Spring is coming

It's waiting now for more birds arriving in Belgium again now spring is coming. Therefore some more photos of a few weeks ago at the hide. Nothing special, some of the common species: Robin (Roodborst), Blue tit (Pimpelmees) and Great tit (Koolmees).
I'm counting the days because in a little while I'll fly to Gambia, West-Africa, to do some bird photography, also from some hides. I'm looking forward to it !

 Robin

singing Blue tit

Great tit

Bullfinch and more

A little while ago I spend some time in the garden of a friend who had Bullfinches (Goudvink) visiting on the feeders. Instead of a fixed hide I used a pop-up tent hide. The weather was a mixture of overcast, little sun, some snow and little rain. I managed to make some Bullfinch photos, both male and female. Other visitors I saw from the hide were Brambling (Keep), Greenfinch (Groenling), Yellowhammer (Geelgors), Great tit (Koolmees), Blue tit (Pimpelmees), Dunnock (Heggemus), European robin (Roodborst), Wood pigeon (Houtduif), Chaffinch (Vink), Eurasian nuthatch (Boomklever) and Red squirrel (Eekhoorn).
Better quality photos of the Bullfinch on my website

 Male Bullfinch

 

Male Bullfinch

 Female Bullfinch

 Brambling

 Greenfinch

 European Robin

 Eurasian nuthatch

Red squirrel

 recordshot of a Yellowhammer

More Goshawk

The snow was gone, but a few days later the Northern Goshawk (Havik) was there again while sitting in the hide. This time I also made a short low quality movie.

Great day in the snow

Lately temperature is around freezing point with wet snow or snow every now and then. Last week we had some snow overnight and it wasn't too warm so the snow would last for a day. I decided to spend some time in the hide, hoping on a raptor in the snow. I was very happy when after a few hours sitting in the cold the adult Northern Goshawk (Havik) came over. He spend almost an hour at the hide ! Light conditions were changing all the time, cloudy and sunny. Anyway he made my day. I also had a Common Buzzard (Buizerd) visiting but he was too shy to start eating. Lately 2 different Buzzards are visiting. Sparrowhawk was also flying by 2 times, trying to catch one of the songbirds at the feeders. Three different kinds bird of prey in one day, not bad. Regarding the songbirds still the same birds and for the first time this winter a short visit of a Brambling (Keep).
More photos of the Goshawk in the snow on my website, click here.

 Northern Goshawk

 Northern Goshawk

Northern Goshawk

record shot of the Brambling

Waiting ...

Hide photography is most of the time waiting. I spend a few hours in the hide, trying to 'catch' the often visiting Common Buzzard (Buizerd) or Northern Goshawk (Havik) on photo. Unfortunately I wasn't lucky with the birds of prey. My time wasn't completely wasted because there was another short visit of a single Redwing (Koperwiek) and for the first time a Eurasian wren (Winterkoninkje), both coming over to drink. Other visiting species were Great tit (Koolmees), Blue tit (Pimpelmees), Eurasian jay (Gaai), Chaffinch (Vink), Blackbird (Merel) and Great spotted woodpecker (Grote bonte specht). Red fox (Vos) is still visiting every night, taking the leftovers the birds of prey didn't eat.

Redwing

Eurasian wren

Red fox

Common buzzard

Common Buzzard

Still a lot of bad weather lately, rain and wind. No real cold or snow. Luckily Northern Goshawk (Havik) and Common Buzzard (Buizerd) are still visiting the hide. It's always nice to make photos in the sun or snow but I was also happy this Buzzard came over on a dark cloudy day. Because of the dark weather I had to go high on ISO (1/250 sec , f/5, ISO 4000). I also made a short (low quality) video of the Buzzard eating.

New year - new visitors ?

What will bring 2015 to me ? Hopefully a lot of new species at the hide. But which hide ? Probably in a few months I will have to remove the hide from the forest because the area is being developped. Mayby I'll find a new spot in the same area, that's not sure yet. We'll see ... .
Now what's happening lately at the hide ? A short update. Both Northern Goshawk (Havik) and Common Buzzard (Buizerd) are regular visitors now, mainly visiting later on the day when it's getting dark. The Goshawk is staying short periods while eating, the Buzzard is eating most of the prey. Redwing (Koperwiek) is also coming over to drink every now and then, and for the first time a Bank vole (Rosse woelmuis) was seen, eating from the birdfood. The rest of the visitors are the 'normal species'.

 Northern Goshawk on prey

Redwing

Record shot of the Bank vole, more and better photos of the Bank vole on my website here