Photographing Birds

Today, for the first time, I managed to take photos of swallows that are somewhat recognizable:

Great, Marlene! You did a great job.
We spotted some a few days ago, too, but they’ve probably flown on. Maybe to your place? I’ll keep an eye out to see if I can capture our garden birds on camera. I always think it’s totally cute when they’re bathing. There’s even a water-shy sparrow among them. It flaps its wings once and is quickly back out again. 

A birdbath on the balcony is still on my list, too.

I imagine it’ll be funny with that water-shy sparrow.

Every year, we have swallows that fly around between the houses and build their nests under the roofs.

Photographing birds while they’re flying isn’t that easy—I really enjoy photography, and I once managed to snap a quick shot at the Nuremberg Zoo just as a crane was about to take off

Great snapshot, Akela :)

Wow, you guys took some great shots.

The first—and so far only—time I’ve seen a goldfinch in the wild.
The photo is a few years old:



The “Cratschla” (in Romansh) is as much a part of Arosa as the squirrels. This photo is already quite a few years old, and I really hope we’ll get to see a few of them this summer.

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That was last year at our wildlife park; it only reopened a few days ago this year.

Photographing swallows in flight is really hard. They’re soooo fast and agile... 
There seem to be quite a few bird enthusiasts here.
I’m fascinated by them too, and I often try to get nice pictures—it just doesn’t always work out.

When I saw pelicans for the first time on vacation, I was completely captivated.
These birds are hardly shy at all and often come very close to people, especially anglers... then they’re actually pretty scary (to me, at least...).
Once, a hunting pelican dove into the sea in a nosedive about 2 meters away from me. That really made me flinch.





For the past few days, a great spotted woodpecker has been perching in the tree by our balcony from time to time; I’ve tried to photograph it quite a few times already. But it’s too fast for me and doesn’t stay in one spot long enough. One day I’ll catch it....

Taken today while walking through the fields. I hope you can make it out

Two snapshots from our visit to the zoo today:

There’s a stork’s nest at our workplace. Last night, the three chicks were sitting so quietly in the nest

I’m glad those three survived. Unfortunately, ours didn’t make it (yet again)…

It’s almost like a “spot the object” puzzle.
Right in the middle of this little bush, Mrs. Duck has laid nine eggs and is busily incubating them.
She doesn’t even mind that the bush is in a busy front yard.
Now let’s hope the ducklings (if they’ve hatched) survive, because the heron is already perched by the pond, waiting...

Our great spotted woodpecker and the sparrows... a never-ending story.
I laughed until I cried when I recently saw a gang of sparrows trying to get to the fat balls, which the woodpecker was just tucking into. The woodpecker pecked them away one after another (they must have had headaches).
But the sparrows aren’t stupid, of course. In the next “attack,” some of them distracted the woodpecker while the others got to eat. Then they switched roles.
The next day, the woodpecker showed up with backup.



Why do you need TV when you can see the most amazing things right in your own backyard!

On one of our recent walks, we spotted this skylark chick:

Wow, birds are my favorite animals. Thanks for the beautiful photos! :)