Mikepércs: Flowers and Insects

Being calm weather I went out to the meadow to take some macro shots:

Marmalade hoverfly

Ruddy Darter

Mikepércs: The Young Storks

I’ve been planning for a time to make some shots of the young white storks. I haven’t made any observations yet, so I didn’t know what to expect. I found a nest, where I was able to watch them from a relatively higher viewpoint without any interfering electrical cables. There were 4 youngs in this nest and they were almost the size of their parents'.

Waking up at 5, the sky was clear, let’s start! When I got there I could see only one of the youngs: 

Young White Stork

After a while one of the parents arrived:

White Stork

The greedy youngs grabbed the food almost from its throat:

White Storks

When it had finished belching the food the adult bird flew off. After the breakfast the youngs preened themselves, fluttered their wings.
After a while one of the parents reappeared, but it seemed not to bring anything this time:

White Stork

One of the youngs was jumping for food, but didn’t get anything and the adult bird flew away.
One of the youngs here is fluttering its wings:

Young White Storks

Young White Storks

Young White Storks

On my way home I noticed 2 collared doves on a wooden pillar, I thought it would worth some shots. Here's one of them:

Collared Dove

Mikepércs: Great Mullein instead of Stonechat

I planned to take photos of stonechats alighted on a great mullein today in the morning as I often saw them settled on the top of these plants. I took the hide out to the meadow at dawn, set it up, got inside and wated and waited. Yet they didn't intend to settle on these mulleins:

Great mullein

Great mullein

Mikepércs: Young avocets

My hide has been standing on a new place for a week. I moved there in hope of making photos of the spoonbills and the young avocets which I noticed 2 weeks ago on that place. When I got there early in the morning the adult avocets appeared at once and cried indignantly around me. About 10 minutes later, when I finished my arrangements around the hide and got inside they moved away a bit and settled down. I discovered the youngs at the opposite shore. They’ve grown so much in a single week that they resembled better to their parents than to themselves when they were a week younger and were covered by brown feathers. After some time they began to move to and fro between the opposite shore and the place where my hide was standing. They were approaching but didn’t come within shooting distance. Meanwhile herons, egrets and gulls were flying across the pond. When gulls appeared above the avocet parents defending their children took off like fighters on an inimical plane attack and were chasing and attacking them until the gulls left the air space. I don’t think these were dangerous for the youngs as their size was almost of their parents’. Later the youngs came close enough so I was able to make some better shots: 

Young avocets

Having a bath:

Young avocet

Getting closer:

Young avocet

Nevertheless the parents didn’t allow them to get too close to the hide.

Mikepércs: Bee-eaters again

I planned for today a bee-eater photography late in the afternoon. They used intensely the branch placed in front of my hide settling often on it with some kind of an insect in their beak. This bird has caught a miller:

Bee-eater

Bee-eater

Then a couple settled on the branch and began to get closer and closer to each other:

Bee-eater

It's obvious what's coming:

Bee-eater

Bee-eater

Bee-eater

The gift comes after mating this time:

Bee-eater

The yellowish lights of the sunset are dominant here:

Bee-eater

Mikepércs: Bee-eaters

Today I went for a bee-eater photography in the afternoon after work. After setting up the hide they appeared soon, first with a wasp ...:

Bee-eater

... then with a dragonfly in their beak:

Bee-eater

In the lights of the sunset:

Bee-eater

Mikepércs: Birth of a Poppy

I woke up to a calm and sunny day so I decided to go out to a meadow near the village and take some macro shots. These are the best photos I've taken:

Tufted Vetch

I found a poppy which was just getting out of its shell:

Poppy

Mikepércs: The First Bee-eaters

I discovered last year that there was a sand bank near the village where bee-eaters were nesting. So today I placed my hide early in the morning near this bank, got in the hide and after 10 minutes the birds settled on the dried branches in front of the hide:

Bee-eater

Bee-eater

Besides the bee eaters a house sparrow came too:

House sparrow

Mikepércs: Shelduck

I would have liked to take photos of the shelducks for long. For my greatest pleasure they appeared regularly on the pond where my hide was laying. For this reason I dragged my hide closer to the place where they usually rest. First this avocet was the theme:

Avocet

Avocet

Then a black-winged stilt was preening and posing prettily:

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

And today appeared the shelduck again, this time without its mate but within a proper distance. I was delighted by taking some photos of this quite rare bird in Hungary. Doing some morning exercise:

Shelduck

Shelduck

I managed to take photos of the mating whiskered terns as well:

Whiskered Tern

Whiskered Tern

This redshank was having a bath and preening nearby:

Redshank

Redshank

And finally an avocet on the dried pondbed:

Avocet

Mikepércs: Nuptial Activity of Black-headed Gulls

Today has been a very rich day in photos.

Getting up early again, I was taking photos of gulls at around 5:30:

Black-headed Gull

I could witness their nuptial activity as well. After some prodding the male gave the female a fish:

Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull 

Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull

Then a short brake took place ...:

Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull

... and prodding again:

Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull

Then my attention was attracted by other birds and when I looked at the gulls again they were mating already:

Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull

The wind was blowing so this dunlin has been recorded among waves:

Dunlin

It was the gulls' turn again:

Black-headed Gull

Preening:

Black-headed Gull

Sometimes the dunlins came very close:

Dunlin

Then the gulls' behaviour was interesting again:

Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull

Landing:

Black-headed Gull

Chasing a rival:

Black-headed Gull

The white-winged black terns played a role as well:

White-winged Black Tern

White-winged Black Tern

The avocets were moving intensely around the hide:

Avocet

Then a caught sight of some kind of plover which I haven't seen before. It was picking food further then it came closer. I only figured out at home that it was a turnstone:

Turnstone

Turnstone

The avocets were scything the water:

Avocet

Later the lapwings arrived:

Lapwing

This redshank was running perhaps after its mate:

Redshank