At Lake Tisza

Grey Heron

Cormorant

Great Crested Grebe

Great Crested Grebe

 

Kisújszállás: Photography At The Tower Hide And At The Fish Pond

One of my photos of a marsh tit obtained the "Photo of the week" title at birdphotography.hu (BPH). This meant that I got a possibility to take photos in the hides of Zoltán Pabar at Kisújszállás. Today was appointed the day for this purpose. I set off at early dawn to get there by half past five and meet Zoltán and my fellow, Károly Szalai. Zoltán took us at his tower hide, where we could go for kestrels. Many of the nesting boxes placed on the trees nearby have been occupied by birds, the kestrels were preparing for breeding. They were mating, catching mice, but they were doing these things everywhere but the landing branch in front of us. There was only one occasion when a female settled on it:

Kestrel (female)

They mostly landed on the branch close to the hide:

Kestrel (female)

Kestrel (male)

Kestrel (male)

Other birds lived on this place too, for example jackdaws, ...:

Jackdaw

... and starlings, which were breeding in the nesting boxes placed for them:

Starling

Starling

Starling

Starling

Starling

In the afternoon we went to a hide at a fishpond. When we got there the grey-lag geese were resting on the reef in front of the hide. On our oncoming they flew off, but returned quite soon:

Grey-lag Goose

Grey-lag Goose

Some of the geese left, others came, so we could record their take off, ...:

Grey-lag Goose

Grey-lag Goose

Grey-lag Goose

Grey-lag Goose

... and their arrival:

Grey-lag Goose

Grey-lag Goose

Grey-lag Goose

Grey-lag Goose

Later in the distance appeared an osprey, which sometimes flew closer then flew away to return some minutes later. Unfortunately it didn't come close enough for a good shot. Anyway, I can show the moment when it flew off after having captured a fish:

Osprey

Grey-lag Goose

Besides the grey-lag geese two white-fronted geese appeared on the reef as well but I wasn't able to take a decent shot of them.
Later a cormorant approached the reef afloat to climb on a branch:

Cormorant

Cormorant

Cormorant

Cormorant

It was having a long rest, yawning sometimes, ...:

Cormorant

Cormorant

... and adjusting its plummage:

Cormorant

Cormorant

Cormorant

Then it jumped into the water and floated away.

Later it got overcast, the good lights were over so we decided to leave.
All in all it has been a nice day, I returned home with some nice experience, although it's a pity we couldn't take more shots of the kestrels.
I'd like to thank Zoltán Pabar and the BPH this opportunity and I hope this hasn't been the last occasion having taken photos at Zoltán's hides.

Tisza-lake: Day 3

When I woke up on the 3rd day the sun was hidden by some clouds:

I went on making flight shots. There were quite lots of white-winged black terns, yellow-legged gulls and black-headed gulls flying close to me:

White-Winged Black Tern

Young Yellow-legged Gull

Black-headed Gull

I waited a lot for the marsh harrier to come, as I saw it flying on this place yesterday. Then it appeared suddenly:

Marsh Harrier

Marsh Harrier

Fortunately there was not a strong sunlight which had a good effect on the images, on the other hand the light clouds didn't give a nice background.

Night Heron

Young Black-headed Gull

Yellow-legged Gull

Cormorant

Young Yellow-legged Gull

This heron flew quite close in front of me:

Grey Heron

Young Yellow-legged Gull

Photography at the Tisza-Lake - day 4: Cormorants and Squacco Herons

The sun was already above the horizon when I got up. I looked out of the tent. Just a few coots were moving in some distance. Having breakfast, doing some reading, but still nothing happened. So I decided to pack my things in the tent. When I looked out again I saw my first guest: a cormorant was drying its wings on a dried branch:

The next moment I caught sight of a squacco heron on another branch:

It has observed something in the water and became more and more interested in it. The hunting has begun:

Its neck began to stretch:

It stretched ...:

... and stretched ...:

... and when you would think it can't stretch any further, it can!

The moment before shooting out its neck:

And finally shooting out:

The wind has made an interesting plumage for it:

Then another squacco appeared:

It has seen something as well:

And began to stretch:

Like a snake:

But suddenly it has calmed down. It seems that the prey has escaped:

Stretching one of its wings:

Then preening:

After that the coots came. First the youngs then the adult. I climbed onto a branch:

It rested and preened for a while then it left together with the youngs.
One of the squaccos flew a bit further and managed to catch a small fish:

The cormorant was still preening ...:

... and scratching itself for long:

The it was disturbed by coming boat and flew off. My time has passed as well so I packed my things and left for the harbor.