Vekeri-Lake: Black Stork

A week ago I discovered a black stork at Vekeri-Lake and this morning I went for it.

The morning began with mallards, egrets and grey herons, ...:

... then the black stork flew in:

It gulped a few fish then flew away.

Mikepércs: Water Shrinkage

I was at the pond two weeks ago, so I waited today's actions curiously. The water has shrunk a lot, so the first thing I did was moving the hide on.
The stilts are here but as far as I can see only one family stayed here.The youngs appear soon, all four of them are here. They have grown a lot, they are almost as big as their parents. And they can even fly. Sometimes they come very close to the hide which act is not rewarded by the parents. On one occasion they bundle off one of the youngs.
There's not much light when a great white egret appears at one side of the hide. However the stilt parents start to molest it so the egret walks away soon. After some time a grey heron lands, of course the stilts don't leave it in peace either, so it takes off soon as well.
The youngs keep coming very close to the hide, perhaps finding more delicious food there:

Young Black-winged Stilt

Young Black-winged Stilt

The young wagtails appear near the hide as well as a young starling. Moreover, a ruff lands for a short time with a run-down plumage:

Ruff (male)

Preening:

Young Black-winged Stilt

Young Black-winged Stilt

The little ringed plovers are still on the area as well. The great white egret appears again: just next to the hide. This huge bird is really towering above me lying in the hide! I try to change the lens as I have no chance with the tele lens, it's so close. But in the next moment it takes off, it might have observed some movement behind the glass...
However it appears again after a short time a little further, ...:

Great White Egret

... not staying for long this time either.

Mikepércs: Another Backlight Try

The first theme of the day is provided by a roe deer that appear on the dam opposite to me in the sunrise:

European Roe Deer

As the wind is blowing from the roe deer she can't smell me, so she doesn't run away. Then a grey heron and a great white egret flies accross the pond:

Great White Egret

Next comes a long break, the sun hides behind the clouds. Sound of whiskered terns indicate their arrival. After some flying about they try to land on the water plants. After making some effort they manage to stabilize themselves on the flexible stems.
In front of me female pochards are coming slowly accompanied by a male ferruginous duck. One of the females climbs the trunk which sinks under the duck's weight:

Pochard (feamle)

After a short break the ducks leave but black-headed gulls arrive with big noise, one of them is having a rest on the trunk. However I'm not satisfied with the photo taken of it.
Then the ducks return, the female occupying its place on the trunk and the ferruginous duck after swimming to her pecks her a little bit, ...:

Ferruginous Duck and Pochard

... maybe he would like to sit there too.

The whiskered terns keep on landing on the plants, one of them receives a present:

Whiskered Terns

However it seems that this present hasn't applied to the tern as the pudgy tadpole is falling down in the next moment:

Whiskered Terns

Before the ducks leave I manage to catch the wing flapping of a female:

Pochard (feamle)

Pochard (feamle)

Lake Fancsika: Foggy Morning

Today I took my way to Lake Fancsika, as I planned to photograph on a raft.

I set off still in the dark, but I was pleased to see some fog. At the pond I could spot a swan and a few coots in the dimness, but from the quacks I knew that there were many ducks too. Assembling the raft didn't take too much time, then after taking the water I searched for a promising place where I anchored.

Soon a little grebe comes out of the vegetation to have a look at this strange thing that appeared here and which is clicking from time to time:

Little Grebe

The little grebe, already in winter plumage, floats away shortly to reappear in an hour or so:

Little Grebe

The coots stay there:

Coot

The best shots however are made from the shore after landing:

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Lake Vekeri: Great White Egret

Today I visited the Lake Vekeri again, hoping in nice backlighted photos.

I've just placed my tripod on the shore when I notice a great white egret flying towards me. It turns away only when it gets close:

Great White Egret

There's some dew above the water which is beautifully highlighted by the rays of sun:

Mikepércs: A Hunting Great White Egret

My last tern photography wasn't successful. However I made some changes to the landing place, so I set off today with high hopes.

The terns usually arrive with the first lights to the pond. Today however I'm just waiting and waiting for them and yet they don't come. It's full light already when one of them appears, flies above the pond, then turns back and leaves. Damn! I suspect that I've got up in vain so early. The sun is shining for long, the best lights are gone, I'm thinking about leaving ... Then I hear some noise and observe an egret in the reed. It's just coming out:

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

It's hunting for small creatures, mainly for tadpoles:

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

It comes really close:

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

I don't know if it has observerd the motion of my lens but it flies further to go on searching for tadpoles there ...:

Great White Egret

... then it disappears in the vegetation.

At least I didn't come in vain.

Mikepércs: Great White Egret, Coots and Ferruginous Ducks

Today I try to get some backlight photos at the pond again. I wake up at 3 so that I can set off early. There's no problem with starting but on my way to the pond my car gets stuck in a puddle on the dirt-road. It's because my silly mistake only. I try to get out for a while, but I have to realize that it's not a ten minutes' work, so I leave the car in the puddle and continue my way on foot. It takes me about half an hour to get to my hide, and by the time I get there it's getting light. I can see coots and a grey heron in the middle of the pond which get away quickly when seeing me. I get into the hide quickly and start to wait for the birds to appear. Soon the Sun appears when I notice a great white egret in the water. It must have arrived a few moments ago. It starts hunting at once:

Great White Egret

It' picking tadpoles out of the water:

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

A bit later I notice something interesting: First I think I can see a grebe, as it's plunging into the water, but I discover soon that it's a pygmy cormorant! I haven't seen it here before. Unfortunately it's far a bit. Soon it climbs on a dried stem to dry itself, but it's not visible enough because of the vegetation.
A ferruginous duck appears too:

Ferruginous Duck

I try to record the coots as well:

Coot

Coot

Other ferruginous ducks appear, bathing one after another:

Ferruginous Duck

Ferruginous Duck

The Sun is getting high quickly, lights are getting stronger and stronger, and my car annoys me too, so I don't stay long in the hide. But I think it's been worth coming.

Mikepércs: Mass Of Birds

A week ago I moved my hide to another place at the pond because the old place was not really visited by birds. On this place however the bird activity has been quite good recently.
It was getting light when I got out this morning, there were many birds on the pond: gulls, ducks, black winged stilts and shore birds. After getting into the hide the black-headed gulls reappeared soon. There wasn't much light for a while, so I couldn't take decent photos. But the light conditions improved slowly, and with the ruffs' arrival the number of successful images increased:

Ruff (male)

Ruff (male)

Even a magpie landed on a reef:

Magpie

A landing black-headed gull:

Black-headed Gull

The spotted redshanks appeared as well:

Spotted Redshank

With the arrival of the spotted redshanks and black-winged stilts the morning sunbeams appeared as well lighting the birds beautifully:

Spotted Redshank

Black-winged Stilt

Spotted Redshank

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Spotted Redshank

Spotted Redshank

Meanwhile a whiskered tern landed and began preening itself:

Whiskered Tern

Whiskered Tern

Teals were very active:

Teal (male)

Teal (male)

Teal (male)

Spotted Redshank

Then a group of black-winged stilts gave a performance: they cried in chorus while waving their wings, ...:

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

... sometimes hurtled each other, then sat down peacefully to repeat this procedure again after a while.

The coots turned up as well:

Coot

Teal (male)

The neighbourhood of the hide must have been a good place for getting food as two young stilts circled the hide many times feeding there:

Young Black-winged Stilt

Some birds spent a lot of time with preening and scratching themselves:

Ruff (male)

Black-winged Stilt

A green sandpiper turned up in front of me, I haven't met this bird for ages:

Green Sandpiper

Spotted Redshank

Great attention must be paid on the feathers:

Ruff (male)

Ruff (male)

Ruff (male)

Ruff (male)

Ruff (male)

Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull

Coot

Suddenly my attention was caught by a ferruginous duck family coming towards me from reed at the opposite side of the pond, ...:

Ferruginous Ducks

Ferruginous Ducks

Ferruginous Ducks

... then having a rest on a reef:

Ferruginous Ducks

They didn't stay long there, the mum leaded the youngs back towards the safe reed.

Then the avocets appeared ...:

Avocet

... and a young black-headed gull landed on the pond sipping some water:

Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull

One of the avocets gave a good performance as well: It tried to dismiss all the birds from the neighbourhood where its youngs were. When a bird got a bit closer to the youngs the parent set about it at once and the bird had been dismissed:

Avocet

A great white egret appeared too and walked just in front of my hide:

Great White Egret

This spotted redshank had been chased by the avocet as well:

Spotted Redshank

Preening:

Garganey (female)

Spotted Redshank

Spotted Redshank

Spotted Redshank

Ruff (male)

When the avocet wasn't chasing it was feeding:

Avocet

Avocet

Avocet

I noticed a black-tailed godwit near the opposite shore but it didn't come closer.

A few lapwings turned up too:

Lapwing

I caught sight of a small sized gull while landing and starting preening. After examining it better I realised that it was a young little gull:

Little Gull

Little Gull

Little Gull

Meanwhile the teals would come and go:

Teal (male)

Teal (male)

Garganeys turned up too:

Garganey (female)

Then I noticed a spotted redshank fighting with a tadpole in it's beak:

Spotted Redshank

The redshank was twirling it, sopped it into the water, was walking with it, made many attempts but still didn't succeed:

Spotted Redshank

And suddenly the tadpole disappeared from its beak, but after all I didn't find out wether it managed to swallow it or not.

Then my attention was caught by the teals again:

Teal (male)

Teal (male)

Teal (male)

Teal (male)

It's a long time since I last saw the green shank:

Greenshank

Teal (male)

Meanwhile the avocet parent was chasing the birds tirelessly in behalf of it's youngs I suppose, which were having a rest peacefully on a reef:

Young avocets

A couple of dragonfly appeared in front of me as well, I couldn't skip them:

A black-headed gull was busy adjusting its leg for quite a long time:

Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull

The female teals got closer too:

Teal (female)

The two siblings:

Young avocets

Avocet in attack:

Avocet

Avocet

Avocet

Not only the young stilts were circling my hide but their parents as well, if they were really their parents. When they passed in front of the hide noticing their reflection in the window, they tried to bite it splattering this way the window. My attempts of making some noise and knocking the hide proved to be useless to making them leave the place.

The young avocet got tired so it sat down:

Young avocet

There were so many birds all morning that many times they were covering each other while I wanted to take shots of them. On the other hand the number of the birds exceeded all my expectations.