Hoopoe a second try

When I woke up at 5:00 I could see fog outside so I didn´t expect it to be gone when Zoltan picked me up a little earlier than we had spoken about last evening. This was due to the fact that the sun was expected to do an appearance. So first Bee-eaters and then Hoopoe. This was at least the plan for the morning.

The ride to the site was interesting because the fog hadn´t lifted from all places. At the Bee-eater site there was fog but I expected it to be gone after 30-40 minutes. Zoltan rigged the hide for me while I prepared the camera and tripod. Once inside the waiting game began. I could hear the Bee-eaters but not many wanted to show themselves. After 15 minutes my work started when one of the bird came in front of the lens.

My hope for interaction and flight photos was not possible at first but soon the sun did its magic and the fog lifted. Now the setting was ok but the subjects didn´t help me out. This means I might have to go there once more to see if I can nail the flight photo that I want. I know that I have many good pictures but not the special one.

Now we headed for the Hoopoe site that we prepped 2 days earlier. We could see both adult so the chances would be good to get some photos at last. The Hoopoe had become accustomed to the 2 sheaf of hay that we were to use to cover the presence of a hide.

Once inside it took just a couple of minutes until the first Hoopoe arrived. Soon the other adult also came and went into the nest in the tree. The traffic wasn´t intense and sometimes the adults stayed inside to clean the nest. This made for long periods of nothing to do and unfortunately the hide was setup in a way that obstructed my field of view from where the birds approached the nest.

Some of the Hoopoe photos turned out good and I would have liked to do some more this day but a huge thunderstorm was approaching. So everything had to be packed into the car before the rain started.

The weather made the rest of the day miserable but I would still say this was a great day. We did a short afternoon trip that gave a good sighting of Great Bustards in the wild.

I have learned much and hope to improve the Hoopoe photos next time there. I also consider going back for a short session with the Bee-eaters but that would be after the Hoopoe this time around.

The weather for the rest of my stay seems to bring clear skies most of the time. This is promising but it will also make for some other problems like burnt patches if you over expose too much. I will need to check the Histogram more often to not mess things up.

Tomorrow morning will be spent in the Tower hide. I feel this might be a really interesting session.

Photo Gallery: Hoopoe a second try