I had the opportunity to go and do some up close bird photography of some interesting species last year. Yes this one is long in the making! It’s because I don’t exactly know what to think of the context I was in. Let me explain. I was at a falconer that had some birds for exhibition and some in care as a shelter. Basically they find birds from zoos, private people or otherwise that want to get rid of these birds. All in all a good thing, right?
Read MoreSo as in most of Europe it has been absolutely pouring with rain the last months. It started in October last year and with some breaks in between of a few days it has been constantly raining. Save to say we have enough water to go through another dry summer here. Anyway last weekend was sort of oke and finally took out the OM-System 150-400F4.5 pro again as I have not been using it a lot. I have some bird shelter photos coming as well with this lens, so stay tuned.
Read MoreA week or so ago I was on a cycling trip to get to the top of Mont Ventoux. This was one of the main goals for cycling this year, together with two others, but again injury and fitness did not get me to the first goal. So this was a must reach goal. It started off unlucky with illness and medicine. In the end I did manage to get to the top, but it took a lot of perseverance and some curse words. The reward was worth it in the end. It was a lovely (maybe too hot) of a day.
Read MoreIn the previous blog I wrote about observing, to recap here is the reason and intent. The last weeks I am starting to discover more birds in my area, especially directly in the area where I live. Meaning the first patch of green you will encounter when leaving the house. With the help of the Merlin Bird app, especially the sound recording feature - which is mind-blowing - I discovered more birds than I thought I would. Especially the Treecreeper and the Common redstart.
Read MoreTo be honest I never really took notice of Texel for birding until I heard several podcasts and checked sightings on Texel and it seems (duh) that it's absolute heaven for migrating birds from and towards Scandinavia. So That needed to be checked out and boy I was in for a treat. I have never seen/spotted (the difference I will explain later) so many birds. Still it was quite a challenge to get proper photos as some birds were really far away.
Read MoreThe last weeks I am starting to discover more birds in my area, especially directly in the area where I live. Meaning the first patch of green you will encounter when leaving the house. With the help of the Merlin Bird app, especially the sound recording feature - which is mind-blowing - I discovered more birds than I thought I would. Especially the Treecreeper and the Common redstart.
Read MoreSpring’s green leaves, a perfect hiding spot for all birds. Birds making nests, birds that are migrating or just taking a rest. Especially in the area of Texel, one of the Islands in the Waddenzee (blog post incoming). This blog is more about the abundance of birds in my area at the moment and not only the ones you expect, but even more than I knew - thanks to Merlin birding app and the sound recording feature (game changer).
Read MoreMeijendel is the largest contiguous dune area in South Holland. The beautiful nature reserve stretches between Scheveningen, The Hague and Wassenaar. The nature reserve consists of a predominantly open dune landscape, water features, forests and miles of sandy beach.
Read MoreSo new toys means new ideas and new opportunities. Not that it prevented me to do this in the past, but this reminded me of actually using a telephoto lens for more than just birding photos. This lens is also capable of doing semi-macro photos which I love and it sort of sparkled an old enthusiasm of macro photography.
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