Birds

A creative perspective on mute swans (Cygnus olor) and black-headed gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus). To get this angle of view, I photographed them from a bridge in the middle of the city, at the lake, where many birds overstay during winter. I also lengthened the exposure time to create a more artistic image.

Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica) have very predictable flightpaths so it's easy to take photos of them. But there are already plenty of shots of puffins frozen in the air so I wanted to look for something different, therefore I went for a panning shot counting on getting some interesting pattern in the background, here just as a bird left the background of a cliff and entered the water it looks as if he was entering lightspeed.

One chilly morning I found a pair of common starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) in a city park. The male stayed close to the female, singing various melodies. I positioned myself with the rising sun behind them, hoping to catch his wings spread in the soft light. After some time, he finally stretched out and sang his most beautiful melody. The cold air added an extra touch as steam escaped his beak.

I was taking pictures of this Silver Gull colony (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae) when I saw a Silver Gull snatching away a juvenile gull from its nest. Immediately the parent and the neighbours of that nest were chasing the thief. It was so great to photograph this amazing behaviour of the helping neighbour gulls , they didn’t hesitate one second to act. The gull on the left is the attacker, the other gulls are the rescuers .

It was almost dark when I found this specimen of great grey owl (Strix nebulosa). Two bright eyes stared at me between the snow-covered branches. I looked for a small window where I could observe only his eyes.

Setting myself up on the Otowa Bridge, which crosses the Setsuri River, the world around me was covered in ice. It was nearly 20 degrees below zero. The thermal spring-fed river still flowed and provided a respite from the freezing conditions for the Red-crowned cranes (Grus japonensis) and a small herd of Sika deer (Cervus nippon). The sun rose over the magical scene and swathed the world in a warm golden light.

The Ivory Gull (Pagophila eburnea) glides in front of the glacier wall, searching for something edible. This occurs when the glacier calves and big ice rocks fall into the sea, stirring up sea plankton. It is concerning to discover that the habitat essential for the Ivory Gull's survival is rapidly diminishing due to global warming. The glaciers in the High Arctic are retreating, and so are the glacier fronts.