Couple of videos for you to see how wonderful the waterfowl home really is :)
Nature and Wildlife Photography blog | Wildlife photography | Landscape photography
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Mr. Elk
Met an elk today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D
It was a Sunday evening and as I said earlier I was sick :( As it turned out I was lucky to be sick because the others went to sauna and I thought that it wouldn't be good for me, might catch a cold after. So I put on 2 pairs of pants :), warm jumper and a jacket and headed for the forest. I only got to walk 5 minutes when I saw a big elk right in front of me in the opening of the forest that I normally visit.
He was a big fella but not the biggest, still young. I was standing behind some bushes so he didn't see me. I heard him munching on the spring leaves and branches :)
His hearing was excellent!! The ground was covered in dried leaves and as I stepped onto them to adjust my position he heard me and moved a little bit further. So I got some good elk in an environment shots also ;)
This doesn't happen every day so I was jumping up and down when he finally left! :D
It was a Sunday evening and as I said earlier I was sick :( As it turned out I was lucky to be sick because the others went to sauna and I thought that it wouldn't be good for me, might catch a cold after. So I put on 2 pairs of pants :), warm jumper and a jacket and headed for the forest. I only got to walk 5 minutes when I saw a big elk right in front of me in the opening of the forest that I normally visit.
He was a big fella but not the biggest, still young. I was standing behind some bushes so he didn't see me. I heard him munching on the spring leaves and branches :)
His hearing was excellent!! The ground was covered in dried leaves and as I stepped onto them to adjust my position he heard me and moved a little bit further. So I got some good elk in an environment shots also ;)
This doesn't happen every day so I was jumping up and down when he finally left! :D
Spring fox
I got the order of the images a bit mixed up, intentionally, so here are some pics about a fox that visited me on Saturday at 4 o'clock. But first some more pretty spring pics :)
The fox was once again coming to the field behind our house but this time I had my camera ;) He came again to about 10 meters. He saw me as I was just standing but the sun was shining in his eyes and he was more interested in listening the mice than figuring me out. I moved closer every time he wasn't looking. The light was really bad :( and there were lots of straws in the way. He didn't even think it was weird when I crouched down at one point...strange fella :)
After a while I got too brave and let him see myself stepping closer. That was it for our nice meeting and he disappeared into the woods.
The fox was once again coming to the field behind our house but this time I had my camera ;) He came again to about 10 meters. He saw me as I was just standing but the sun was shining in his eyes and he was more interested in listening the mice than figuring me out. I moved closer every time he wasn't looking. The light was really bad :( and there were lots of straws in the way. He didn't even think it was weird when I crouched down at one point...strange fella :)
After a while I got too brave and let him see myself stepping closer. That was it for our nice meeting and he disappeared into the woods.
Waterfowl
Last year I discovered a place some 15 km from our home where there are lots of water birds nesting, mostly great crested grebe and coot.
I was excited to return to this lovely spot to get some more good pics. Their home is in a really idyllic place, next to a small town but isolated and on a small island that can be reached by car. They build their nests inside a really thick forest of reed, a safe haven by the sea.
The following pics are taken on Saturday evening. My husband had had a flu for days and I felt that it was finally getting up with me as my throat started to get sore. But it could have also been the lack of warm clothes that I didn't wear during the day as it was so warm outside. That didn't stop me though from visiting the birds :)
The golden light made it perfect but the trick was to get closer to the birds.
I was standing in the middle of the reed "forest". It's sooo thick, takes a lot of time and effort to get through and then there are still lots of reeds in the way. I was wearing my wellies and thought that I could step into the water to get closer to the birds but soon found out that's a mistake... I stepped on to what I thought was a somewhat solid ground but in fact there was mud underneath and I sunk in with one foot. I tried pulling my leg out but it didn't work :S My phone was in my car and I almost started panicing. Thankfully I got out by leaning on my other knee. There were a couple of coots closeby, they weren't disturbed by me but certainly had a funny look ;)
This is the mating dance of the great crested grebe, a real treat to watch and hear, sadly far away to photograph. But I will get closer someday, I promise! :)
As I returned home I was feeling really sick. My throat was acking badly and my voice was gone. Didn't get much sleep during the night also so naturally I didn't go to the forest the following morning.
I was excited to return to this lovely spot to get some more good pics. Their home is in a really idyllic place, next to a small town but isolated and on a small island that can be reached by car. They build their nests inside a really thick forest of reed, a safe haven by the sea.
The following pics are taken on Saturday evening. My husband had had a flu for days and I felt that it was finally getting up with me as my throat started to get sore. But it could have also been the lack of warm clothes that I didn't wear during the day as it was so warm outside. That didn't stop me though from visiting the birds :)
The golden light made it perfect but the trick was to get closer to the birds.
I was standing in the middle of the reed "forest". It's sooo thick, takes a lot of time and effort to get through and then there are still lots of reeds in the way. I was wearing my wellies and thought that I could step into the water to get closer to the birds but soon found out that's a mistake... I stepped on to what I thought was a somewhat solid ground but in fact there was mud underneath and I sunk in with one foot. I tried pulling my leg out but it didn't work :S My phone was in my car and I almost started panicing. Thankfully I got out by leaning on my other knee. There were a couple of coots closeby, they weren't disturbed by me but certainly had a funny look ;)
This is the mating dance of the great crested grebe, a real treat to watch and hear, sadly far away to photograph. But I will get closer someday, I promise! :)
As I returned home I was feeling really sick. My throat was acking badly and my voice was gone. Didn't get much sleep during the night also so naturally I didn't go to the forest the following morning.
Back to Saaremaa
Hi and sorry for my long absence! But I think you will find the following worth the wait! :)
So we headed to our summer home again on the 1st of May. For those of you who don't know already every year at this time we take my grandparents there for 6 months and bring them back for the winter. We all look forward to this time every spring. Saaremaa is a place for us to relax and enjoy the nature. I haven't had the option to properly photograph wildlife this year so I was extremely eager to meet my roe deer, foxes and other wonderful animals again. I try to take advantage of the fact that the animals know the place is empty and wonder to our garden. After a couple of days they are a little bit more aware that we are back. A couple of years ago we had just arrived to Saaremaa and like a half an hour after that I just went to our veggie field which is some 3o meters from the house. I wasn't even there yet when I saw a fox coming my way. My camera was in the house....try not to make that mistake again ;) The fox didn't see me at all, he came to about 10 meters from me. I didn't know what else to do than crouch down and just observe. He was a real beauty! They often come to the fields behind our house to hunt for dinner. After some 5-10 minutes he heard the door slam from our house, probably my grandpa, and he was off. After that I asked people if they could see me because the fox hadn't :D LOL
Anyway, I went to the woods on Friday evening but didn't see anybody.....only heard the roe deer. I decided that okay if I wont see anyone today then I'm sure as hell going to see and get a really good pic tomorrow! I was only off by one day as it turned out, got my really good pics on Sunday evening. Look for a post called Mr. Elk coming soon.
Here are some pics from Saturday morning. It was cold and frosty but the day was really warm, about 19 degrees.
Finally saw my roe deer but sadly the sun was quite high up already by that time.
So we headed to our summer home again on the 1st of May. For those of you who don't know already every year at this time we take my grandparents there for 6 months and bring them back for the winter. We all look forward to this time every spring. Saaremaa is a place for us to relax and enjoy the nature. I haven't had the option to properly photograph wildlife this year so I was extremely eager to meet my roe deer, foxes and other wonderful animals again. I try to take advantage of the fact that the animals know the place is empty and wonder to our garden. After a couple of days they are a little bit more aware that we are back. A couple of years ago we had just arrived to Saaremaa and like a half an hour after that I just went to our veggie field which is some 3o meters from the house. I wasn't even there yet when I saw a fox coming my way. My camera was in the house....try not to make that mistake again ;) The fox didn't see me at all, he came to about 10 meters from me. I didn't know what else to do than crouch down and just observe. He was a real beauty! They often come to the fields behind our house to hunt for dinner. After some 5-10 minutes he heard the door slam from our house, probably my grandpa, and he was off. After that I asked people if they could see me because the fox hadn't :D LOL
Anyway, I went to the woods on Friday evening but didn't see anybody.....only heard the roe deer. I decided that okay if I wont see anyone today then I'm sure as hell going to see and get a really good pic tomorrow! I was only off by one day as it turned out, got my really good pics on Sunday evening. Look for a post called Mr. Elk coming soon.
Here are some pics from Saturday morning. It was cold and frosty but the day was really warm, about 19 degrees.
Finally saw my roe deer but sadly the sun was quite high up already by that time.
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