A photo session with the Bearded Reedlings of Getterön

I decided yesterday to go down to Getterön to check out the Black-headed Gull colony, but also see if there were any waders or Bearded Reedlings there.

My aim was primarily to get a grip of what the Black-headed Gull colony could produce photo wise, but also to see if I could find the Bearded Reedlings. Maybe I could get some photos of the different warblers, but that is always tricky as they tend to stay deep inside the reed beds.

I didn´t set any alarm for the morning as I felt tired from last days bike ride too Jonsered. This was my first bike ride for the year, so I was a little sore when I got home. Still I woke up before 5:00, which actually is the time when the sun rise here in Sweden. I ate breakfast and packed lunch before heading out of the door.

The sun was up when I arrived at Getterön and the light was warm and yellow, exactly like I had hoped for. I went to the smaller of the photo hides to see what the morning could bring.

Hectic. There was almost no time to settle down before the action struck me. I had both a Common Reed Bunting and a male Bearded Reedling just a few meters from the hide. The shutter started to rattle as I threw away a couple of quick photos, I didn´t have time to put on the lens hood. This set the pace of the morning until I heard the noise from The Black-headed Gull colony. I look out and saw several Gulls chasing a female Marsh Harrier just 20 meters from the hide. I tried to do something with this opportunity, but I had to frantically change photo hole to keep up with the action.

I was almost glad when things settled as the Marsh Harrier landed among the reed. Still she got up a couple of times and to see how the Gull colony chased after the Harrier was really interesting as this was something I never have seen before.

Things went quit after 9:00, but I stayed for another four hours mainly trying the bigger photo hide. It didn´t produce that many interesting pictures, but I now know the potential of the hide.

So did I get any nice photos from this session?

I like this one of a male Bearded Reedling.

Male Bearded Reedling catching insects 130519

It is catching a small insect and you can see how the Bearded Reedlings tongue is out to roll up the insect before it swallows it. You get a good feeling of the habitat in which it lives and you can see. The picture is tack sharp and you can see how soft and warm the light is just by looking on the shadow on the bird. I am more than happy to get home with a picture like this.

I hope you might find other interesting pictures in the gallery from this session in Getterön.