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Dieren

Fifty shades of grey

Posted on 29 December 2014 Leave a Comment

“Throughout history, birds have been viewed as animals of special value and have been ladened with meanings often derived from legends and stories that have survived over many generations. The Crane may conceivably be the oldest bird on earth; there is fossil proof that they existed over 60 million years ago. Greek and Roman myth tended to portray the dance of cranes as a love of joy and a celebration of life. The crane was usually considered to be a bird of Apollo, the sun god, who heralded in Spring and light. Throughout all of Asia, the crane has been a symbol of happiness and eternal youth. In Japanese, Chinese, and Korean tradition, cranes stand for good fortune and longevity because of its fabled life span of a thousand years.”

Actually we visited Jean-Marie this weekend for wild cats. But again, weather conditions were poor, and the cats (as well as foxes) remained in the forest.

Hence we switched to cranes, and tried to portray them in a winterish landscape.

Early mourning, cranes leave their roost and head for the surrounding fields.

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It was very windy in the Lorraine this weekend, which made photography hard. Yet on the other hand, the cranes make use of this to jump around.

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It starts with trumpeting and showing of your big gear (i.e. wings)

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And then taking off vertically. This realy is amazing to see.

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Like Paul Anka said: Put your hand on my shooooolder…

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In between we photographed a fieldfare.

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Squadron of cranes arriving

_KAR1701Later in the evening as dusk set in, the cranes got this beautiful orange glow…

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Cranes, we will never tire of them. And I think many of us share that excitement.

Thanks to Jean-Marie & PJ

 

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Posted in: Dieren | Tagged: crane, grus grus, kraanvogel

Riddle me this riddle me that, who masters the night and is not a cat?

Posted on 29 December 2014 4 Comments

Took this pic a while ago (in Belgium). What do you reckon it is?

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Posted in: Dieren

Art in motion?

Posted on 26 December 2014 Leave a Comment

Some time ago, I photographed a deer in late evening light.

 

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Even at high ISO, light was scarce and my picture looks very bad. But this made me think, what is there left to do? Then I started working with long exposures…

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After all, I was quite pleased. Mainly the black-and-white try-outs drew my attention.

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Yet I would have loved to have a 200-400mm in addition to a fixed tele, because once in a while that lens would make a difference in composition…

Anyhow, feel free to tell me what you think about this.

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Posted in: Dieren | Tagged: cervus elaphus, edelhert, red deer

The goat suckers…

Posted on 27 July 2014 1 Comment

This weekend I got the exceptional chance to team up with a biologist studying european nightjars. As usual it was easy leveling with PJ, who knew instantly how rare this opportunity was. Whether spending hours in a hide, or doing night work with infra red barriers and many flashes, two heads are better than one… Also, when working at night, one can keep the other motivated when getting very tired.

The Latin name Caprimulgus europaeus refers to the old myth that the nocturnal nightjar suckled goats, causing them to cease to give milk. Hence its nicknames all over europe: goat sucker, tête-chèvre, geitenmelker, ziegenmelker etc.

Nightjars are extremely difficult to see and thus photograph but thanks to Ruben we were allowed a day in the field, to assist him in his fieldwork for a PhD on nightjars.

Upon arrival in the forests near Leopoldburg we were greeted by a lot of quails and this mother and bambino.

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From dusk till dawn, the coniferous forests are alive with rolling sounds, made by male nightjars.

The first we found was sitting in a dead tree. Without help, this is the only sort of sighting you would get, since the birds are so camouflaged during daytime.

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The first morning we placed a hide near a nest to see what was happening. Not that much in fact. The young were laying low and mother was probably sitting on a branch.

 

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waiting sometimes leads to selfies…

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Nightjar chick

 

Hours of waiting went past. Still only a handfull pictures made.

Then we visited another site were we saw a mother nightjar with her youngsters. Also lying low. Very difficult to get good pictures, indeed!

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Mother with two youngsters (right and rear).

The following image shows another female sleeping on the forest floor. The camouflage is unbelievable. Every time we played the game were PJ and I had to guess where the bird was, whilst Ruben gave us tips. We almost never found it.

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Also we saw something very unusual: a nightjar sleeping in a decidious tree (loofboom). This is very exceptional since they are almost always found in conifers…

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Following, we tracked another male down to a certain tree. We started looking and found nothing. Ruben looked for two minutes and found the male pearched up a dead branch.

500mm and a lot of crawling later… We got very very close (4m) and full framed it.

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You can spend hours looking at the camouflage of these beauties.

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In the evening we tried capturing nightjars to get satellite data back, and to ring new birds.

After two hours we caught a bird so PJ and I set up a lot of flashes trying to photograph the bird with a wide angle when it was going to be released.

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We were very happy that it stayed for several seconds… turning into several minutes. This was the time of our life, getting very close to the bird, which was -as usual- relying on its camouflage.

Stunning!!

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This is the distance we were working at:

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Resulting in pictures we never even dreamed of making:

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I want to deeply thank Ruben and Eddy. Ruben is one of those field biologists who knows how to read the environment, who loves his study object and who likes it when others share his enthusiasm. He is doing very well and learned us a lot about nightjar ecology. For example: I did not know that females can abandon a nest to start a second one, leaving the male to raise the young of the first nest.

Eddy is one of the most impressive foresters I have so far met. He knows the woods and the plants, butterflies, birds and mammals that dwell within.

In the end what we found most beautiful I guess, was seeing a flagship species being studied by very professional people in a needly managed woodland. Yes We Can!!

 

greetings

Karl

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Posted in: Dieren, Mensen | Tagged: Caprimulgus europaeus, european nightjar, nachtzwaluw, nightjar

Pussy quest turned into foxy business

Posted on 23 June 2014 Leave a Comment

This weekend PJ and I visited my friend Jean-Marie in the Lorraine. Meadows are being cut and wild cats are seen daily.

We started off with working with the cats, which was not easy. Business as usual then…

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First cat on the first evening…

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Dress like a player. Play like a boss… We say yeah

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The first evening we also saw a fox on the road. Just another fox for which we had no time. Cat was on the menu and we worked hard.

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Another very shy wild cat which deemed unaproachable. Even when wearing a camouflage suit…

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Nice black kite in morning light as well!

Foxes were everywhere, in all sizes and shapes. This unlucky individual was found in a hay bale.

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Then we passed the road once more, and the fox was there again!

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We decided to quit looking for cats and put all our time in this particular fox, which spent all day hunting in the same meadows.

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We weren’t the only ones interested

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Jumping was not a crime. We agreed.

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Practicing with AF modes on both body and tele lens made for a few good images…

We were in pure MDMA, I mean ecstacy, but had to keep quiet…

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This is what you need to catch voles…

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Amazing how the fox listened intensely, whilst pumping his muscles before the jump. Truly amazing to see from up close!

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Marvelous experience… Notice the saliva dripping from his mouth

In the next pictures you see all parts of the jump

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We were so pleased with the fox we didn’t mind not getting the cat images we went there for. (though we had five sightings in one weekend)
What an amazing animal, what an amazing area.
Big thanks to Jean-Marie, Alex, Gerald and PJ.

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Posted in: Dieren | Tagged: fox, red fox, vos, vulpes vulpes

Finally some action??

Posted on 17 June 2014 Leave a Comment

hi Y’all,

Finally some action. I hope to be back for good.

This weekend I went to look for a very rare butterfly refound last year in Belgium (after several decades of absence): Bretons spikkeldikkopje / Oberthür’s Grizzled Skipper / Pyrgus armoricanus.

Four hours of searching yielded no results for us. But we were very happy to take good images of other species…

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Briza media early morning

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First butterfly: Ocellate Bog Fritillary (Boloria eunomia / Ringoogparelmoer)

 

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Marbled White (Melanargia galathea / dambordje) on field cow-wheat (wilde weit)

 

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Hey there baby, seen the length of my tongue?

 

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Beautiful rose patterns

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A bad boy was eating our dragonflies…

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Who is there???

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Hello mister Pearly Heath (Coenonympha arcania / tweekleurig hooibeestje)

 

 

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Late evening bog fritillaries

 

2014-06-17-18.29.32 ZS PMax

What an amazing weekend. Thanks to Iwan, Pieter-Jan and Kurt

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Posted in: Dieren | Tagged: bog fritillary, Boloria eunomia, Coenonympha arcania, dambordje, Melanargia galathea, ringoogparelmoer, tweekleurig hooibeestje

Quiet during the storm

Posted on 12 May 2014 Leave a Comment

I know I have not been posting a lot recently.

This is why:

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The past six months I’ve been working -rather a lot- on the new appartment I bought (casco). I will move in a few weeks, so I’m looking forward to do more photography again.

This summer I’m planning on photographing more flying bats.

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Recently Pieter-Jan and I practiced with common pipistrelles…

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Posted in: Dieren, Mensen | Tagged: common pipistrelle, gewone dwergvleermuis, pipistrellus

When the cat’s away…

Posted on 19 February 2014 2 Comments

There are species that never cease to amaze.

Be it the blackbirds singing on a summer eve, large groups of toads migrating to a nearby pond in spring or the squirrel “flying” through your garden tree tops.

With their impressive size, their large migratory flocks and also their mystical trumpeting calls, cranes – to me at least – are also such a species.

Lac du Der (France) for example is an ugly concrete dike surrounding an artificial lake, but hundreds of nature lovers go there every year to watch thousands of cranes coming in to roost.

Recently I visited my friend Jean-Marie in the Lorraine (France) to look for wild cats. No cats were found, so we spend time looking for cranes and photographing them in ideal lighting conditions… I really get the impression the wintering cranes here are far more at ease compared to those in the Lac du Der regions.

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Nice winter lighting on these starlings in an old orchard

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Buzzard along the road

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Frozen teasel

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First close cranes

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Cranes coming in to roost just after a big rain shower

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Abstract formations

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Following day, the buzzard was there again.
Shortly before I found a dead badger and placed it in the meadow were I saw the bird twice.

The next day I got lucky…

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To the left or to the right?

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I really like the compo in this pic. Cranes… gotta love em!!

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Posted in: Dieren | Tagged: buizerd, buzzard, crane, grus grus, kraanvogel, lorraine

Dirty moustache

Posted on 3 February 2014 2 Comments

Ghent is becoming very famous for photographing bearded tits at the Bourgoyen nature reserve. Not that many birds are present, but they put on a good show. The spectacle has been going on for many weeks and hundreds of enthusiasts went to see them. I couldn’t resist to photograph these marvelous little reed dwellers.

When looking for bearded tits, don’t look for the birds themselves… In fact you have to listen for their calls -although they can be very quiet at times- or even better: look for reed seeds flying through the air. This tip was provided by a biology student present at the spot. Good tip it seemed…

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Female and male

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These stunning birds can be very quiet and hidden in the reed vegetation.

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Traditional setting

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With water as background

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Notice the flying seeds

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Finally close enough for full frame shot

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Marvelous birds to see and observe. Yet the images could be better if it would be much colder, making the vegetation frozen and more photographic. Also the birds would be a bit less erratic. When I was there they flew to another plant every few seconds…

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Posted in: Dieren | Tagged: baardman, bearded tit, bourgoyen

Nevertheless a white winter

Posted on 20 January 2014 1 Comment

Last weekend I went to visit the Bewick’s swans (kleine zwanen) wintering north of Ghent, near Landsdijk.

The Bewick’s swan (Cygnus bewickii) is a subspecies of  tundra Swan Cygnus columbianus, a small Arctic swan species. These white beauties breed in northern Siberia and winter in our nutrient rich meadows and corn fields. Several hundreds of swans spend the winter in our country.

Beautiful but very shy, hence I needed some more gear in order to get close enough for decent pictures…

This gear came in the form of a ghillie suit. Boys in need of their toys, right?

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 In the self portret above you witness this gear being tested in the suburban jungle of Ghent.

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Tundra bean geese (toendrarietgans) migrating past

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First swans in sight: mom, dad and two offspring

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More swans flying past

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Thanks to the suit, I was able to hide in the middle of the meadows, where the swans soared past.

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More swans foraging in crop fields

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A very close swan, soaring past whilst calling. True magic

KAR_2718 The sound this arctic beauties produce, is simply mesmerizing

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Posted in: Dieren | Tagged: bewick's swan, cygnus bewickii, kleine zwaan
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