A little practice before the Eagle month

I need a little practice before this year’s first photo expedition that will take me back to Hungary. Hungary is the first stop of two in my search for the White-tailed Eagle, Golden Eagle and Imperial Eagle. I also hope to get some good photos of the Common Kingfisher, different species of Owls and maybe if I am lucky the Eurasian Bittern, a bird that I only have heard and never seen.

Today I went out with the hope of catching a glimpse of the Common Kingfisher that I saw last Sunday. The weather have been really harsh during the week and I can just hope that the blue jewel has survived. I also spotted a European Polecat at the Kingfisher place and that is another concern added to the cold.

I took the car early in the morning and drove to the Kingfisher place. Once there I couldn’t see any bird and I didn´t stay to see if it got back. Still I saw that the ice had been drawn back out into Göta Älv that last week was packed with ice that had flowed from Lake Värnern down to Gothenburg. That is of course good news as the Kingfisher needs open water to catch fish.

So I left but will go back tomorrow to see if the Kingfisher is there. I steered the car to one of my favorite places during winter time and that is at the mouth of Säveån where it flows out into Göta Älv. Here I always can find something to photo.

I wanted to practice and work with the shutter speed to see what settings I need to get nice dreamlike wings but still a good sharpness on the body of the bird. When I arrived I could see lots of bird mainly different Gulls but also Tufted Ducks, Jackdaws, Crows and a couple of Cormorants. I stayed inside the car as it acts as a good hide where I can brace the lens and get a good and stable platform to shoot from. I decided to focus on the Gulls that was having a wash just in front of me.

It took me awhile before I got this photo.

It is a juvenile European Herring Gull just after it has jump started. I wanted to get a dreamlike feeling and I think I have done that nicely in this picture. The head of the Gull and the feet are with good sharpness and that was the second aim of this practice session for me. I also got the element with the water drops that flows from the feet back to from where the bird did the last jump out of the water. I used a shutter of 1/1000s to get this feeling in the picture. I tried as low as 1/640s but those pictures have ended up in the bin as the bird wasn´t sharp enough for me.

It was good to get this practice session and I will probably go out tomorrow to test so more. It’s better to take the time now that to do too much experiments when I am in Hungary as I really have to nail the photos there.

Photo Gallery: A little practice before the Eagle month