Skiwwels! in some nice light

So the trip out to the Netherlands a few weeks ago was to support our (Swarovski Optik's) promotion at the Dutch Birdlife partner's retail store (Vogelbescherming Nederland).

Late the one afternoon, a squirrel came down to their garden feeder and perched himself in beautiful light. This is what happened.

Digiscoped with a Swarovski Optik STM80 HD spotting scope, TLS800 digiscoping adapter, Canon 7D.

Happy digiscoping,

Dale

Awesome Texel Birding II

I really enjoyed being in Texel. The birding was great. The company was great. And there were tons of opportunity to take lots of photos.

Black-headed Gull cruising by.

A Marsh Harrier, flying directly over a Hen Harrier nest.

Click on it to view it big.

A Crested Tern colony saw lots of action with birds coming in and out, little fish hanging from their bills. At that stage, none of the eggs in the colony seemed to have hatched. These tern photos were taken at 9:30pm! this is the first time I have ever managed to do anything like that. Probably also the first time I have ever seen it light at 9:30pm, let alone being able to take photos of flying birds!

A stunning Great Crested Grebe on her nest, showing off her gorgeous colours. Check out that eye!

All photos digiscoped with a Swarovski Optik STM80 HD, TLS800 digiscoping adapter, and Canon 7D

Happy birding,

Dale Forbes

Greylag Geese

Greylag Geese kinda look like farmyard geese, but being in whole fields of them with young ones is really a very cool thing to experience. Whilst in Neusiedlersee National Park for the Pannonian Bird Experience in April, it was exactly like that. Very cool indeed!

Here are a couple of digiscoping snapshots I took of them.



Complete lack of time means a complete lack of post processing. They have just been resized and compressed.

Happy birding,
Dale Forbes

Birds on a pole

Sometimes there are special, magical places that just seem to draw birds. This one pole was shown us by the local Texel expert, Mark Plomp, and it drew in a variety of species.

Here are a Redshank and a Black-tailed Godwit, hanging out in the rain. Not the best conditions for digiscoping, but the colours are wonderful.

All images and videos digiscoped with Swarovski Optik STM80 HD spotting scope, TLS800 digiscoping adapter and a Canon 7D.

the video is kinda shaky as I only had a tiny rice bag for in the car. Next time, I'll have to make sure I have a more stable setup.

Happy digiscoping!

Dale Forbes

Awesome Texel Birding

I have just gotten back from a trip to the Netherlands; a bit of work helping out at the Vogelbescherming Swarovski Days (a Birdlife partner) and then a few days on the island of Texel in the awesome company of friend/photographer Peter Grobben and birder/videographer Mark Plomp (check out Mark's Texel website).

Pied Avocet chick (pretending to be a Spoonbilled Sandpiper)

Pied Avocet

Iberian Chifchaf. no they are not normally here. at first I thought we were supposed to be looking for a Siberian Chifchaf. It was only when I looked at it that I realised something was wrong...

European Oystercatcher (especially for Szimi 'cos he loves shorebirds!)

Peter playing in the flowers...

I have just had a little chance to look through some of my images and there are just sooo many photos I love. I really had a lot of fun!

All images here digiscoped with a Swarovski STM80 HD, TLS800 adapter and Canon 7D

Happy digiscoping

Dale Forbes

Awesome fun with Peacocks

Last weekend we went out for a rainy walk in one of the local castle parks (Schloß Ambras). I happened to have all my digiscoping stuff with me in the boot of the car from my morning's outing but because of the poor light and rain, I decided to just leave it in the car and enjoy the time with the family (including our little niece).

Anyhow, when the one peacock started displaying and dancing, I really could not resist going back to get my digiscoping stuff.

He was shaking and spinning and doing all he could to impress the little female. Here she is. Does she look impressed to you?

Nah, she didn't look to impressed to me either.

Here is a close up of some of his feather detail. I am really happy with these images, I feel they effectively captured the mood and feeling for me.

All photos taken with a Swarovski Optik STM80 HD, TLS800 digiscoping adapter, Nikon D300s

Happy digiscoping,

Dale Forbes

Video Digiscoping with Andreas Kieling

Whilst at the Pannonian Bird Experience, we got to spend some time with and make a small video with Andreas Kieling. Kieling is a real super-star in German nature documentaries, having made some stunning videos over the past couple of decades. He started out with documentaries filmed while spending many months at a time by himself in the wilderness of arctic Alaska. Out of this grew his passion for bears; becoming an expert on bear behaviour, and in the process was the first to film many amazing aspects of the lives and behaviour of grizzly bears, black bears and polar bears. His work on polar bears - in particular - has brought him a great deal of critical acclaim and success.

Anyhow, so we had spent the morning digiscoping on one of the lakes in the Neusiedlersee-Seewinkel National Park and had decided to spend the afternoon looking for the Great Bustards that should be displaying in the area. Kieling has a very gentle way about him and it is easy to see why animals are so calm in his presence.

.......................................click on the little triangle to get the closed captions / subtitles ^

While we were out there, we made a video about video digiscoping, or videoscoping. The new DSLRs with full HD video are really opening up an exciting new field for bird and animal lovers. Capturing animals on film has a charm and 3D realism about it that is hard to capture in photos. Photography potentially has a greater artistic beauty value to it, but video wins in pulling you in to the moment.

Here are a couple of Kieling / arte / National Geographic / BBC Wildlife videos:

Have a wonderful weekend!

Dale Forbes

Fun photographing flying gulls

The one evening in Burgenland at the Pannonian Bird Experience, there were a series of gulls flying over the meadows and vineyards in lovely light. These are some of my favorite shots.

All gull photos digiscoped with Swarovski Optik STM80 HD spotting scope, TLS800 digiscoping adapter, and Canon 7D

Happy weekend!

Dale Forbes

What Alpine meadows sound like: the Yellowhammer song

Our Alpine meadows are a beautiful rich green colour in spring. And in early spring, they are matted and strewn with wonderful yellow blossoms (Ranunculus spp.; Crowsfoot/Buttercups; Hahnenfuß), such that some fields are just a blanket of yellow.

And these fields typically sound like this, strewn with the wonderful sound of the Yellowhammer:

Digiscoping photos and video of the Yellowhammer made with a Swarovski Optik STM80HD, 25-50x W eyepiece, UCA digiscoping adapter and Canon 7D.

May your spring be filled with joyous sounds!

Dale Forbes

Great White Egret take-off digiscoping

About 5 minutes after taking the flying Purple Heron digiscoping photos, I was in the hide and a beautiful Great White Egret came by. She stayed long enough to get a couple of photos. I liked this one:

Great White Egret digiscoped with Swarovski STM80 HD spotting scope, TLS800 digiscoping adapter, Canon 7D

Happy digiscoping,

Dale Forbes