Wild Bird Trust photographers of the week

Another great week with 2 of my pictures among the best wild bird pictures chosen by Steve Boyes of Wild Bird Trust to be published on National Geographic’s NewsWatch.

It is always a great pleasure when it happen and this time I think that I have two pictures that are among the better I have taken this year.

The Whiskered Tern couple photo was taken at Lake Tisza in Hungary this summer. I went to Hungary with 3 goals in mind and that was European Bee-eaters, European Roller and Hoopoe but the boat trip on Lake Tisza was probably one of the better photo sessions I have had this year. It is really nice to be surprised like that.

I think this is wonderful interaction picture between these wild birds and what makes this extra special to me is that it was a tough picture to nail. I started the boat trip with the camera on my monopod to get a stable platform but soon I had to discard this because of the way the boat rocked. It took some time for me to get accustomed with how the boat was driven by the boat driver but once I learned how he propelled the boat I could start to take photos handheld. It was spectacular to be more or less in the middle of this Tern colony watching the interaction between the birds. It was not just this type of interaction that we saw but also how they fought for the different the different nesting spots. I think this is a really nice picture with the wings at full stretch together with the “handover” of the fish.

Next photo is from last week’s Golden Eagle session at Conny Lundströms Eagle hide in Kalvträsk.

The photo is a “traditional” Eagle portrait and I can´t say that this is as special as the Whiskered Tern picture but instead it’s something else. It was a real treat to be able to take photos of this famous Golden Eagle from just a couple of meter. It is a powerful and magnificent bird and what make this photo special for me are the amber colored eyes. They pierced the lens and you really get the feeling that the bird is watching you closely. I had more opportunities to take photo of this magnificent bird during my 3 days stay but this is probably the best portrait that I took.

I will most likely visit again because I’d like to get good interaction photos of the different birds that they have at the site during the colder months. It is mostly the Eagle interaction or Eagle/Raven interaction that I´d like to get photos of.