Wild Bird Trust photographers of the week

It’s been awhile since I last got chosen by Steve Boyes of Wild Bird Trust to feature among the Top 25 Wild Bird photographs seen on National Geographic’s News Watch. It is another picture of the Whiskered Terns of Lake Tisza in Hungary.

If you read my blog you know that this was one of my highlights during the trip I made in June 2012. The photo is taken from a small rocking boat and in the start I had some difficulties in handling the motions as I tried to photo with the camera on my monopod. I realized that it wasn´t working as I couldn´t counteract the motions of the boat with the camera on the monopod. Handheld was the way to go and it certainly did wonders as can be seen in this picture.

This picture is taken at the second approach to the Tern colony and I already felt satisfied after our first approach. That meant that I relaxed and watched what unfolded in the colony instead of seeking targets to photo. I saw that some couples where interacting and that triggered what I wanted to photo.

I can´t say that this was a behavior was something I saw from the start as this were a one and only opportunity. I had seen what I thought were attacks on Terns resting on their nesting platform. I wanted to capture the Terns defending the nesting platform from the attacking Tern.

This approach wasn´t as fast as the attacks and therefore I succeeded in capturing what I think is an intimate moment with a Tern couple. I am of course most pleased having captured this moment instead of an attack. The picture isn´t technically as good as many other photos from the second approach but I feel that these small imperfections enhance the picture for me.

It makes me glad that the picture was chosen for this week’s edition of Top Wild Bird photographs.