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Waxwings



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Rare visitors from the North and East. Waxwings named for the drops of red at the tips of the wings that only develop when they are well fed on red berries....
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Rare visitors from the North and East. Waxwings named for the drops of red at the tips of the wings that only develop when they are well fed on red berries.
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Behind The Lens

Location

This shot was taken at the Allertal Tank stop on the A7 Autobahn going South (North of Hannover, Germany). This was the tree they sat in while resting (very still) between feeding on the nearby berry-filled trees (which have died out in the meantime), actually within view of the fast-food restaurant, although almost nobody noticed them.

Time

Late Winter afternoon (see lighting below) early December 2016.

Lighting

The late afternoon light with the low angle of the sunlight behind me gave the nice sheen on the well oiled feathers of the waxwings. Apart from the thrill seeing these fairly rare winter visitors with their beautifully groomed and colourful plumage the group formed a magnificent arch, with the yellow leaves matching the birds tails and the clear blue sky (not common here) creating the perfect background, allowing full concentration on the bird images. A truly memorable encounter that I count as one of the most exciting of my birding outings to date and photographically a high point.

Equipment

I was using a Canon EOS 7D mark II with 1.4x extender (nominal 560mm) with a 400mm f2.8 lens on a tripod.

Inspiration

This one of the first places that Waxwings are seen when they are on their rare Winter migrations to Germany from Northern Russia ( once every 5 to ten years, but getting more frequent). A local told me they were there some 70 km from my home This was the tree they sat in while resting (very still) between feeding on the nearby berry-filled trees (which have died out in the meantime). Apart from the thrill seeing these fairly rare winter visitors with their beautifully groomed and colourful plumage the group formed a magnificent arch, with the yellow leaves matching the birds tails and the clear blue sky (not common here) creating the perfect background allowing full concentration on the bird images. A truly memorable encounter that I count as one of the most exciting in my birding outing to date and photographically a high point. With the climate change I document a lot of the changes going on in nature. Apart from the fact that this might interest future generations, who may not be so lucky to see these birds, the pictures are a work of art in themselves.

Editing

This was barely processed. I usually just reduce grain a little and crop as in this case. Cropping was important here to obtain this very aesthetic arching across the picture from one corner.

In my camera bag

In this case this was my car-load equipment with my really heavy tele-photo lens. I'm 76 now and I can't carry the heavy lens anymore. I switched to a better camera with higher density full format chip for field outings; Nikon D850 and lighter lenses. I have a macro 110mm f5.6 with ring LED lighting, 200-500 f 4.8 and general purpose 24-120mm f4 lenses and binoculars around my neck, and a tripod.

Feedback

In terms of finding rare motives it is important to be in a good network. Join a club with experts who can advise you on when and where to see birds or whatever life forms your interested in. Most important: Learn by doing! Get out and keep your eyes open. Seeing small moving objects and being able to identify them immediately is a skill that has to be acquired over many years. I am amazed that when I am with friends they are sometimes unable to focus on a bright colourful bird that is hopping around just in front of them. When I started some 18 years ago I was proud to know some 30 local birds. I have now photographed over 345 bird species in Germany alone, something I would not have thought possible at the beginning. Now I started on macrophotography of insects documenting some 300 species in my garden alone this year.

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