Florida XIII – some more birds

Florida XII – Fort Desoto

In my mind, Fort Desoto Island in Florida will remain as the best spot for bird photography. If you want to see many bird species in one place, go to Fort Desoto, you will not be disappointed...

Florida XI – close-up

What fascinates me today – after several years of bird photography – is the detail! The best bird photographs are of course those with some action but such pictures are often a matter of coincidence or long wait in a hide. To photograph birds sitting still might seem boring but one is often surprised when the details are visible during the close-up view. I am a big fan of close-up shots – the pictures where you can virtually see every feather. In these moments you can fully appreciate the beauty and variability of the nature. Florida was great place to make such photos – birds are very tame so one can easily get so close to make „portrait“ snapshots – here are some of them…

Florida X - Egrets and Herons

Florida is a country of sun, oranges and Egrets and Herons. These birds are everywhere. If you check your birding guidebooks, you may find out that Florida regularly hosts 12 out of 13 Egrets and Herons that can be found in USA. How many can you see during short visit of Florida? Count with me...

Autumn migration – some pictures

I like Autumn – it is a time of bird migration to South and time to watch species that are not around during the summer time. The last weekend I visited Herdla nature reserve near Bergen – this flat meadow at the northernmost coastal tip of Askoy island is ideal resting place for migrating birds and their regular refueling station before the long trip to South.

Avocets at Texel Island

Last winter, when I was considering spots to visit this year, the name Texel came to my mind – the island at the northern coast of Netherlands I remembered Juza did his wildlife gathering the year before at. I searched for some information on the internet and without hesitation I decided this could be my hotspot of this season. The reason was quite clear – where else in Europe and within close distance I could watch and photograph tame Pied Avocets (Recurvirostra avosetta)?

Rainy Runde 2010

Almost three full days out of four that I planned to spend with birds on the Runde Island in Norway have been in the name of rain. It was really bad luck because as it was the longest period of constant rain I had experienced so far this summer. Knut, the owner of the camp I always stay in, told me that when the hot days occupy my home Central Europe the bad weather usually strikes Runde area...

Gullfjell – the golden mountain

Gullfjell (987 m.a.s.l.) is the highest mountain and one of the best places to watch mountain and arctic bird species around Norwegian city Bergen. Gullfjell can be translated as “Golden Mountain” – I do not know where the original name comes from but maybe the author had the same experience as I had recently when I made the early morning birding trip up to that mountain slope lit by the golden light of the first sun beams and around the trails the Golden Plovers sang their piping songs...

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Unexpected encounter with Cuckoo

I have always admired photographs of Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) – it has always been a little mysterious bird that I only knew as a voice sounding from the depth of the forests. Also given the small number of pictures on the internet I thought that watching Cuckoo from close distance is one-in-life event. What happened during our trip to Dovre this year was better that all my previous expectations for this bird...

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Going north to south – trip to Dovrefjell (Norway)

I used this strange title to show how relative things are – if I was in my home country and drove from my home 150 km to the north, I would leave Southern Bohemia, cross the whole Central Bohemia and get to the North Bohemia. Here in Norway, if you drive from Bergen (which itself is some 8 hours drive north of the southernmost tip of Norway) 500 km north-east, you are still in Southern Norway and still far before reaching borders of Middle Norway! But I do not want to write about the local geography, I want to write about Dovrefjell and Fokstumyra nature reserve, which is one of the most famous birding spots in Norway...

Windmill at star night

Besides birds and tulips the boys had one another target of our trip to Dutch Texel Island – windmills! Our everyday programme on the Island had always the same scenario – waking up before six in the morning, rushing to the bird spot to catch the very first beams of the rising sun, breakfast, resting, exploring the Island, photographing birds during sunset, dinner and early “departure” to the bed to be fresh the next morning. One day we broke this scheme – Pali and Evzen found one very nice windmill close to our B&B and planned to go taking night shots with the star sky – I could not miss that opportunity and joined them...

Dutch tulips – color lunacy

I have never thought I would be photographing flowers as many ”wildlife” photographers do in these days. It is quite a long way from my geological background to botany and orchid found in the meadows does not excite me either; but what happened in Netherlands was a real blossom frenzy! Our trip to Netherlands (as I wrote in one of previous articles) was scheduled exactly into the time when the tulips – symbol of Holland - are in bloom...

Florida 2010 – IX – Sebastian Inlet State Park

Everglades National Park in the South, the city of Fort Myers and its surroundings in the West and Merritt Island in the East of Florida ar by far the most famous areas for birding and bird photography in the sunny state. Besides these there are tens of other spots in Florida – usually smaller areas with less visitors but these are as well worth the visit! In fact there are so many places in Florida that one could spend several years there and would not get bored at all! – to explore all birding spots and habitats in different seasons would probably take one human life. One of the less known places I would like to present is Sebastian Inlet State Park on the eastern coast of Florida...

Being birder for two days

I am not a birder neither an expert in birds but I had the chance to try out how it feels to be a birder during my trip to Netherlands. We had planned to visit the Dutch island Texel at the beginning of May this year – meeting with Pali, Evzen and Ondra was planned for Monday so I could spend two days in the northern part of Netherlands in the Fiesland area...

Vultures of southern USA

The photographers ignore them, the locals do not like them either, they are not overly beautiful birds but they are irreplaceable helpers – nature cleaners. Who do we talk about? About Vultures, raptors that you can see very often when you visit southern states of USA…