Wildlife Photography Sebastian Erras

Malaysia

2011-05-12T19:08:00.000+02:00

A small update after months of silence.

I am still living in Paris and I plan to stay here a little longer, as I really like it here. However that doesn't keep me away from traveling and exploring the world a little. Beginning of April I went to Malaysia with family for 10 days and as always i took my photo equipment with me. I was fortunate enough to capture some of the beautiful wildlife Malaysia has to offer. At our hotel there was always a group of monkeys walking over the rooftops and stealing food from the guests. I managed to get some shots of the monkeys and during a walk through the jungle I had several encounters with spiders (big ones!!). I added some images to give you a very small impression of Malaysia. I recommend to everyone to visit the country, as it is very beautiful and full of wildlife!!

The images were taken with a Canon 7D - EF-s 17-55/2.8 - EF 70-200/4 iS

Spring has also arrived here in Paris since a few weeks, but I haven't found an opportunity yet to shoot urban wildlife, maybe it's due the lack of "wildlife" in the city, but I will keep my eyes open! A few days ago I sold one of my images to the german magazine "Ein Herz für Tiere" and the image of a swimming deer will be shown in issue No. 7.

A bientôt.

A new Year - A new Life

2011-01-09T11:52:00.003+01:00

The new year already started and my life also started into a new direction.
Last week I moved to Paris to study French and work afterwards here in Paris.
Thats also the reason why it has been really quiet here lately. I hope I will manage
to do some urban wildlife in Paris, but that will probably take some time and preparation
until I will have some new images.

Anyway I wish everyone a happy and healthy 2011!!

Yashicamat 124G - Fuji Astia 100 - cross-processed

Rare and beautiful orchids

2010-06-24T12:29:00.006+02:00

2 Days ago I visited a location in Bavaria to photograph orchids. There were 2 main species, which we were trying to find - Wanzenknabenkraut (anacamptis coriophror) and the Late Spider orchid (ophrys holoserica). After a few minutes walking we arrived at a field in a forest and close to a small lake and found the first late spider orchids. Unfortunately were a week too late and the orchid already withered, but we were still able to find some to photograh. It's the first time that I saw this orchid and I was amazed to see the variety of colors and textures on this orchid.

I also tried to photograph the full orchid, but that was quite a challenge with the high grass.
After photographing the late spider orchid, we decided to walk a little further to see if could find one of the rarest orchids in Germany - Bug orchid (anacamptis coriophora). We found a big field of bug orchids with probably about 100-150 of them and we came at the right time, as most of them were in perfect shape.

~ Bug orchid -Wanzenknabenkraut - anacamptis coriophora ~

As usual I used my Canon 7D - Sigma 150/2.8 - Sigma 24/1.8 - Tripod & Beanbag

That was probably for this year's orchid season. Maybe I get another chance in August after my exams, but that's not sure yet.

Sebastian Erras

Some orchids of the past week

2010-06-24T07:48:00.006+02:00

I have still quite a lot of pictures of orchids at my harddrive that I haven't posted yet. So I will show you some of the orchids I photographed in the past weeks.

I start with the Fly-orchid - Fliegenraguwrz (ophrys insectifera)

The next orchid is a Fragrant Orchid - Mückenhändelwurz (gymnadenia conopsea)

European Common Twayblade - Großes Zweiblatt (listera ovata)

Lesser Butterfly-orchid - Weiße Waldhyanzithe (platanthera bifolia)

The last flower is not an orchid, it is a One-flowered Wintergreen - Kleines Moosauge (moneses uniflora). I photographed this littlw flower at the location with all the Lady Slippers and we had a great time and results with this subject!

My exams are getting closer and I have less and less time to go photographing. 2 Days ago I went photographing with a friend and we wanted to find one of the rarest orchids in Germany. We were really lucky and found a big field with a good population of this rare orchids. There were also some other orchid species I wanted to photograph for a long time. I was really happy that I took a break from studying and went photographing for an evening :-).
I will post some images from that trip later!

The images above were made with a Canon 7D - Sigma 150/2.8 (+1.4 TC) and a Tripod or Beanbag.

Sebastian Erras

~ Lady Slipper - Frauenschuh ~

2010-06-14T18:57:00.006+02:00

The past 2 weeks I extensively photographed Lady Slippers (cypripedium calceolus). Here in the east of Bavaria we still have a big population of these orchids. In just 20-30km radius I have several big fields of them and it is always a pleasure to find new locations and photograph them. This year I found 2 new location of which one is pretty big. Last weekend I had a friend visiting me and we went photograph some orchids together. He is a very good photographer and he always tries to see a subject differently with outcome that he produces some very interesting and creative images. I was happy that I learned some stuff from him and that i was able to produce some cool images. Then this weekend I had 2 other friends visiting me to photograph orchids. All of them are members of the GDT Youth Group and I was happy to host our first gathering. We had a lot of fun and made some cool images although most of the lady slippers already withered.
As it was not the first time that I photographed these orchids, my goal was to create some different and unusual images of these flower.

Here are some images

For all images I used my Canon 7D and 12-24/4 , 24/1.8, 50/1.8 , 150/2.8, beanbag or a tripod.

I am pretty happy with the results and I hope that it won't be my last time to photograph these beautiful flowers.
I also photographed a few more orchids and I will post some images of them later.

Sebastian Erras

Frog Orchid and some bad luck

2010-06-04T22:17:00.006+02:00

This time I want to show another rarer orchid in Germany - the frog orchid (Coeloglossum viride). In the past this orchid has seen a big decline, but luckily the situation in Bavaria is not that worse yet. It was very rainy day and I still went in the afternoon to a location where I suspected to find this orchid. It took quite some time to actually find it, as I expected it to be bigger. The frog orchid can be about 10-40cm high and the orchids at this location were rather small than tall. After I found the first one I quickly found the rest of them and there were actually a lot. After 10 Minutes it stopped raining and it got more comfortable to photograph in the field. At this location I was also surprised to find another orchid, which I wouldn't have expected there - the early purple orchid (orchis mascula), but I only found 2 individuals.

Images were taken with a 7D - Sigma 150/2.8 - Bean Bag

This morning the sun finally came back to Bavaria and I met with a friend to shoot Lady Slippers in my area. We had a great morning with some great images and fun. After a few hours I went back home, cause I had to leave to Switzerland in the afternoon. I also planned to take my camera and try to shot some orchids there. When I arrived in the evening in Switzerland I unloaded my car and checked my camera bag, when I noticed that it was a little lighter than usual. So I opened the bag and saw that there was no camera :-(. I forgot my 7D at home when I took it out of the bag to review some images from this morning and forgot to put it back in my bag. As if this wouldn't already be worse enough, I found a field full of orchids just 100m in front of our apartment and I will have no time to come back in the next weeks. So here I am with no camera, all my lenses, tripods and all the rest and a beautiful field of of orchids just in front of me and I can' t take pictures.
At least I have my iPhone with me so I can try to use that to take some pictures.
More pics of orchis will come next weekend when I have my camera back.
Sebastian Erras

Military Orchid - Helmknabenkraut

2010-06-03T08:36:00.006+02:00

Last week I visited a location in the city of Ratisbona with a great amount of military orchids (orchis militaris). The location is on a industrial terrain and I had to ask permission first to enter the terrain. The owner was really friendly and helpful and showed me the location.
The first day I went the was during midday and it was pretty windy. Unfortunately I forgot my lensplate and I don't have a spare one so I couldn't use my tripod that day.
I was really impressed by the amount of military orchids. I guess there were about 200-300 orchids there. I was just right on time as the first orchids started to wither. I was also surprised to find about 6 albino version of the military orchid.
At the moment I am trying more and more to get habitat pictures, but I am still not satisfied with the results. So I have to keep practising.

Military Orchid - orchis militaris - Helmknabenkraut

I used a Canon 7D - Sigma 150/2.8 - Sigma 20/1.8 - Tokina 12-24/4 - Canon 70-200/4 IS - Tripod

Actually this morning I planned to go to the Lady Slippers, but it is raining Cats and Dogs here at the moment and I planned to look for some other orchids in my area today. I hope it will stop raining his afternoon so that I can go on with my planning.

Sebastian Erras

Orchis pallens & Burnt Orchid

2010-05-18T17:41:00.011+02:00

One of the rarer species in my area with only a few locations in Eastern Bavaria. I went there in the morning and it was raining straight for 2 days. It took me a while to find the exact location,but i was happy that they were still there.So far I photographed 3 new orchid species for me and I hope to get some more the next weeks.

I also went for a third time to the location of the burnt orchid and there even more orchids there than the week before. I was really unlucky with light. I had sun for a few hours and when I waited for the perfect late evening light clouds appeared.
So that was probably it for this year with the Burnt orchid and I am happy that I got the beautiful backlight images last week.
So here a few images from this week.

Images were taken with a Canon 7D - 70-200/4 IS - Sigma 150/2.8 - Tokina 12-24/4

Sebastian Erras

Green winged orchid

2010-05-13T12:53:00.006+02:00

Here is another orchid species I photographed this week - the green winged orchid (orchis morio). Another photographer told me the location for this orchid and joined me on Tuesday to photograph them. It was my first time to see and photograph this species.
I was really happy that there was a spot pretty close by to my place. We went there in the late afternoon and had great weather and it was pretty hot, too. Unfortunately the sun moved behind clouds the last hour just before sundown, so we didn't get the great evening light I had the weekend before with the burnt orchids.

I went there again the next day with the hope to photograph them again in perfect evening light.
First I was not lucky with the light as it was cloudy and secondly there were no orchids left.
So what happened. A Shepard moved with his sheep over the fields and they ate all the orchids. There was literally no single orchid left on that location. I was really disappointed and can still not understand why they are allowed the let their sheep grass on known locations of orchids.

The images were taken with a 7D - Sigma 150/2.8 and a beanbag

I hope that I will be able to photograph another new orchid species for me this afternoon. Weather doesn't look too promising as it is raining the whole day already, but we will see.

Sebastian Erras

Orchid Season has started !

2010-05-13T12:30:00.007+02:00

So finally the orchid season has started here in the south of Germany.

The last weeks I visited some locations to photograph the burnt orchid (orchis ustulata) and the green winged orchid. I found a great spot for burnt orchids with over a hundred orchids. I went there 2 days in a row and I got pretty lucky with the weather. After a storm the sky cleared up and the sun appeared and gave 40 Minutes of beautiful evening light.

I had a so great time with these orchids, that I can't wait to visit all the other orchids in my area in the next weeks.

The images were taken with a Canon 7D - EF 70-200/4 L IS - Sigma 150/2.8 HSM - Sigma 24/1.8 and a beanbag.

So stay tuned for more orchids in the next days / weeks :-)

Sebastian Erras

Anemone hepatica - Leberblümchen

2010-04-14T22:02:00.008+02:00

Last weekend I have been able to spend some time in nature again. For the moment I don't really have the time for serious bird photography so I am trying my luck with some flowers. I went to a spot for Anemone hepatica (hepatica nobilis) and I found big purple fields in a forest near my old home. There were actually so many flowers that I didn't really know where to start and I had quite some difficulities to get started and be creative.

I haven't used my Sigma 150/2.8 HSM for quite a while now , but this time it served its purpose again and it performed perfectly. I also used my Sigma 24/1.8 EX for more wide angle makro shots and I have to say that I am still in love with that lens. For nearly most of the time I used a beanbag to shoot at low angle. I also brought my Gitzo Tripod but I didn't really used it, as it doesn't give me the flexibility I get with a beanbag.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography - Sebastian Erras

Hell and Pasque Flowers

2010-03-27T12:17:00.017+01:00

This weekend I managed to finally go photographing a bit.

Since a week snow is gone and with the warm temperatures here in the south of Germany things are getting green and colourful again.
So on Thursday I went to a valley near Regensburg called "Höllbachtal" and I was received by an old sign showing me the direction "To hell" :-). It was the first time I visited this place and I am sure it will not be the last one. I arrived a little late and had backlight in the morning. I tried different shots and also made some panoramas.

Here are some images:

Canon 7D - Sigma 24/1.8 - Tokina 12-24/4 - Tamron 28-75 - Tripod

I tried my Tokina 12-24/4 for panoramas, but I found the distortion at 12mm very heavy and difficult to use for panoramas. I prefer much more my Sigma 24/1.8 , which has delievered perfect results so far.

Yesterday morning I was looking for some flowers and only found a few ones. It is still a little early here for them. In 1-2 weeks it should be a lot better and i hope to get some more results.
I was looking for some Pasque Flowers and I was lucky enough to find a few of them.

Canon 7D -Sigma 150/28 - Sigma 24/1.8 - Tokina 12-24/4 - Beanbag

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography - Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

First Impression of the Canon 7D

2010-03-07T17:00:00.007+01:00

Last year in November I bought a Canon 7D. The 7D fullfilled nearly all my expectations to a camera for wildlife photographers. It has a fast frame rate, a newly improved AF, enough MP, lightweight, Live View and Video.
Unfortunately I didn't had time to test my 7D for wildlife photography yet. So last week I went for a week to Belgium to give it a try with the short-eared Owls. Last year I shot hundreds of images with my Canon 1DIIn the Sigma 500/4.5 EX HSM and the 1.4x or 1.7x konverter. I was curious to see if the 7D could hold up to my beloved 1DIIn.

So here are my first impressions.

Resolution and Noise

The one point I was most curious about was, if the Sigma 500/4.5 EX HSM (with konverters) could deliver enough resolution for the 18MP of the 7D.
After my first day of shooting Herons and Grey Partridge and viewing the results I was definitely relieved to see that I shouldn't have to worry:

Here is an image I shoot at ISO 5000 and a 100% Crop (click on the image to see the full version)

100% Crop

Canon 7D - Sigma 500/4.5 EX HSM + Kenko 1.4x TC - f8 - 1/1000s - ISO5000 - Window Mount

I was quite impressed by the resolution at ISO5000. If I see some of my images which I shoot at ISO1600 with my 1DIIn than the 7D is a good step forwards.

I also made some images ath different ISO settings and put the 100% Crops togehter into 1 image:

The images were processed with Aperture 3 and no Noise Reduction was applied.

AF Performance:

Light conditions were not the best during the week I was in Belgium. It was grey the whole day with no sun. So it was a difficult situation for the AF and a good one to test the AF performance under difficult light situations for me.
With the modified Kenko 1.4x konverter the AF worked very good. Just as I was used to with my 1DIIn. In One Shot Mode the AF locked quickly on my subject. I also tried the Soligor 1.7x Konverter, which used quite often with my 1DIIn. Under this light conditions the 7D had quite some problems to lock focus on the subject and AF was not really a pleasure to use. I will have to test the 1.7x konverter with sunlight to see if performs better then, but under grey conditions it didn't work well for me.
I am very happy with the Kenko 1.4x Konverter and the AF performance in One Shot Mode. I didn't really get a chance to make test in AIServo Mode. I hope that I will get some chances in the near future.

Here are some more images from that week:

I hope that I will be able to shoot some wildlife images with my 7D in the next months.

Sebastian

Best of 2009

2010-01-25T11:11:00.006+01:00

2009 was a great year for wildlife photography for me. From January until August I lived in the Netherlands and enjoyed there some great bird photography opportunities. Since I am back in the South of Germany wildlife photography has come to a minimum. A few weeks ago I realized that I haven't used my Sigma 500/4.5 EX HSM for nearly half a year and I haven't had a chance to test it with my new Canon 7D.
At the moment I am browsing through some old images and making a selection for the upcoming competitions and I thought it might be nice to make a short "Best of 2009" selection and post it here on my blog so that I at least have some updates here ;-).

2009 I focused on 5 specific subjects: - Short-eared Owls - Purple Herons - Bluethroat - Black-tailed Godwits - Marsh Harriers

I am very satisfied with the results I achieved last year and i really hope that I get some more nice images this, even though the outlook for 2010 is not looking so good at the moment for me, as it is my last year of my studies.

So here are my 10 most favorite images of 2009

All of these images were taken with my favorite combination : Canon 1D IIn and the Sigma 500/4.5 EX HSM in combination with either a Kenko 1.4x or a Soligor 1.7x converter.

I hope that I have time in February to go to Belgium again to photograph Short-eared Owls.

Sebastian Erras

Panoramas in the forests

2009-11-26T15:14:00.005+01:00

I haven't had time lately to shoot much wildlife images and there isn't much wildlife to shoot here in the south of Germany at the moment. So I went out and shot some panoramas in the local forests.

I love the panorama format and I really like the results of my trips to the forests.
The Sigma 24mm/1.8 EX DG has become my favourite panorama lens. I made some great panorama images during my trip to China in August. I didn't have a tripod with me so I used it handheld all the time and the results were great. I try to keep it simple so I don't use a big and complicated panorama setup. I use Photoshops Photomerge as a stitching software and it works great for me. The results are great and I hardly have any problems with the overlapping of images nor ghosting effects in the images. Even if I use it handheld.
The Panorama images of the forests were made with a tripod and 3-Way Head, because I needed a lot of depth-of-field, which results usually in slow shutter speeds.

So here are some panorama images, I shot lately:

I finally received my new Canon 7D last week and I didn't really have time to fully test it yet. I took it with me last time to photograph mushrooms in the forest. Actually the last 2 panorama images here are made with the Canon 7D and the Sigma 24/1.8. My first impressions are really positive. I love the Live View function for macros and landscapes and the new screen is just amazing compared to the one in my 1D IIn and 400D.
I will post a few impressions of the 7D later this week.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography
www.naturfoto-erras.de

2.Place Fritz Pölking Junior Award

2009-11-03T21:00:00.005+01:00

I was really happy when I heared that the GDT decided to award also the 2nd and 3rd Place of the Fritz Pölking Nachwuchspreis and that I got the 2nd place.

This is my first and International award and this is the Portfolio that got me 2nd place:

"Birdphotography - My Passion"

The winner of the Fritz Pölking Nachwuchspreis was Fergus Gill from Scottland. He won with a portfolio of wildlife images in winter. He is just 17 and already has some amazing images.

See his great images here: Fergus Gill

I also entered the Eric Hoskin Award and got into the final round, but unfortunately the Jury decided not to award any winner as they decided that the entered portfolios were not strong enough. This is the second time in a row that they did and I am seriously considering not to enter this category next year anymore.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography - Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

International Nature Festival in Lünen

2009-10-21T22:07:00.003+02:00

This weekend I will be travelling to Lünen to the International Nature Festival organized by the german GDT.
I am looking forward to seeing some old friends there and watching some very impressive presentations by some great nature photographers.
I will also have the chance to check out the latest camera equipment and I will try to get my hands on the new Canon 7D. A camera which I finally offers nearly all the things I need as a naturephotographer.

I will post some images and some other great news :-) next week, when I will be back.

I can only recommend to check out the winning images of the ENJ and the WPOTY which will be published this weekend.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography

Back again

2009-09-27T21:35:00.013+02:00

So finally I am back to good old Germany. I have been 2 wonderful weeks to China to see Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong and it was a pretty amazing trip. I took a lot of picture, but I didn't get the chance to shoot any wildlife there.
Then I went for 4 weeks to the South of France to see my Girlfriend. We made a few trips to the local flamingo ponds and to the Camargue. It was pretty hot there and full of mosquitoes.

Unfortunately I didn't bring my Sigma 500 due to the strict weight restrictions with Ryanair. I jsut brought a few lenses and my Sigma 100-300/4. I was able to get some shots of the flamingos, but I would have wished to have my Sigma 500 for the extra reach with me.

Here are some shots of the flamingos:

All shots were taken with the Canon 1D IIn and the Sigma 100-300/4 HSM handheld.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography Sebastian Erras

Off to China

2009-07-30T21:21:00.004+02:00

It has been pretty busy for me in the last 4 weeks and I haven't managed to go seriously photographing the last weeks. Saturday will be my last day in the Netherlands and after 2 years living and photographing in the Netherlands time has come to move on.
On Sunday I will leave for a 2 week trip to China to visit Shanghai, Beijing and HongKong. Of course I will take my camera with mye, but my Sigma 500/4.5 will stay at home, as I am not planning to do serious wildlife photography. Maybe I will get some changes to photograph urban wildlife.
After my China trip I will directly go further for 4 weeks to the south of France to see my girlfriend. She lives close to the Camargue and maybe if I find time I will go there again and photograph some birds there.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography - Sebastian Erras

Pirmasenser Fototage 2009

2009-06-17T20:05:00.006+02:00

This I had the chance to show some of my work at the Pirmasenser Fototage in Germany togehter with some other wildlife photographers. In the city of Pirmasens images of several photographers from all kind of genres are displayed at different locations throughout the city.
The nature images are displayed at the Dynamikum in Pirmasens and can still be seen there until the 20th of June.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to go to there myself, as it is quite far away from Amsterdam. However I received some images of the exhibiton from friends who visited it and photographers who also showed some of their work there.

Here are some impressions of the exhibiton at the Dynamikum:

Thanks to Thomas Block for letting me show the images here.

If you have time thsi weekend and live close to Pirmasens than I would recommend you to see the images. Note that also the images of last year's European Wildlife Photographer of the Year are shown at the Dynamikum. I have seen these images last year in Lünen at the International Naturfotofestival of the GDT and the images are stunning!

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography - Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

Marsh Harriers

2009-06-02T18:56:00.019+02:00

Now the second part of my long weekend. At the Arkemheen Polder I was not only able to photograph Black-tailed Godwits, but also a pair of Marsh Harriers. In late April I visited this spot for the first time to photograph the pair of Marsh Harriers. Back then they were busy getting nesting material. This weekend I photographed them with prey and even with nesting material, which I found a little strange. I expected that the chicks already had hatched and the reason why the parents were bringing food their chicks is to feed them. So I'm not really sure why the Marsh Harriers both the female and the male brought small branches to their site.

In situations like this, where you want to get flight shots and images of landing birds, the direction of the wind is a very important aspect. The key here is, that birds will always land against the wind. So if you wanna photograph landing birds make sure that you position yourself with the wind coming from your back. Then the birds will land towards you and you will get nice flight shots with the birds facing to you. Sidewinds can also be nice. Then the bird will land sidewards. However the worst conditions for flight photography is headwind. With headwind the bird will always land facing away from you and the only thing you will get see is its back and that is propably not your main target.
So before I go out to shot birds in flight I always check the wind conditions at the location I want to photograph. On the internet you will find numerous websites where you retrive information about wind conditions.

Then there is the other thing when photographing birds in flight: light. Wind and the light direction might not always be the same. The perfect conditions are when you have the light and the wind coming from your back. If that is not the case then you have to pick one. Either you prefer to have bird in perfect light but with not so good wind conditions or the other way round.
This can be a though decisions sometimes. I had this situation the last 2 days when photographing the Marsh Harriers. Wind came from the north-east and evenign late came from north-west. As you can see on the images above I chose the the better wind conditon over the light. My goal was to get the Harriers with fully spread wings right before they landed and that's the reason I chose for the better wind condition.

Photographing nesting birds can be very critical, as being close to the nesting area can cause disturbance and may abort the offspring. Therefor photographers should be very carefully when considering photographing nesting birds. The location the Marsh Harriers chose to nest is located near a street and very frequented cycling path. This allows photographers to photograh from the car and minimize disturbance.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography - Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

Black-tailed Godwits

2009-06-01T13:30:00.009+02:00

The weather is very nice again here in the Netherlands and with the long weekend I had to go and shot some picture. As it turned out it has been a little more than "some" in the last 2 days I shot about 2000 pictures and a lot of them were taken of Black-tailed Godwits.

Photographing Black-tailed Godwits here in the Netherlands is not such a difficult task. The Netherlands are the msot important country in Europe for Black-tailed Godwits. The major european population is located in the Netherlands. They can easily be found all around the polders within the Netherlands. They can be very noisy so it is quite is to find them and they have the habit to rest on poles, which it makes it easy for the photographer to capture an image. So I went to the Arkemheen Polder this weekend to photograph these birds. After arriving at the destination it didn't take more than a minute and the black-tailed Godwits were already ready for the shooting.

The birds were very tame and I could approach them easily with my car. This was since a long time that I was able to use nealry my whole euipment available. I used my new 50/1.8 lens to get some more environmental shots and also my 100-300/4 which I haven't really used lately. I even used my Sigma 500/4.5 EX HSM with the 1.4x and the 1.7x converter attached at the same time to get some special portraits. The light was beautiful the last days and I had a lot of fun with the Godwits.

There was one image which I wanted to take really badly of this bird. I got inspired by Miguel Lasa's backlight shot of a polar bear and I wanted to try something similiar with the Godwits, but my first attempt failed. The Godwits where there, the light was perfect for this kind of backlight shot, but the Godwits were sitting all the time on the wronf side of the road, in beautiful evening light. So I tried it again this morning, but this time with the sun rising and hopefully the Godwits sitting on the right side. I got up really early to be there before the sun rises and find a good spot with a Godwit. I found it :-) not the perfect spot but very good one.
The Godwit was als overy cooperative and I was able to get some really nice backlight portraits.

I wasn't able to get the shot I wanted due to a metal pole right next to the Godwits head, but I think I made the best out of this situation. For those shots I used the Simga 500/4.5 EX HSM with a Kenko 1.4x and Soligor 1.7x converter on a beanbag from my car. Autofocus still works with this combination, but in this situtation it was better to manually focus the lens.

I was also able to get some nice shot of Marsh Harriers and I hope to get some more this evening. I will show some of those images later.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography - Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

Purple Herons

2009-05-13T20:20:00.004+02:00

Last weekend I finally made it to the purple herons early in the morning. I arrived there shortly before 6am and had a great scene there. The sun was just rising and there was fog in between the reeds. In such a sitiuation with backlight you have an amazing golden light, but it only last about 30-40 Min.

With such light it is important that you find a location where you are directly or withing a range of 10-20 degree facing the sun. Then dial around -1 EV to enhance the golden look of the light and switch to Manual exposure. I strongly recommend manual exposure with flight shots and changing background if you want to have consistent results.
My goal was to get a flight image, where the purple heron is landing towards me with open wings in this beautiful light. I think this will need a lot more attempts considering that you only have about an hour to shoot in this condition. Then the wind also plays an important role in this. To create my desired image the wind has to blow from behind me, then the heron will land towards me. Birds always land against the wind, this is very important to know if you want to photograph birds in flight.
Later in the afternoon I returned to the purple herons but the wind came from the east. The herons were landing with their back to me, which is the worst condition for flight images.

I hope the weather will be good the next weeks so that I can try again to get "the image"

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife-Photography Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

Zouwenboezem

2009-05-03T21:57:00.010+02:00

Last weekend I went with Heike Odermatt and Marcel Schäfer to the Zouwenboezem to photograph some warblers and purple herons. The day started with rain but luckily it stopped quite soon. In the morning we decided to go first to the Zouwenboezem to see what we could find there. It was the first time for to go to this spot, even though it is just a few minutes from the purple herons away. We have seen black terns, bluethroat and warblers in that area and I must admit that this area is pretty cool to photograph warblers. There is a small, it was just wide enough to spread my Gitzo tripod safely on it, path leading through reed fields and from a small "dijk" next to some reed fields you can also photograph warblers very good. As the weather was pretty cloudy and grey in the morning I tried my flash set-up with the BetterBeamer Flash Extender. The results get better now, but I still have to learn a lot on how to use the flash properly.

Left: Reed Bunting - Rohrammer - emberiza schoeniclus
Right: Sedge Warbler - Schilfrohrsänger - acrocephalus schoenobaenus

While exploring the area, we also met some Highland cattles. They look pretty impressive with their big horns and I prefer to keep a safe distance to them :-).
Then in the afternoon after a little lunch in a small town close by we went to the Zouwendijk to photograph the purple herons. In the beginning it was cloudy but then right on them it cleared up and we had some nice afternoon light. Wind was nearly too perfect as it came from south west and the herons where flying right towards us, but I the herons look quite strange when they fly right towards you as they are pretty skinny. At this location I prefer when the herons land a little sidewards. This time again the herons were not coming too close and even with the 1.7x teleconverter on my Sigma 500 and the 1DIIn I have to crop about 40% to get them good in the frame. So i stacked the 1.4x and the 1.7x converter together and tested the combination. The focal lenght would be perfect for this location then, but my results where not that good. I had to use high ISO (640-1000) to get a fast enough shutter speed to capture the purple herons in flight. With the stacked converters you will also have a lack of sharpness at far distances. I had some great action and scened, but due to the lack of sharpness and detail, I can't use most of the images from that day for larger prints. For internet presesntation it works fine but everything bigger than 20x30cm will look not that good anymore. I have seen some images from Heike and Marcel, who used a 2x converter with their 500/4 and the results were much better than with the combination of the stacked converters.

Purple heron - Purpurreiher - ardea purpurea

Photoraphing Purple Herons together with Marcel

If the weather forecast for next week is nice then I might go to Texel for 2 days and I definetly want to go to the purple herons in the early morning to get some backlight images.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography - Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

Purple Herons

2009-04-22T19:45:00.006+02:00

Last weekend I went to the Purple Herons for the first time this year. They are back since about 2 weeks and they are starting to build there nest in the next weeks.
Compared to last year I found the conditions this year a little more difficult. The trees in front of the reed field have become really big and there are only 2-3 good spots left to photograph them. As it they just arrived and some are still arriving in this area they were not that active, but I'm sure that is gonna change in the next weeks.

Even with my 500mm + 1.4x and 1D MarkIIn I was still too far away. I only good 2 or 3 really good chances, where the herons came quite close. I also tried th 1.7x but the Autofocus had some difficulities.
In the end, when the light got a little less, I tried the combination of my Sigma 500/4.5 the 1.4x and the 1.7x Converter to great some flight shots with slow shutter speeds. As sharpness doesn't really matter with this kind of shots, i tried to get as close as I could and with the 1.4x and the 1.7x I got the Herons good in the frame. Surprisingly the Autofocus worked really well and I had no big problems following the birds in flight. I will definelty use this combination more often for this kind of shots.

I have planned to go there again this weekend I hope that the weather will stay as nice as it has been here in the Netherlands the las 2 weeks. :-)

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

Bluethroat

2009-04-18T20:17:00.004+02:00

Today I spent another early morning with the Bluethroats and I had a great time photographing the singing male. I arrived very early and after a few minutes the male already showed me his best tones. This time I was even able to see the female but she was hiding most of the time at the ground of the reed.

The male kept me soo busy that I had to leave after just 2 hours shooting as my memory cards were full and I had around 12GB with me. This afternoon I went again to the Marsh Harrier but it got quite windy in the late evening so the Harriers were not that active.

Tomorrow I will go to the Purple Herons and see how the conditions will be this year.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography - Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

Nature Photograhpy in the Netherlands - Part II - Lauwersmeer

2009-04-15T21:36:00.004+02:00

After some time I finally managed to finish the second part of my series "Nature Photography in the Netherlands". The second part will cover some interesting locations in the National Park Lauwersmeer in the north of the Netherlands.
In September 2007 I moved to Groningen in the north of the Netherlands and spent there 1 year as part of my studies. Within in this year I spent quite some time at the National Park Lauwersmeer in the north of the Netherlands. I will point out some of my favorite spots at this location and I will tell you what subjects you can find where and at what time is it best to photograph them.

My favorite spots in this area:

1. Eezumakeeg

2. Bantpolder

3. Kollumerwaard

4. Camping De Pomp

5. Vlinderbalg

6. Lauwersoogbos

1. Eezumakeeg

The way to the Eezumakeeg in the west of the Lauwersmeer area is probably one of the most popular locations for bird photographers in this area. First of all before you get to the nice hide at Eezumakeeg you pass the polders of the area in the west of the Lauwersmeer, called the Kolken. In this area you will find a lot of geese during winter and other birds such as Curlew, Shelduck and Kestrels.

After you have crossed the polders and you are on the way to the hide at the Eezumakeeg, you will pass along another nice location, where you can find birds, the konik horses and hares. From the "dijk" (a little hill to prevent the Netherlands from drowning :-) ) you can already spot the hide and also a lot of geese and other birds.

Near the hide "Sylkajút" there are plenty of parking slots, where you can park your car. The hide is very suitable for photographers and offers space for more than 5 photographers. Unfortunately there is no possibility at this hide to photograph from a lower perspective, so you will have to stick with usual perspective when photographing from a hide. Birds come pretty close to this hide and in spring around the end of March until May you have very good chances to photograph Black-tailed Godwits, Avocets, Geese, Lapwings and other wading birds at this location. If you are lucky you will find some spoonbills or even the rare bittern at this location.

2. Bantpolder

In the north of the Lauwersmeer there is another great location for naturephotographers, the Bantpolder. During winter thousands of geese rest here. In spring this area offers great opportunities to photograph Godwits, Redshanks and Lapwings. There also good chances that you will find Kestrels or even Preregrine falcons in this area. To get good images of the birds, the small road, called "Bantswei', that can be accessed from the parking at the north end of the Bantpolder, should be followed. Sometimes it is also adviseable to get out of the car and lay flat on your belly, especially in the evening as the backlight will give a nice red backlight look.

In may and june this locations is also good to photograph orchids, which can easily be founf next to the small road. You will mainly find marsh orchids in this area.

3. Camping De Pomp

Near the campning "De Pomp" in the south of the Lauwersmeer there is a big reed field and in April it is a good place to photograph Marsh Harriers and songbirds, such as Bluethroat. Warblers and Bearded Tits can also be found in this area. The best thing is to park your car at parking at the end of the street leading to the campingsite and walk from there on along the path into the reed fields.

4. Kollumerwaard

In the south of the Lauwersmeer near de campingsite "De Pomp" there is also another nice location for bird photographers - the Kollumerwaard. A big marsh area with a lot of reed. In April it is the perfect place to photograph Marsh Harriers flying in with nesting material. There is also a good chance to see or ear bitterns in this area. During winter a lot of geese can be found on the fields around the Kollumerwaard.

5. Vlinderbalg

At the east of the Lauwersmeer there is the area called "Vlinderbalg". This location can be interesting for birdphotography. Going south on the N361 you will have to turn right to get to a small way called "Strandweg". Along this way you will pass a small wood and some reed fields. In April there are some good chances to find Ruffs and Marsh Harriers there. There is also a good chance to photograph Herons, Warblers and Kestrels at this location. Nearly at the end of the way you will find a hide, but it is not really suitable for photographers as the birds are most of the time very far away. I would recommend to always give this location a try, it might be empty sometimes, but then you just drive further and go to the next locations.

6. Lauwersoogbos

If you wanna photograph orchids than the Lauwersoogbos , a small forest near the town Lauwersoog in the east of the Lauwersmeer is the place to be. From mid may until end of July marsh orchids can be found there .
There is a walking path called "Orchidee pad" which is about 4-7km long and will lead you to some nice locations, where you can photograph orchids.

Useful Informations

I would recommend to check the following websites shortly before you go to the Lauwersmeer or even when you are already in the area. At these website you will find the recent sightings of birds in this location and you will get a good overview of what kind of birds to expect where.

Lauwersmeer.com is in dutch, so if you prefer to have an english version then I recommend to go to waarneming.nl and change the language at the top right corner.

Conclusion

The year I spent in the north of the Netherlands was really great. I have been a couple of time to the Lauwersmeer and I got some amazing photography opportunities. The Lauwersmeer is a really big area and offers a lot of different locations for nature photographers. Bird photographers will definetly love this location as it offers so much variety, but also macro photographers have some locations to get nice images. When I went to photograph birds at the Lauwersmeer I rarely had a specific species in mind, as I usually have. Most of the time I just checked the different locations and saw what I could get. The results differed from time to time and I found quite difficult to predict what I would expect at each location. The lauwersmeer is one of the few locations where you can find goof photography opportunities the whole year round. in autumn and winter there are thousands of geese resting in this area and in spring the waders and songbirds return from the south to come to their breeding areas at the Lauwersmeer.

If you have further questions regarding this area then leave a comment or send me an E-Mail.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

Marsh Harriers and Short-eared Owls

2009-04-14T20:30:00.005+02:00

I had planned a lot for the easter weekend and it fully meet my expactiations.

On Saturday morning I was able to get some great images of the Bluethroat and Reed Bunting. Then in the afternoon I took another attempt for the Short-eared Owls. I'm really fascinated by those birds. However the weather wasn't that well and there were some very heavy rainshowers. I missed a shot of owl sitting on a pole in the heavy rain, as it flew away shortly after I arrived.
I was not really satisified with the results of that afternoon, so I gave it a sencond try on Sunday. But this time I went to Belgium to photograpgh the owls, as I was already in the area to visit my family. This time I had a nice time with the Owls and one of the 2 owls gave me quite a great show.
Then on Monday when I went back to Amsterdam I made a visit to location where Marsh Harries are breeding and they are busy with collecting nesting material at the moment. At this time there very good chances to get some nice flight images of the Harriers. The Harriers were not so active as I hoped but still I managed to get a few great shots.

Short-eared Owls

Marsh Harriers

I will see what the next weekend will bring. For the moment I'm not really sure what I will do. Maybe I go to Texel for a day or to the Purple Herons, which have arrived last week here in NL or maybe something else.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

Bluethroat and ohters

2009-04-11T12:39:00.011+02:00

What a great start of the day. This morning I got up early to photograph bluethroats.
I didn't really know what to expect, but it was definetly an amazing morning session with this bird. The bird was so trusting that no hide had to be used it came really close and with the 700mm (or 850mm) I managed to get some great results.
Unfortunately it was a little bit cloudy this morning and I only have few shots with early morning light, but the rest is also great.

Today I noticed that it is quite a difference if you shot with 700mm (500mm+1.4x) or 850mm (500mm+1.7x) and I don't mean the reach. I had a lot of blurry pictures shooting at 850mm and with a shutter-speed around 1/160s. With the 1.4x I have no problems getting very sharp images until 1/100s but with the 1.7x it is far more difficult to get sharp images.

I was not only lucky to get some great images of the bluethroat but I also got great images of a red bunting ,a warbler (not sure if it is a Willow Warbler or a Common Chiffchaff) and a Wren.

I'm curious what the this afternoon and the rest of my easter weekend will bring.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife-Photography Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

Short-eared Owls - Part III

2009-03-30T20:05:00.028+02:00

On sunday i took another attempt to photograph Short-eared Owls, but this time I didn't went to Belgium, but stayed in the Netherlands and went to Zeeland, an area in the south-west of the Netherlands. The closer I got to the coast the better got the weather and it seemed to be the right decision to go there.

I arrived a little earlier to examine the area a little bit, as it was my first time at this location. Then in the late afternoon the first short-eared owl appeared. It came flying really close along the road and gave us (yes in the Netherlands you are most of the time not the only photographer) a great show. However the area was pretty big, so the owls were flying around and sometimes you had to wait half an hour until the owl came back from its tour, but who wouldn't wait for that short for a short eared owl. This time the owls came really close , sometimes to close for 700mm and I had a hard time following them with my Wimberley on the window mount. I wish I hadn't changed the AF settings of my 1DIIn to a bit faster reacting AF, because I usually use a slow setting in AIServo mode and it works well for me, but this time I experimented a little and unfortunately I missed some great shots. I had quite some shots where the AF picked the background instead of the owl. But lesson learned :-).

I hope that the owls will stay in this area a little longer and then I will give it another try, because I still don't have the images I want. :-)

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography - Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

Short-eared Owls - Part II

2009-03-21T21:45:00.007+01:00

So today I took another trip to Belgium to photograph my favorite subject for the moment, the short-eared owls. The weather was great, although it became a little misty in the evening.
I had to wait for 3 hours until they finally showed some action. There were at least 2 owls present and one was sitting for over an hour on a pole and I feared that the owl would stay for the rest of the day.

But luckily it was not like that and I finally get some great images of these birds. I got really close to get the shots of the owls I wanted, but I'm still missing some shots.

I definetly had a great day today with the Short-eared owls and hope that they will stay at this location for a longer period, because it is fascinating to watch these beautiful birds of prey.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography - Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

Nature Photography in the Netherlands Part I - Texel

2009-03-18T18:42:00.054+01:00

So here is my first part of the series "Nature Photography in the Netherlands". My first visit to Texel was in in the first week of June in 2006. I had heared quite a lot and seen some great images of this location in the Netherlands, so that i decided to go there for a week. It was definetly the right decision. Since then I have spent quite some weekends in April,May and June on Texel the last year, during my study year abroad in Groningen.

I will give an overview of my 6 favorite locations on Texel so far with some information and images.

My favorite locations on Texel

1. Wagejot

2. Oudeschild

3. Eierlandse Duinen

4. Bolle Kamer & Grote Vlak

5. Waalenburg

6. De Geul - Horsmeertjes - Mokbaai

1. Wagejot

If you are looking for terns, avocets, shelducks, plovers, gulls, redshanks and some more, then you are definetly right at this place. Wagejot is probably one of the well-known and loved places for bird photographers on this island. On my first time at this spot I was surprised to see how tame and easy to approach the birds at this spot were. You definetly don't need a hide or anything similar at this spot. Just sit at the border of this small "lake" and get all the action, that is happening there. The birds don't care and even if you get up abruptly to get some stuff from your car you will not notice any reaction of the birds. I found this spot to be the best in the morning as the sun will be right behind you, but even in the evening there can be some nice backlight situations. If there is not much wind the shallow water there is like a mirror and perfect reflections can be created there. Another Highlight at this location is nesting tern colony at close distance. On a small island covered with shelves common terns (sterna hirundo) and arctic terns (sterna paradisaea) are nesting.

In April the terns, avocets and gulls start courtship and usually in May they start to bread. At the end of May and in the beginning of June the chicks usually start to hatch and there will be great opportunities to photograph the birds with their chicks and there will also be good conditions for the photography of birds in flight as the parents are constantly flying over to get food for their chicks.

Wagejot is easy to get to and hard to miss as there will always be photographers sitting there. There is a small parking strip so you don't have to worry where to park the car. For this locations lenses from 300mm to 800mm can be used , as some birds might come really close and others stay behind.
Wagejot is not only a great location for bird photography ,but also for macrophotography. In May you can find a lot of orchids there, mainly Early Purple Orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata).

So don't forget your macro lens!

A good overview of orchids ,growing on the island, can be found on the website of the tourism office of Texel. Orichids on Texel

2. Oudeschild

A little more to the south of Wagejot near Oudeschild there is a similar location, where terns, gulls and avocets are nesting and constantly flying over. The spot at Oudeschild is good for birds in flight photography , but a little more difficult for other shots due to the fact that there is a small landstrip at the front of the "lake" and this limits the reach. Birds will sit a little further at this location and bigger focal lenght 700 - 840mm will be required to get a good look of the birds. The birds nest quite close to each other, so there will be good situations to photograph brids in action, fighting for their territory.
This locations is also best to photograph in the early morning hours when you have the sun in your back.

3. Eierlandse Duinen

In the north of Texel near the lighthouse there is a great location for birdphotograhy. In between the dunes there is a nice walking and cycling path leading throught the dunes at the west side of the island. At the path there will singbirds, like Common Stonechat and Common Whitethroat. There will also be a good chance to photograph pheasants, which are easily to approach on the island due to the lack of predators.
At this location , near the camping area, there is also a good chance to encounter Short-eared owls, which nest at the westside of the island, flying along the dunes in the evening. This location can provide for good photography opportunities in the mornings and the late afternoons. You can park your car near the lighthouse, there is a small parking on the left , from where you then can easily access the walking path leading throught the dunes. A tripod or Monopod are recommended to use at this location.

4. Bolle Kamer & Grote Vlak

This area at south west side of the island has become one of my favorite locations for birdphotography, especially for bird of prey, in the last year. I had some great times there photographing Hen and Marsh Harriers. There are 2 roads leading to the beach which are great for bird photography from the car. The one road is leading to Westerslag, there you will have a good chance to photograph Hen Harriers and other birds, like Common Stonechat, Common Whitethroat, Pheasants or even Cuckoo, if you are lucky. The second road is a little bit more to the south and leading to Hoornderslag. Half way you will find a little lake, where you can find little egrets, Spoonbills and beautiful yellow flag iris (Iris pseudacorus). In this area there are also good chances to see bird of prey.

5. Waalenburg

Waalenburg is situated in the center of the island a little north of the town De Waal. It is a great spot to photograph Redshanks and Godwits. The best thing is to drive along the street "De Straat" and look for redshanks sitting on the various poles on the side of the street. Godwits can be find best at the north top of the street. This location is great for photography in the early morning and late afternoon hours. At this location you can also find many orchids, especially at the end of May. However photographing them can be quite difficult as most of the orchids are in a protetect area. There might be chances to find some at the side of the street, so keep your eyes open for them.

6. De Geul - Horsmeertjes - Mokbaai

At the south end of the island you can find these 3 nice locations: De Geul, Horspolder and Mokbaai. In the early evening Spoonbills are flying in to come back to their nesting areas at De Geul. With the right wind conditions there are some good chances to photograph the spoonbills in flight from the two viewing plattforms in this area. The first viewing platform is hard to miss, as it is easily to see from the road to the "military facility" at the south end of the island. The second platform is also not too difficult to find. You just park at the end of the road leading to the military facility and follow the the walking path to the Horsmeertjes. After a 1 minute of walk you take the path on the right leading up a little hill. On top of this hill there is the viewing platform. From there you will also have a good chance to photograph the incoming spoonbills, gulls and other birds. You will also hear the deep sound of the bittern, which nests in the reeds of the Horsmeertjes. If you are lucky you will see one flying by. Around the Horsmeertjes there is also a small population of Bluethroats. Around April and in the beginning of May you will hear them singing and there are a few spots where you can photograph them, but 700mm upwards are needed to get them well in the frame. I haven't had the chance to photograph Bluethroats at this area, but I have seen quite some good images of them from other photographers from this spot. There is a walking path leading around the Horsmeertjes, where you will find orchids and other singbirds.

General information

The best time to go to Texel is probably in the period of April to June. You will have the chance to encounter courtship, nesting and the hatched chicks durings this period. It is recommended to have a lens of minimum 500mm and the additional use of 1.4x or 2x converter can useful at some locations. A bean bag for photograpy from the car should also be part of your equipment as well as a tripod and a little chair.
Texel is an island and is therefore only accessable by ferry. The ferry operates from Den Helder every hour (in the weekend every 30 Min) and rates and more information can be found at the website of the ferry operator TESO . Accomodations can be found on the website of the tourism office of Texel http://www.texel.net/

The "Vogelwerkgroep Texel' (=Birding organisation) has a great website with a good overview of the different birding ( yes, keep in mind, some of the spots might be great for birder, but not that good for birdphotographers) locations on Texel.

Vogelwerkgroep Texel

At the moment the website is only available in Dutch, but they are working on an english version. Go to "Gebieden" to find a map of the island with the birding locations.

Another website you should definetly have a look at, before you go to Texel or even when you are on the island and have Internet, is waarneming.nl. Birders post their latest bird sightings in this website and you can find the sightings for Texel in this section:

Sightings - Texel

At the right corner on the top you can change the language, so you don't have to know Dutch.

A short visit to the tourism office, just follow the signs with "VVV", should also be made to get maps and info on island.

And last but not least, don't forget to pay a visit to "Ecomare" , an information center on the Waddensea with all its rich wildlife. www.ecomare.nl

I hope my information will be helpful for a journey to the a bird photographers paradise in the Netherlands. Maybe we will see each other there this season. If you see a young guy with gray SEAT and german license plate, don't forget to say Hello!

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography - Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

Nature Photography in the Netherlands

2009-03-16T20:47:00.006+01:00

In the next months I will start a little series with information about my favorite spots for nature photography in the Netherlands.

Since September 2007 I'm living in the Netherlands now as part of my studies. Within the the last year I have visited quite some great places for nature photography in the Netherlands and I would like to share some images and information about these beautiful locations.

The series will be divided into several parts. For the moment I have decided to cover the following locations:

Part I: Texel - A paradise for bird photography
Part II: Lauwersmeer - A year in the North of Holland
Part III: Zouweboezem - the home of the purple herons
Part IV: Hoge Veluwe - the rut

As there are still other great locations for nature photography in the Netherlands, there might be some other parts added, but first I have to explore them more this upcoming season.

I will start to work on Part I and hope that I can already publish it within the next weeks.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography - Sebastian Erras
www.naturfoto-erras.de

Short-eared Owls

2009-03-14T21:31:00.014+01:00

Short-eared Owls in Belgium

I have spent the last months a few days at the belgian coast to photograph Short-eared Owls (asio flammeus) there. It was my secon encounter , after one short fly-over of a Short-eared owl I witnessed in the north of the Netherlands.
At my first visit to this area in December I was not only lucky enough to see a Snowy Owl, quite a rare visitor to Belgium, but also saw 5 different Short-eared Owls at one spot in action. In the late afternoon this birds start to get active and fly over the polders in this area looking for prey. It is really a fascinating view to see this beautiful birds flying over the fields and then abruptly changing direction to catch their prey, mainly mice, on the ground.

The images above were taken on my first visit of the short eared owls to Belgium in December 2008.

Then in January I went to Belgium, as it is quite close to my grandparents, a couple more times and a great time with these birds. I haven't made the image(s) I wanted to take of this birs, but it will definetly not be the last time that I will go to Belgium and I hope that the short eared owls will stay at this place for a while.

Short eared Owl - asio flammeus - Sumpfohreule - Velduil

New Blog

2009-03-10T21:37:00.008+01:00

New Blog!!

I'm working on a blog for my website http://www.naturfoto-erras.de/.

Soon you will find all the latest news and stories from Wildlife Photography Sebastian Erras.

So don't forget to come back and check for the latest updates.

Sebastian Erras
Wildlife Photography
http://www.naturfoto-erras.de/