Mikepércs: Hare In The Glade

Today morning I wanted to watch the behavior of the orioles on a glade near the forest. I could hope that a pheasant, a hare or a roe deer would appear as well. I sat down near a tree covered myself with a camouflage net and waited. The orioles would fly usually in the higher regions, but sometimes they settled on a lower branch and a female once landed on the ground to gather blades of grass for it's artistic nest I suppose.

A pheasant cock did appear later, then a hare came towards me, stopping sometimes:

European Hare

But it must have got a scent as it suddenly turned back and ran away.

Mikepércs: Heartsease

Today morning I visited the pond again, hoping that some reed songbirds or even a whinchat would appear in front of me, but I had no success. Before leaving I looked around and found some heartseases: 

Heartsease

Mikepércs: Black Winged Stilts, Sandpipers

Today I visited the pond again. The wood sandpipers appeared first, one of them had a rest a bit farther from the hide:

Wood Sandpiper

Then two black winged stilts came, they were looking for food in the shallow water:

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

Black-winged Stilt

The stilts didn't stay long and the wood sandpipers reappeared from time to time:

Wood Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Then came a redshank. It looked nice among the little flowers:

Redshank

Redshank

Redshank

Redshank

Redshank

Wood Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

 

Wood Sandpiper

The marsh harriers were flying continously above me, still gathering material for their nest. I hoped that the yellow wagtails would be moving nearby, but I could only see once one of them. I saw a purple heron hunting in the reed, unfortunately it was a bit far. Never mind, next time I will be closer, as I decided to move my hide a bit further, where there was more clear water.

Mikepércs: First Time In The New Hide

It was today that I first tried out my new hide at the pond. It's much more comfortable than the old one was, but it's only a little bit more spacious. I would have liked best ducks to take photos of. There were garganeys, ferruginous ducks and mallards but they didn't come close. The first bird which dared to come closer was this coot:

Coot

Coot

Sometimes a few whiskered terns appeared in the air, but they were hunting a little farther:

Whiskered Tern

Then appeared a few ruffs and wood sandpipers which were looking for food in the shallow water in front of the hide:

Ruff

Wood Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

I had a good view on a part of the dried pondbed as well. This also attracted such birds as lapwings and yellow wagtails, which were hunting there for insects:

Yellow Wagtail (male)

Yellow Wagtail (male)

Yellow Wagtail (male)

Meanwhile the marsh harriers were flying to-and-fro in the air, as far as I could see, they were gathering materials for their nest, as they landed always in the same place in the reed, bringing there twings and other vegetable matters. Moreover, one of them once landed even near my hide to take some twigs. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take a good shot of it becouse of the vegetation.

Mikepércs: Whinchats Again

Today I went for the whinchats again at the same place as I was last weekend. After 5:30 I was already in the hide and waited. The harriers didn't come close enough and I didn't expect to take a decent shot of the bluethroat as it always settles on the very top branches of the bushes and sings there. On both occasions I came here, the whinchats appeared around 7 o'clock, and today was no exeption. Today however I saw only one female, but suddenly it appeared on the twig that I had placed especially for her:

Whinchat

Moreover it spent some time there, so I was able to take many photos of it:

Whinchat

Whinchat

Whinchat

Whinchat

Then it disappeared as suddenly as it came. I didn't see it anymore.
On the elder bushes at the side of the reed periodically appeared various reed songbirds: marsh warblers, sedge warblers and great reed warblers. Once this marsh warbler settled on a branch near the hide, so I could record it too:

Marsh Warbler

Mikepércs: Harriers and Whinchats

Today I gave again a try with the bluethroat and the whinchats which I discovered yesterday.

The marsh harriers have been very active from early morning, sometimes they swooped down into the reed, like this female did:

Marsh Harrier (female)

Then for my greatest pleasure the wihnchats appeared again settling mostly on the top of the bushes and peeking insects with interest from there.

Whinchat (male)

Whinchat (female)

Whinchat (male)

They spent a few minutes there catching insects then got away.
The harriers kept on flying:

Marsh Harrier (male)

Once the bluethroat settled on the top of the bush in front of my hide, but the light conditions became poor by that time, so I was unable to take a good shot of it again.

Mikepércs: Instead of Bluethroat ...

Today I ran forthe bluethroat which I observed last weekend. I chose an elder bush where the bird sang recently and setup the hide near it. As soon as I got into the hide, a marsh harrier flew across in front of the hide. Unfortunately my equipment wasn't at hand yet, so I missed it. Then a pair of swans appeared and I managed to get one of them:

Mute Swan

Many great reed warblers were singing nearby, one of them settled on the elder bush in front of me ...:

Great Reed Warbler

... and started its croaky song:

Great Reed Warbler

The bluethroat used frequently a bush which was a bit further, so I decided to try there tomorrow. My decision was reinforced when I noticed a few whinchats that were moving close to that place. I had to wait long for the bluethroat to settle once in front of me. But it chose a wrong place according to my point of view, so I wasn't able to take a good shot of it. Never mind! Next time ...

Mikepércs: Pheasant

Today I visited the pond for the first time this year. On my way I met a few pheasants, the cock tried to get away in line with the road, so I was able to take some shots while driving. In the green seeding it looked like this:

Pheasant (male)

Pheasant (male)

One of the hens was getting away on the side of the road but mainly in the vegetation which shrouded it, so I was unable to take a good shot of it.

There wasn't much water in the ponds, the bottom of it could be seen here and there. And there weren't so many birds either then last year. But I decided to set up the hide somewhere soon.