end up in my Bird Portfolio. I also hoped to catch a glimpse of the White-tailed Eagles that are resident in the area but that are of course a difficult project.

The alarm went off 5:15 in the morning and 25 minutes later I was driving towards Getterön. This was later than I had in mind, I packed everything the night before, but I was really tired.

The traffic was more or less none existing so I could eat the breakfast while driving. The clouds started to gather when I approached Varberg and that was as the forecast had said when I checked it in Friday. There could be some quick showers during early morning but the clouds should disperse during the morning hours.

I was alone with in the hide for the first few hours and during that time I got the opportunity to get some decent photos of the Grey Heron fishing. I choose this for the portfolio.

What I like with this picture is the pose of the bird and how you can see both eyes while it is searching for something to catch. The light is also interesting because it is indirect and I had no direct light on the Heron as you can see.

This was the second time here the last 2 weeks and that what good. I always find it more fruitful if I go back to the same area to get a feeling for what I can do and what I can expect so I wasn´t surprised to see that the water level had been lower just outside the hide. This was actually told to me during my last trip because they annually regulate the water level in this part of Getterön Nature Reserve to keep the fish population down. That is done because the fish eat the same food as many birds and they want a healthy bird population in the Nature Reserve.

This meant that there was a smorgasbord for waders just in front of the hide. Fortunate for me I got the opportunity to take pictures of three new Waders for my portfolio and that was great. Waders are not the easiest one to photo and even if I was lucky I still had to crank up the ISO to have an ok shutter speed to freeze the bird. They are all fast moving so it is really necessary to set the Shutter to at least 1/800s or more.

So what about the Water Rail and Bearded Reedling? Did I get any photos?

Of course!!!

The Water Rail was the “easy” one to catch because it got out in front of the hide a couple of times. I saw both an adult and possible two different juveniles. This picture is from one of the times when it got out into the water to search for food.

I like the reflection in the water that shows the habitat that the bird lives in. I often see many bird photos that is more focused on showing the individual feathers of the bird. Sometimes those kinds of photos are ok but they get boring in the end.

My Bearded Reedling photo is also with the habitat included.

In this photo it acts to increase the contrast between the birds and the background. It is interesting to see how the birds cling to the straws, the one on the left has also but one claw thru the blade it seems. I just got one try with the Reedlings and I am happy to have produced at least one picture that deserved its place in my bird portfolio.