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...

Webcam – new residents

The roof of our University building hosts new inhabitants! After recent hatching of Oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus) new residents settled on the roof – two pairs of Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus) and one pair of Common Gull (Larus canus). The webcam is not pointed at the Common Gull nest – two hatchlings are already born so do not forget to check the stream!

http://tjeld.uib.no/videoframe.html

Language confusion

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...

Webcam - first chick is born!

The first chick of the Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) pair that nests on the roof of our University building in Bergen hatched this monday 24.5.2010 in the evening. The chick is a little limb, following its parents and sometimes pecking into the lens of the camera installed next to the nest. :-) Do not forget to watch the stream video (including sound!) on the following link. In less than a month the longest day of the year will come and already now the nights are so light that you can easily watch the birds even at the midnight:

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…

Webcam – Oystercatchers are back!

As well as last year, a pair of Oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus) started nesting on the building of our University building roof this April again. I wrote a little about the roof nesting Oystercatchers in the article Roof-breeding Oystercatcher – webcam where you can refresh some facts. If you want to watch the actual nesting, play the video (including sound!) at the following link:

European Bird List up and running!!

Dear birders, photographers and simply all the people that have something to do with birds! yesterday 13.5.2010 we launched the project that we have been working on together with Jan Veber and Robert Doležal (Dodin) for last few months. It is a virtual space where all the birders from all over the world can present their bird observations, share their experience, compete and communicate with similarly “affected” individuals. We will work on the project further and to do that successfully we need you – the users who will keep the web alive and improving. We believe that the project will attract your attention and that you will join it as some 30 people already did during the first day after the project birth!

Join the project at the address

www.europeanbirdlist.com

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Florida 2010 – VIII – Little Estero Lagoon

If you ever happen to plan a birding trip to Florida and will search for the best spots on internet, one of the most often name found will certainly be Little Estero Lagoon. As the name says, it is quite small lagoon at the coast of the Gulf of Mexico close to Fort Myers. There is a lot of great birding spots around Fort Myers (Sanibel Island or Cape Coral Burrowing Owls to name the most famous) so you might wonder why this small “pond” should be amongst the best places, especially when it is located right next to the Fort Myers suburb and the area around is very busy as the passers by hurry up to the neighbouring Fort Myers beach all the time…

Beyond the camera - Manos Papadomanolakis

Florida 2010 – VII – J.N.D. Darling and chilly tropics

The title came to my mind when I had recalled the weather during my trip to Florida in January this year. The temperatures that usually reach 20 degrees Celsius in this southern state of USA during January went down to the freezing point obviously affecting all the inhabitants of the Sunny State – The TV broadcasted news about iguanas falling down from the trees and I had to laugh when I saw a man exploring the cat-ice on the road. Much more severe consequences were visible in J.N. Ding Darling Nature reserve at Sanibel Island...

Florida 2010 – VI – Florida`s woodpeckers

Woodpeckers and their relatives are beautiful birds from Piciformes Order that we can see in diverse forms all around the world. In our European longitudes they are unfortunately quite shy and thus to make a picture of the Woodpecker is rather a matter of coincidence. I repeat again that birds in Florida are easily approachable and this applies to Woodpeckers I have seen there too...

Spring is back to Bergen!

Yes! The spring is back here in North again! It still recovers slowly from the loads of snow that unusually long and tough winter left behind, but it can be felt in the air, days are getting longer and temperatures stay above freezing point! It is almost exactly one year today since I wrote “The past week I also saw first Oystercatchers of this year in the harbour while walking to the work. So the spring is really here…” and the Oystercatchers, like as they could hear my wishes, they appeared at exactly the same place today again! For me they are messengers of spring here – the birds that together with Starlings arrive amongst the first species. I would not be surprised if the birds I saw today were exactly the same pair as one year back… Welcome spring!!!